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Johnny Cade
Character Analysis
Hola, and welcome to my website. I am glad that you have decided to stop by, as I have so much to tell you about Johnny Cade. I have spent countless hours and sleepless nights putting together this project of mine, and I am very excited to share Johnny's legacy. Are you ready for your eyes to be blessed...I mean for an amazing character analysis of Johnny Cade. DO IT FOR JOHNNY!
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Johnny Cade is a vulnerable and sensitive 16-year-old greaser who grew up win a group defined by their toughness. His parents are alcoholics and abuse Johnny on a daily basis. On page 12 of the novel The Outsiders it says, "His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house." Johnny was already skittish because of what was going on at home. But, matters got worse when he was jumped by some Socs. The Socs beat Johnny unconscious and the gang found him lying in the lot. On page 32 of The Outsiders, it says, "Johnny was lying face down on the ground. Soda turned him over gently, and I nearly got sick. Someone had beaten him badly.[...]Johnny's face was cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone." Johnny was tough, but this broke him. On page 33 it says, "I had seen Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man and never let out a whimper. That made it worse to see him break now." What happened here affected Johnny's actions throughout the rest of the story.
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Throughout the story, Johnny grows tougher and more resilient. The things he has gone through previously in his life have helped him develop as a person and this is what effects the story the most. On page 34 it says, "And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried on his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He'd use it, too, if he ever got jumped again.[...] He would kill the next person that jumped him." that's exactly what Johnny did. After Ponyboy and Johnny ran away, some Socs saw them in the park and decided to mess with them. They beat Johnny so that they could get to Ponyboy and try to drown him (Chap 4). On page 56 it says, "'I killed him,' he said slowly. 'I killed that boy.'" Johnny didn't what to do so he and Ponyboy went to tell Dally who told them to take a train to Windrixville and hide in an old abandoned church until the coast was clear (chapter 4).
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Ponyboy and Johnny were at the church for a week, Dally came to see them and tell them what everyone was saying about them missing. Dally brought them a letter that Sodapop had wrote for them and told them how worried everyone was about them (chap 5). This is one thing that persuaded them to come back home. Dally decided to take them to Dairy Queen to get a bite to eat since they had been living off of bologna for the past week. On the way there Dally tells Johnny how what he did was out of self-defense and that they shouldn't put him into jail for that (chap 6). This was another thing that persuaded them to come back home. On their way back home they drove past the church that Johnny and Ponyboy had been staying in, and it was on fire. They got out to asked what happened and found out that there were children inside. They decided to go in and save them because they felt like it was there fault since they left a cigarette burning. When Johnny was looking for kids in the church, the ceiling collapsed and fell onto him. It broke his back (chap 6). This effected him emotionally because he always said that he wanted to kill himself but now he didn't want to die. On page 121 it says, "'I don't want to die now. It ain't long enough. Sixteen years ain't long enough. I wouldn't mind it so much stuff I ain't done yet and so many things I ain't seen. It's not fair.'" He had time to reflect on what happened and why he was in the predicament he was in. When Ponyboy and Dally come to see him after the rumble to tell him that they won, on page 148 Johnny says, "Useless...fighting's no good...." This shows that he changed from believing that he had to fight against the Socs, and instead that violence is not the answer. Then he gave the two boys a little advice and sadly passed away. On page 178, in Johnny's letter, it says, "Listen, I don't mind dying now. It's worth it. It's worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for.[...]Tell Dally it's worth it." Johnny grew to realize that what he did was a good thing even if it damaged his life.
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"Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold."
S.E. Hinton
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