Similarities Between Johnny And Dally

How can two people from the same background be so different? Why do people respond to the same living conditions so differently? In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, two characters, Johnny and Dally, are similar in some ways, but extremely different in others. They grew up in similar households, but came out with different personality traits. Johnny and Dally’s lives are similar, but their similarities cause them to become very different people. Johnny and Dally both live similar lives. Their parents don’t care about them, and they both know it. Without his parents care and attention, Dally ends up in jail at the age of ten, while Johnny gets beat up by his father, yelled at by his mother, or completely ignored altogether. He tells Ponyboy ““I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices.””(51) Although Johnny knows his parents don’t care, he still asks Dally if they asked about him when he and Ponyboy ran

For example, Johnny is sensitive and quiet, while Darry is tough and mean. One of the main reasons Dally is so rigid however, is because he went to jail at age 10. When Johnny wants to turn himself in for killing Bob, Dally tells him, ““You get hardened in jail. I don’t want that to happen to you. Like it did to me.””(90) Although Dally is cold hearted towards others, he cares about Johnny, who is different than the other greasers because, unlike them, is sensitive and quiet. Ponyboy says, “He was sensitive and that isn’t a good way to be when you’re a greaser.”(88) It is not good to be sensitive when you are a greaser because there are lots of hardships, and emotions can take a toll on people. After getting beat up by the socs, Johnny even more skittish and nervous then he was before. The fact that Johnny is sensitive and quiet is one difference between him and Dally, who is mean and