Dally the outsider

this is actually a book report for school, but i liked so i posted it, here it goes,

Dally, one of the main characters from the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, was strong and tough. He was known for his ferocity towards others, however, even he had soft spots. One of these tender parts was for Johnny, the one person he fathered as Johnny’s parents ignored him. Dally also had a hard life, jailed at an early age, but now that he’d known the horrors of his choice, he makes efforts to steer others away from it. Dally wasn’t like what others judged him of, he was the unknown hero in the book.
Dally proves the phrase, don’t judge a book by its cover, because though on the outside he was a mean, dark guy, he really was a caring person. Yes, he was a caring person, secretly. He didn’t want to take away his reputation by showing his softer self. People saw the messed up Dally, they didn’t want to be like him, which was another reason why he wasn’t the nicest of them all. By wearing his mean attitude, he scared others from going down the path that had turned him into the present Dally.Dally had two personalities under his slicked back hair. One was nice and friendly, the other was mean and bullying. Dally controlled those two very well. He pulled out the bad attitude on a threatening Soc, and the good one on his beloved Johnny. As Ponyboy had said, “Dally hated to do things the legal way.”(Hinton 20) This was very true. Always robbing, and cussing off, even if he were to be given a shot at either taking jail or going with the law, most likely he would choose going to jail. That was just the way Dally was, he was addicted to trouble like a drug. This addiction often led to serious trouble, like his first term of jail was when he was only 10 years old. As Ponyboy had learned, “Dally Winston…always got what he wanted.”(Hinton 154) So if Dally had ever showed you his bad mood, you would get why everybody feared him. Not many people could even have the gut to tell him ‘No’. Chances are likely that if you even suggested it you’d get pounded. The sad truth quoted by Ponyboy as Dally Winston met the floor for the last time, “Dally risking his life for us, keeping Johnny out of trouble. Now he is a dead juvenile delinquent and there wouldn’t be any editorials in his favor. Dally didn’t die a hero.”(Hinton 154) Dally had used his all to protect his fellow Greasers from the horrible past he had had, though he was still a criminal, and the society thought of him lowly. Nobody loved him and called him a hero, nobody praised him, and nobody did anything but shudder at the mention of his name. No one liked him, except the Greasers, but even when that happens, though you can feel something missing, you can just ignore it and be okay. Dally the hated, Dally the unwanted, Dally the Greaser, was a hero.
So it was proved Dally wasn’t what he was judged for, in fact he was far above. He was greater than any Soc or Greaser, but not even he noticed it. He proves the phrase, don’t judge a book by its cover, because though on the outside he was a mean, dark guy, he really was a caring person. Yes, he was a caring person, secretly. He didn’t want to take away his reputation by showing his softer self. People saw the messed up Dally, they didn’t want to be like him, which was another reason why he wasn’t the nicest of them all. By wearing his mean attitude, he scared others from going down the path that had turned him into the present Dally. So while Johnny and Ponyboy saved the kids from the fire, they realized some things that had never occurred to them, and also learned some life –long lessons, Dally was the truest hero around.

















Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Penguin Putnam Books, 2003.