Amber Luo
G8 English
Dally the Hero
To you, what is a hero? What characteristics are required for a person to be a hero? To me, I think that the main thing that a hero or heroine needs to have is to be willing to sacrifice themselves for one another, and the minor things are that they should not betray their friends, and should be strong and brave. In this novel, The Outsiders, I think that Dally is the most heroic person because he fits all of the characteristics that a hero is required to have. He is willing to sacrifice for his friends, he stands on his friend’s side even if he knows that they are doing something wrong, and he is really strong. In fact, he’s the toughest, so without him, the greasers may have lost the rumble.
I think that Dally is a hero because he is willing to sacrifice himself to others. When Ponyboy and Johnny decided to run away, they went to Dally, and even though he knew that they should go to the police, he stood on their side and gave them money, a gun, and other things which could mean jail to him. And remember when Ponyboy and Johnny went into the church and saved the children? After Ponyboy went out of the window, he heard the timber crashing behind him, and Johnny’s scream. Dally didn’t care about being injured, he pulled Johnny out of the window, which gave himself a badly burnt arm. And also when Johnny was fighting against death, Dally stayed in the hospital, and never left, and didn’t rest. He stayed with Johnny all the time, and gave him his support.
The second reason that makes me think that Dally is a hero is because he doesn’t betray his friends, and in fact, he helps them when they’re in trouble. Using the same example as the previous paragraph, when Ponyboy and Johnny wanted to run away, he gave them money, a gun, and clothes. It could make him go to jail, but he didn’t care. Also, he didn’t betray them by telling the police or anyone else including Ponyboy’s brother, Darry. He promised Ponyboy, so he kept his...