#‘dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York’s west side.’

[jamandjazz]

I like imagining that Dally used some of the stories he had from New York as a way to try and keep Ponyboy and Johnny in line and not fuck around doing stupid stupid shit because he never wanted to see them in the sorta position he saw so many other people get themselves into.

[this-hattan-newsie]

"Dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York's West Side."

I know that WSS was taking place in 1957, is it possible that Dally had seen Riff and Bernardo death or at least knew them?

[rubyneo]

"Dally was there, too, swearing under his breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York's West Side. Why did he look sick now?"

[writersriot]

The Outsiders Queer Subtext ft. Jally - Part 15

Sunday, March 12, 2017

All right, so now we get the background info on Johnny getting jumped by Socs. It breaks my heart, but let’s jump in.

We were used to seeing Johnny banged up -- his father clobbered him around a lot, and although it made us madder than heck, we couldn’t do anything about it. But those beatings had been nothing like this. Johnny’s face was cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone. He would carry that scar all his life. His white T-shirt was splattered with blood. I just stood there, trembling with sudden cold. I thought he might be dead; surely nobody could be beaten like that and live. Steve closed his eyes for a second and muffled a groan as he dropped on his knees beside Soda.

Somehow the gang sensed what had happened. Two-Bit was suddenly there beside me, and for once his comical grin was gone and his dancing gray eyes were stormy. Darry had seen us from our porch and ran toward us, suddenly skidding to a halt. Dally was there, too, swearing under his breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York’s West Side. Why did he look sick now? (Pg 32-33)

Pony jfc. I know the boy is fourteen, but come on. He is like seriously dense. (Also, I’ve always wondered how the gang could get to Johnny’s side so fast via spidey senses, yet no one managed to hear or notice when he was actually being jumped??)

Anyway, the whole gang is visibly distraught by Johnny being attacked. Even Steve and Two-Bit, who are not usually shown to be too sensitive, are extremely upset. Again, these boys love each other so much that it warms my heart.

But who wouldn’t be upset to find one of their friends beat to hell? Why exactly is it so surprising to Pony that Dally is sickened by this? Everyone is affected, why is Dally expected to be any different? Why does Pony expect Dally to be emotionless just because he’s hard and tough? I have never really understood this aspect.

Just because Dally has seen other people killed doesn’t mean he’s ready to see that happen to a good friend of his. No matter how hard he’s supposed to be, Dally still has feelings. And honestly, Johnny seems to bring out Dally’s feelings the most. It makes him sick to see Johnny hurt like this, which I would say is a normal reaction, but because Pony sees it as so out of the ordinary, I as a reader will too.

This can be seen as another example of Pony simply not understanding all of the dynamics of the gangs’ friendships and being a bit naive in thinking of Dally as heartless or something. But it’s so emphasized how strange Pony thinks it is for Dally to care enough about someone to have an emotional reaction that I can’t let it go. Pony doesn’t even put it into so many words, but later in the book, he makes it clear that Dally pretty much only cares about Johnny (like, in a way that sounds unhealthy.) And this is a moment that cements that in my mind.

I think the root of this comes from Johnny reminding Dally of who he could have been and being someone Dally wants to protect. This is part of Dally and Johnny being mirror/counterpoint foils that I mentioned previously. They are opposites yet so similar that it’s easy to make the comparison between them.

Let’s look at Johnny’s reaction to being jumped for more:

Finally, between sobs, Johnny managed to gasp out his story. He had been hunting our football to practice a few kicks when a blue Mustang had pulled up beside the lot. There were four Socs in it. They had caught him and one of them had a lot of rings on his hand -- that’s what had cut Johnny up so badly. It wasn’t just that they had beaten half to death -- he could take that. They had scared him. They had threatened him with everything under the sun. Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time. Living in those conditions might have turned someone else rebellious and bitter; it was killing Johnny. He had never been a coward. He was a good man in a rumble. He stuck up for the gang and kept his mouth shut good around cops. But after the night of the beating, Johnny was jumpier than ever. I didn’t think he’d ever get over it. Johnny never walked by himself after that. And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He’d use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had scared him that much. He would kill the next person who jumped him. Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body. (Pg 33-34)

Poor Johnny. He’s not a coward, but he wants to stop hurting. He already gets enough shit at home, I’m not surprised that he goes in this direction after being jumped. He’s been in survival mode his whole life, but now he’s heading into fight-for-your-life territory.

The thing is, Johnny could easily turn into Dally if given enough time and motivation. This is the starting point in that. It comes from self-defense, sure, but if he continued to feel threatened, Johnny would do whatever he has to. Just like Dally.

Think about Dally as a child, who would have been scared shitless before doing whatever it takes to survive. He could have been Johnny in another life, if less horrible shit had happened to him at such a young age. This is why I consider them mirror foils because they are opposites, but they have so much of each other inside them, or the potential to be them, that I think it would be easy for Johnny and Dally to connect in that respect. They would probably never put this into words, but I recognize it, and maybe they would too.

Dally wants to protect Johnny as a version of himself that he lost long ago. And Johnny idolizes Dally because he acts like nothing in the world can get to him. 

Nothing but Johnny himself.

I die a little bit every time I think about that.

So, what do you think about Dally caring enough about Johnny to show an emotional reaction over him being attacked? And what about Johnny and Dally being opposites yet so similar to each other as foils?

Until the next part~