Dallas Winston a Vulnerable Teenager or Just a Hoodlum free essay sample

The Outsiders by S. E Hinton is a novel about a boy called Ponyboy who is involved in a rivalry between two gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. The Socs live in the West side of town; they look clean, have lots of money and drive blue Mustangs. The greasers live in the east side of town; they wear hair oil, t-shirts and jeans, and don’t have much money. Ponyboy is part of the Greasers, along with his two brothers Darry and Sodapop, his closest friend Johnny Cade, Two-Bit, Steve and Dallas Winston, the toughest of the gang r at least that is what Ponyboy thinks about him in the beginning of the novel in chapter one â€Å"He was tougher than the rest of us- tougher, colder, and meaner. † In the beginning of chapter one the author also lets us know that â€Å"Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten†. So at first impression Dally Winston appears to be a reckless hoodlum, he’s angry, he’s violent, he’s wild. But the author also gives us some hints that show another part of Dally, a more sensitive caring side. So is Dally Winston a vulnerable youth or just a hoodlum? I Ponyboy, Darry and Sodapop are part of the greasers, who they like to look as their family since their parents passed away in an accident. The greaser-soc rivalry mainly revolves around the economic status of both gangs. Socs hate greasers because they are rich and greasers are poor; greasers hate socs because they are poor and socs are rich, simple. After some events Ponyboy and Johnny find themselves in a life threatening situation where they are jumped by some socs at night in an empty parking lot; in the suspense of the moment Johnny kills one of the socs (called Bob) who was about to drown Ponyboy to death. Ponyboy and Johnny decide that Dallas Winston was the correct person to ask help to since he had a lot of experience in the area. Dallas tells them to take a train to Windrixville and hide in an abandoned church that is at the top of a mountain. Johnny and Ponyboy spend some days there and one day Dallas visits them and takes them to eat to a local diner. When the three of them get back to the church they realize there’s a fire and a group of kids are trapped in the inside. Without a hesitation Johnny and Ponyboy enter to the church to save the trapped kids and are able to save them but the church collapses, Dally runs to save Ponyboy and Johnny but can’t really help Johnny so he breaks his back and is taken to the hospital, but after some days he dies. With Johnny’s death everyone in the gang gets really sad but no one ever expected Dallas Winston, the toughest of them all to be so affected by it. At the end Dallas cannot handle the loss so he makes a plan to kill himself without him really doing it; he robs a shop so the police would chase him, calls the greasers to go to the parking lot so they could help him but at the parking lot he gets out of his car and takes out his unloaded gun, since the police didn’t know the gun was unloaded they shot him and he dies, in front of the gang. Throughout the plot the author gives Dallas the characterizations of a hoodlum â€Å"it only costs a quarter if you’re not in a car- but Dallas hated to do things the legally way†. We know he’s a mess, like it shows in chapter one â€Å"He had been arrested, he got drunk, he rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, stole, rolled drunks, jumped small kids- he did everything†. Supposedly Ponyboy wrote this after Dally’s death, so even after seeing how at the end Dallas couldn’t handle everything he still saw him as a tough cold youth delinquent. The big break down, the moment that makes you doubt if Dallas is really a careless hoodlum is Johnny’s death. You see this tough violent youth through almost the whole book and suddenly he breaks down â€Å"His face contracted in agony, and sweat streamed down his face. â€Å"Damnit Johnny † He begged, slamming one fist against the wall, hammering to make it obey his will. † And then there? s his death, which I think is the most intriguing moment in Dallas characterization, because if he was so much â€Å"tougher, colder, meaner† than the rest of the Greasers as Ponyboy describes him in the beginning of the book, why couldn’t he handle Johnny’s death? I think Dallas Winston was a hoodlum. Of course an argument against mine could be that he was a vulnerable youth since he had lived so many bad moments and injustice through his life. But if you think about it every single greaser had a pretty bad life too, and had lived injustice, violence or tragic moments. For example Ponyboy, Sodapop and Darry’s parents dying or Johnny’s dad beating him and getting drunk. All of them could use their circumstances as an excuse to turn into a hoodlum, but not all of them did. Dallas couldn’t handle bad situations, he couldn’t handle his feelings, and instead of trying to do it he preferred to go down the â€Å"bad† road. He knew what was good and bad, but still he chose to do bad. You can learn about Dallas bad decisions and way of handling his emotions through the plot of the story, beginning in chapter one â€Å" and had been arrested at the age of ten† or â€Å"he had been arrested, got drunk lied, cheated, stole he did everything†. In chapter two â€Å"-but Dallas hated to do things the legal way. † Chapter three â€Å"Dallas could talk awful dirty if he wanted to and I guess he wanted to then. And even in chapter four, where he is trying to help Johnny and Ponyboy he doesn’t make the best decision that could be made, he gives a gun to two kids and tells them to runaway and hide from the authorities. In chapter nine â€Å"He suddenly bolted through the door and down the hall† and finally there? s the point where he cannot think of anything better than ending with his life, and is actually quite glad about it â€Å"He was jerked half around the impact of the bullets, then slowly crumpled with a look of grim triumph on his face† in chapter ten. With this you can understand how instead of trying to deal with it like Johnny or Ponyboy did in their specific situations he did bad things and he did them since he was 10 years old. There are also moments where Dally shows his good side, but everybody has a good side. I don’t believe there’s a human that is 100% good or 100% bad. For Dally the greasers where his family and he did whatever he could for them to be okay. A good example could be the church fire, Dally didn’t care about the trapped kids inside of it and didn’t try to save them but when he saw Johnny and Ponyboy needed help he risked his life to help them. In chapter 4 we also see one of Dallas caring sides â€Å"Dry off and wait there. At least Johnny’s got his jeans jacket. You ought to know better than to run away in just a sweatshirt, and a wet one. † So it looks like Dallas wasn’t all hard stiff, he could be nice and he cared but just with the greasers, because there’s not a moment in the novel where Dallas is nice and caring with any other group of boys, the police or any authority figure â€Å"He had quite a reputation. They have a file on him down at the police station. In conclusion I think Dally could’ve been a vulnerable teenager but he opted to be â€Å"just a hoodlum. † I believe this because he always knew what was good and bad, he knew the consequences but he still chose to steal, cheat, get drunk etc. And I also think that the circumstances in which lived his life where not an excuse for him to do all the things he did, like I already mentioned any of the greasers could’ ve chosen to be a hoodlum, but they knew better than Dally. I think The Outsiders is a really important book because it talks about things that could’ve happened or could be happening right now; and despite of the story being kind of drastic with serious things going on I like how at the end it has a â€Å"happy ending. † But not the typical happy ending where everyone lives happily forever after, but an ending where you know that the main character will still struggle and live through rough times but you also know that he has learned to find hope and joy in the little things, and that eventually, everything will be alright.