November Notations

Sweet, Sensitive, or murderous?


Can a guy be sweet, sensitive but yet could be a murderer? The character I chose was young, sweet, courageous Johnny. I picked Johnny because he was sensitive just like me. Also I picked because he would stand up for a person in need and risk his life to save some kids and protect a friend if someone was hurting them. What I didn't like about Johnny was that he was too kind; he could barely stand up for himself. I am similar to Johnny because we can't stand up for ourselves and we get our feelings hurt very easily. Someone I know that is similar to Johnny besides me is my autistic brother, Brennan. He is warmhearted just like Johnny. He has a hard time understanding a lot of the world. He is very quiescent and very delicate.
To begin with, at the beginning of the novel Johnny reveals to be undeveloped and very cautious about life after he had been beaten by the Socs, short for socials. Socials are the very popular group. in school and out of school . They own Mustangs and they dress cool. On the other hand Greasers are low class and do not have very much money. In the beginning of the book they go to the Outdoor Movies and they snuck in and sat behind two Soc girls. Dally started bugging Cherry Valance and then Johnny said to Dally, "Leave her alone Dally." Johnny was protecting Cherry from Dally but afterward he gulped and got very pale. This shows that Johnny can stand up for himself but then is afraid that something horrible is going to happen to him for standing up for someone.
Furthermore, Johnny ends up changing during the middle of the book due to Ponyboy. Ponyboy decided to run away with Johnny then the Socs follow them in their car and jump Ponyboy .The Socs try to drown Ponyboy. Then Johnny gets his courage up and takes out his switchblade and kills Bob the soc drowning Ponyboy. Johnny then whispers to Ponyboy, "I killed him." Then he realizes what he has done and he is scared now back to normal and worried if he is going to be sent to Juvie hall. Also another example of their fear was that they cut and dyed their hair. It is important change to Johnny because the Greasers all thought he was this sweet person that could not even hurt a fly.
At the end of the novel Johnny changes. He is back to normal but they don't send him to Juvie because he is stuck in the hospital he saved kids from a burning church where they were hiding out and then a beam fell on his back and paralyzed his all of lower body because he saved all the little kids stuck in the burning church. He changed because when they were in the church Ponyboy was reading Gone with The Wind and when Johnny was in the hospital, Two -Bit said to him, "Do you need anything else besides hair grease?" Johnny nods "The Book" he said quietly. I think this change is for the good for Johnny because in this book I don't think many people would want sweet Johnny to change into a gang member and be a mean person.
If this character didn't not die I think he could have been the same sweet Johnny but he would have had gone to Juvie hall because he murdered Bob. I also think that the Greasers would not treat Johnny like the gang's pet anymore. I think they would treat Johnny a lot better than they did before because he killed a Soc and the Socs would be scared of the Greasers instead of the opposite way around.