The Heroic Qualities Of Johnny In The Outsider

It is the 1960s. A scared, lonely murderer goes inside a church that is about to burn to the ground to save some kids. He sacrifices himself for the kids. That is why Johnny is the hero of The Outsiders! Because he shows the heroic qualities of bravery and self-sacrifice. Those are very important heroic traits to possess. Here are some ways he showed those qualities.

One heroic quality that Johnny shows is bravery. Bravery is being scared of something/someone but doing it anyway to save someone. In The Outsiders, Johnny is not a brave person. He is a person that is usually cowardly and skittish. In the book, Ponyboy talks about Johnny being “the gang’s pet” and “very nervous” after getting beat up. Ponyboy says: “he cannot say boo to a goose.” Once, Dally was bullying some Soc girls named Cherry and Marsha, and Johnny told Dally to leave them alone. This is what he said: “Leave them alone. You heard me, leave them alone!” Now usually, Johnny would have just watched, scared to act. If it was not Johnny who told him to stop, Dally would have beaten the snot out of them. This was a big moment for Johnny because he showed the heroic quality of bravery, one he does not usually show.

Strength is being physically/mentally strong. The strength of character is good character attributes and how good they are as a character. Ponyboy sees a burning church and goes inside. He saves some kids from burning. (Sure, Johnny did too, but Ponyboy helped more. He dropped 2 kids out the window and saved them. It takes strength of character to do that. HOWEVER! Ponyboy is not the hero. In the big rumble between the Socs and the Greasers, he got beaten up very badly and got so hurt, he even lost consciousness for a couple of days! Ponyboy could not even hurt a Soc! That is not showing the heroic quality of