Johnny
Quiet, courageous, a good friend, these are all things that describe Johnny Cade, a boy who was forced into a bad situation that he never asked for. I picked this character because right from the get-go I connected him to a little girl from a story called “The Rocking Donkey” which is about a little girl facing child neglect. The obvious difference between these two children is the girl is never beaten just ignored, but in reality the biggest difference is the fact that Johnny has friends, friends who will care, friends who will be there. Something most people would like about Johnny would be how he’s such a great person. Ponyboy said in the novel that Johnny was more than a friend, he listened to what you had to say no matter what. I think that this is why most people would like him because he’s just an all around good person. Most people like me can’t really identify with a kid like this, someone who has one of the worst home situations possible and every right to be cold and mean, yet still somehow manages to be a good friend, I feel that Johnny should be an inspiration to us all because of his attitude and how he lives.
“He has the eyes of a puppy that has been beaten too many times” these are the words of Ponyboy, Johnny’s best friend however, Johnny’s parents responded differently, “His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him.” This is what Ponyboy said describing Johnny’s home life. “He would have run away from home a hundred times over if it wasn’t for the gang.” Johnny is inaugurated into the novel when he and the gang comes running to help Ponyboy when he gets jumped by the Socs and just about everybody in the gang would say the same as Ponyboy. But these words just don’t do him justice; I would say that Johnny was more gallant than anything. For example, when he followed Ponyboy into that burning house, or how he was just a guy that would listen and not interrupt, or how when he passed on, he sent a message to Ponyboy saying to keep living when he barely lived himself.
Johnny is a very interesting character. When he started the novel he was a quiet kid who really didn’t do much, but towards the end you saw him grow and become more outspoken. A prime example of this is when he stands up to Dally at the movie theater, now, at the time this didn’t seem that significant but as I looked back on it I realized that Johnny standing up to Dally, his idol, was one of the most significant and difficult things he could have done. Another example of this is the realization that he had when he found out he was passing, and he accepted it, which is next to impossible for a passing child. This change is important to Johnny because then he would have passed away just as another boy with an abominable family.
Johnny at the end of the novel was very different than Johnny at the beginning of the novel; he went from a quiet guy in the background to a great friend who matured enough to accept his fate, something I don’t think he could have done at the beginning of the novel. One thing that illustrates just how he changed was when he sent a letter to Ponyboy after he had died telling him to stay gold, and there was still good in the world. This would be something that I think just about no one would be able to do. Another thing that shows just how much he has changed is when Ponyboy said, “Johnny was something more than a buddy to all of us. I guess he had listened to more beefs and more problems from more people than any of us. A guy that’ll listen to you, listen and care about what you’re saying, is something rare.” I think that this truly sums up just how good a friend Johnny was.
I have learned from Johnny’s experiences that there is a lot of good in the world, today’s media just doesn’t show it, and I think that what happened to Johnny is terrible because I am a firm believer in if you’re a good person than good things will happen to you, so I guess Johnny just got a bad beat.
