Dally; How It Feels To Be Like Static

*Authors Note: This is an essay on how Dally is a static character.

Dally is one of those characters you never want to meet in real life. He’s tough, mean, and the first time you meet him, I bet he’s intimidating. To a lot of people he would be a loser, he steals, he gets in violent arguments, and is egocentric. When people think of greasers, they think of people like him, he makes the stereotype of a greaser become real. Dally is the type of character you want to change, you want to see him grow into a different person, a better person, but he doesn’t.  Through the end of the book, you see a different side of Dally, but he is still the same person, he makes selfish decisions and never learned his lesson.

Near the beginning, you get the impression that Dally is the one member of the gang who everyone secretly hates, and he hates everyone two. On page 13, Ponyboy is giving his description of Dally, and claims that “His eyes were blue, blazing ice with a hatred for the whole world.” Dally hates everyone and everything, people judge him all the time, and he doesn’t even care. The only person he truly cared about was Johnny, and Johnny was the only person who actually cared about him. Johnny didn’t see Dally as who he truly was; a juvenile delinquent who no one wants to be.

When Dally figured out that Johnny had killed someone, he was proud. If that doesn’t show you what type of person Dally can be, you are oblivious. Dally is the kind of person who is proud of his police record, he wants the people he’s close to, to become a person like him. That was near the middle of the book, and he still hadn’t changed a bit. No lessons learned, no growing into a better person. Dally refuses to change, he’s proud of whom he is and doesn’t want to please anyone else by becoming a better person. And if Dally doesn’t want to become someone else, he doesn't.

Wanting to change takes up a big part in the changing transition, you have to want it in order for it to happen. To Dally, the mean, tough attitude was cool, if he acted any other way he would be a loser. Why would he want to change and be a loser? He doesn’t. Dally doesn’t want to change at all, he wants to stay a bad person, so he does.

In the end, Dally ends up dying, he pulled out a fake gun, and the cops shot him. He knew what was going to happen, it’s not like he didn’t want to die. Johnny was dead, so he might as well be dead too. He died the same kind of person who he started out as, on his terms. Dally is always getting what he wants, and he wanted to be dead, and it wouldn’t happen any other way.

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Family Doesn’t Always Mean Related

*Authors Note: This is an essay on what family means to the boys of The Outsiders

For the boys in The Outsiders, their family isn’t blood related, they aren’t cousins or aunts or uncles. Their family is their gang. They all are closer to the gang than relatives for different reasons; Johnny’s parents are abusive, mentally and physically. Dally’s parents don’t give two thoughts about him, and he feels the same way about them. Two-Bit’s mother is fine, he just feels closer to the gang for reasons not mentioned. Steve’s parents aren’t mentioned at all, and Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry’s parents had passed. The gang is the closest thing most of them have to family, and throughout the story they come to realize who and who they can’t live without.

In chapter 6, Johnny asked Dally if his parents asked about him, and that set Dally off for some reason, what he said to Johnny in response was “No, they didn’t. Blast it, Johnny, what do they matter? Shoot, my old man don’t give a hang whether I’m in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don’t bother me none.” Dally may not care about his parents, but Johnny does. Johnny cares a lot about what his parents think, and wants them to love him. Near the end of the book, though, when Johnny is about to pass, his mom comes to visit. His parents have abused him so much, so much hurt, that he didn’t want his own mother to visit him in the hospital. He wanted the gang instead, because the gang was always there for him. They are his family, not his mom.

After Johnny’s passing, the gang breaks apart. Dally ran off and Ponyboy doesn’t seem to believe what has just gone down. Everyone seems to be devastated. Johnny is the one person in the group who they would never be able to live without, and now he’s gone. Not only is Johnny gone, but leading after that, Dally faced death too, and now two important people in all of the gang member’s life are gone and can’t be brought back.  At that point you would think Ponyboy would be sad for Dally, and he was, but he said he could live without him, but Johnny gone is something he would probably never really get used to.

The Curtis brothers probably wouldn’t be greasers if they’re parents hadn’t died, but after reading the book I can’t imagine them as anything else. If their parents hadn’t of died, the gang probably wouldn’t exist, and most of what did happen, wouldn’t have. Darry would be in college instead of taking care of Sodapop and Ponyboy. Sodapop probably would have never dropped out of high school, because his parents might not have let him. Everything would be different; Darry, Ponyboy, and Sodapop would most likely have a “normal” family.

Normal doesn’t really exist with the greasers, nothing is normal for them, family life especially. Personally, I could never imagine being closer to friends than I am with my family at home. For the gang that’s not the case, and in all likelihood never will be. To them, family is who you can trust with your life and the people you always go to first, or who you always feel comfortable with. It doesn’t always mean you are related, the overused saying “My best friend is like my sister/brother.” is basically what the gang feels about each other.

Dear Ponyboy

*Authors Note: This is a letter I wrote to Ponyboy on how he behaved in the story and why I think he behaved like that*
Ponyboy,

          I can see you going far in life. It may not be in academics or getting one of the top careers out there, but you are a hero. You are trustworthy, caring, and willing to put others before yourself, even if it puts you in dangerous situations, and being that way will take you places. The gang can always count on you to have their back, even the ones you don’t get along with that well.  Being a great person might not get you into college, but it can sure get you other places. I picture you keeping all of your friends to the very end, being smart but misjudged, and having a big family that will never say “I hate you.”

                From only reading six chapters I can already tell your family and gang is your main priority. No matter what they do, whatever crime they commit, you will always be there for them. They know it, too, and to be honest I think they kind of take advantage of it.  Johnny killed someone, KILLED someone, and you ran away with him, even though it risked you to get in humongous trouble with the police. If you would have just stayed home, and not joined Johnny on the road to danger, you wouldn’t have had to cut and bleach your hair, you could have told the police the story. Help Johnny, even. Since you joined him though, being his buddy and all, you now have to go to court and the idea of you and Sodapop being sent to a boys home seems more real by the minute.

                While reading, I came across a something you said that made me think “Things are rough all over, but it’s better that way. That way you can tell that the other guy was human too.” I t made me think about how I see people, if I think of them as that way also. I don’t, I’m judgmental, I judge a book by its cover. Maybe it’s because I don’t get along with people all that well or maybe because I get jealous of people, but I’m mean. I see a girl who dresses in short skirts and tight shirts, and automatically think the worst of them. Or the people at my school, I hate a lot of the people here, and maybe I should start giving people a chance.

                All in all, you changed the way I see some things, and I think you changed too. You grew as a person, becoming more realistic and less naïve.  I hope you go as far as I think you will, Ponyboy, good luck. As Johnny would say, stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold.

Sincerely,

Abbi