Johnny Cade was forced to kill Bob Sheldon in order to save Ponyboy Curtis’s life. This incident began when Bob Sheldon and four other Socs came to the greasers’s territory (the East side of town) intoxicated. They were upset that Cade and Curtis were associating with their girlfriends. The Socs insulted Cade and Curtis, and Curtis insulted them back. This led to the Socs drowning Curtis’s head in a water fountain. Cade never had any intentions of killing Sheldon, but he did so because Curtis’s life was in danger. Therefore, what Johnny Cade did wasn’t murder or manslaughter but instead an act of self defense.
Killing Bob Sheldon or anyone else wasn’t Johnny Cade’s motive. According to a source, murder can either be unplanned or planned, but in both cases it’s done deliberately with the intent to kill. Cade didn’t have the intent to kill considering the circumstances. This same source describes voluntary manslaughter, “Requires evidence of disturbed mental state (for example, a crime caused by the perception of danger, in the heat of passion, temporary insanity)” Cade didn’t kill Sheldon because he sensed that he and Curtis were going to be in danger; he did so because violence was being used right before his eyes. Curtis recalls this about Cade, “He was as
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Curtis states, “A cool deadly bluff could sometimes shake them off, but not if they outnumbered you five to two and were drunk.” This expresses how they were outnumbered and probably wouldn’t be able to fight them on their own. Curtis remembers this, “I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. I fought again but only sucked in water.” This tells readers that Curtis was on the verge of drowning, and the Socs were pushing past Curtis’s limit. Curtis also states, “The next thing I knew I was lying on the pavement beside the fountain, coughing water and gasping.” This provides further support for the fact that Ponyboy Curtis was close to