Johnny Cade As A Hero In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

Robert Renfroe, better known as Bob Riley once said, “Hard times don't create heroes. It is during hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed”. In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Johnny Cade is a 16-year-old Greaser with long and greasy ebony hair covering his forehead. He has dark pusillanimous eyes and a scar that runs from his forehead to his cheekbone. Johnny is portrayed as an abused boy who was emotionally and physically traumatized, but throughout the novel, it is revealed that he is a gallant individual who is willing to risk his life for others. Johnny is a boy who endured much abuse, and it caused him to have emotional scars. After the Socs jumped him, “Johnny was scared of his own shadow” (4). Johnny has a form of posttraumatic
stress disorder. All of the trauma he has to put up with throughout his life caused him to have extreme irrational fears. He will never be the same because of the experiences he lived through. After getting jumped by the Socs, Ponyboy truly understands and realizes how much worse Johnny has it and how, "his father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him... You could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house” (12). Johnny is still an adolescent boy, whose mind is being shaped. Parents are supposed to be role models for their children, but Johnny’s spend all of their time neglecting him. Johnny tries to conceal the truth and harsh reality of his situation, but sometimes it gets to be too much for him. As troubled as Johnny really is, he still manages to overcome his past and prove his worth to society. Johnny is a true companion and a hero. As Ponyboy opens Gone with the Wind, a letter from Johnny falls out of it, and it vocalizes, “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... And I know it was worth it” (178). Johnny shows how bold and valiant he truly is, even on his deathbed. Johnny knows of the fate that awaits him, yet does not for a second regret his actions nor question his morals. As Ponyboy is running away, he calls out to Johnny,” Come on Johnny we are running away”, and “Johnny asked no questions” (51). Johnny did not doubt Pony for a second. He simply went along with him. Johnny puts all of Pony’s problems before his own and everyone else's too. johnny never felt worthy of everything he ever had because he was brought up in the mindset that his parents abused him because of he himself, he never thought that it could be the personalities of his parents himself