Never Changing

Authors Note: In this following piece, I will be discussing how Dallas Winston from “The Outsiders” is a static character. There are many reasons and examples from the book that make Dally the most static character from my point of view.

Throughout the entire book of “The Outsiders”, Dally had never changed. His attitude and the way people thought of him had always stayed the same. He was the most stubborn and self-centered one out of their whole group and that’s how people always thought of him. Dally is a static character because he never became sympathetic even after conflicts had happened.

In the beginning when everything was considered normal: the Greasers didn’t have empathy for the Socs and the Socs could care less about the Greasers. After Johnny had killed Bob, everything changed. There were fewer fights between the Greasers and Socs, but mostly, after Johnny and Ponyboy were recognized for saving the children in the burning church, people changed. Randy, who was Bob’s best friend, was a mean guy in the beginning of the book, but he realized the Greasers weren’t so different from the Socs than he thought after he had a conversation with Ponyboy. As some people were changing their minds about each other, Dally stayed the same. He never considered Socs as anything but rich snobs and nice clothed people who brag about the size of their house and the amount of money they have.

Next, while Dally, Ponyboy, and Johnny were on their way home, they saw that the church they had been staying in was burning down because of a fire. People had been surrounding the church with mothers’ crying dreadfully. Ponyboy and Johnny hopped out of the car and ran to the people, asking what was going on. They told them their children were in the church, so Ponyboy and Johnny went in the church to go save them. Dally was angry at the two of them because he didn’t care about the kids’ safety. He didn’t want to help the children and become recognized as a hero, he just wanted to get back to where they live and smoke a cigarette.

Lastly, while Ponyboy and Dally had visited Johnny in the hospital from getting excruciating burns from the fire, Johnny had perished. Dally was heartbroken because Johnny was the person he loved and cared about the most out of anyone in the world. He let all of his anger get to him and had himself shot by the police. Just as Dally died, Ponyboy said “Dally didn’t die a Hero. He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he’d die someday”. This is one of the most important key quotes in the book because it shows that Dally never changed from the beginning of the book to the moment he died.

To conclude, all of these reasons state how Dally is the most static character in the book. Dallas Winston was just the kind of person that too many bad things had happened to, and he thought that he could never turn his life around even though he never considered it in the first place because he liked being a bad and tough guy which partly made him a static character.

The Key to Life

Authors Note: This piece of writing is going to be about one of the main topics or themes of the story “The Outsiders”.

While walking through the streets of Milwaukee and New York, you see gang members walking all together in a group. They protect and care for each other as if they are a family. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to stick with the ones you care for and that care for you. Just like in the book "The Outsiders", the main greasers in the book are a family; they're not related, but they protect and love one another.

First, Johnny was living in a house with his parents, with his father beating him all the time, and neither one of them caring weather he’s home or not throughout the night. Even though he has a group of friends who consider him as family, he still cares about his mom and dad. “I like when the old man is hitting me. At least he knows I’m there” is a quote from the book that Johnny says to Ponyboy. This particular line is so important because it shows that Johnny wants a mom and dad. They want him to care about him and see that he’s there so he likes when his dad is beating him.

Next, Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy are all brothers. For the first three quarters of the book, Ponyboy has always felt that Darry hates him; scolding and picking on him all the time. Ponyboy never saw that Darry always yelled at him because he cared about him. He loved him and would risk his life for him because they’re family and that’s very important to Darry considering their parents died. “The only reason Darry couldn’t be a Soc is because of us” is one of the biggest quotes from this story because it’s

Lastly, Dally has never had his parents by his side since he was young. He grew up without anyone looking after him and that really effected how people see him now: a hard and careless person. The only family he ever had were his friends. Going from one house or apartment to the next because he didn’t have a stable home. The person Dally cares the most about is Johnny. Dally looks after Johnny as if he’s his little brother. When Johnny passed away, Dally took all the anger against himself and gave his life away to be with Johnny because he loved him and cared for him so much.

In conclusion, these are all examples of how close these group of friends are. They all depend on each other and are a big family even though they’re not related. Through the book, there were many more details on how close and caring they were of each other; but these three were the biggest ones.

Result in Happiness

Authors Note: This piece of writing is focusing on the predictions I made in the book “The Outsiders”.

Through the first six to seven chapters, a lot has happened to the characters of “The Outsiders”. Ponyboy meets a SOC Cherry Valance who seems to be different from the others, Ponyboy and Darry get into a fight, which leads to him running away from home, Johnny had to kill someone to save Ponyboy’s life, they had to catch a train and go to a different town to get away from the police, and Johnny and Ponyboy saved children from a burning fire while on their way home with Dally (another member of the Greasers) so Dally had to pull them out of the fire but Dally and Johnny got severely injured. Looking at what will come next, I predict that Johnny and Dally will be ok, and Ponyboy and Darry will make up. Eventually, I think some of the friends of the SOC who was killed by Johnny will come after him and he will be brutally wounded.

First, after Ponyboy and his friends were walking Cherry Valance and her friend home, it was already two o’clock in the morning when Ponyboy arrived at his house with Darry awake reading the newspaper and his other brother Sodapop, laying asleep on the couch. Darry was furious at Ponyboy because he was worried sick about him; which Ponyboy didn’t realize. Pony had to run away because he got slapped across the face from Darry. Later in the book I think Ponyboy will realize that Darry is always getting on him because he is the youngest and cares a lot about him and wants a better life for him.

Next, from looking at the beginning of the book, it’s a sunny day, which shows that this book will either be a comedy or a romance. Once you get to chapter six, you wouldn’t expect this book to be a comedy or a romance because of the things that have happened, but the modes of literature are always right so Johnny and Dally should recover from their injuries from the church fire.

Lastly, I don’t think the SOCS will let the Greasers get away with the death of Bob who was one of the popular SOCS; who everyone looked up to. One of the Greasers could get killed by the SOCS, or even brutally injured.

In conclusion, my predictions aren’t always that accurate unless I’m completely sure about something. These predictions I made I’m confident in because they all make perfect sense. Once I finish the story, I’ll know if what I predicted was what really happened.