So much of the Outsiders is just so sad altogether, but the utmost heartbreaking part of all of it for me is when Dally dies. While I value him as a character, I think the way his death is narrated makes it all the more tragic. Dally was never afraid to be selfish. He let everyone know that he would put his needs above their own in a heartbeat, regardless of class, status, or relationship. He was incredibly cold toward anyone and everyone. People feared him. He was mean and ruthless. Far crueler than any 17 year old should ever have to be. The book tells us that Johnny was the only thing Dallas ever, ever cared about. The only person he would have ever put before himself. The only person who he willingly and very really risked his life for.
And when the only thing he knew how to love was taken from him, it was like everything else in the world went with it. Dally, rather than being as cold and hard and unfeeling as he always was, Dallas could find no escape from his heartbreak than to lose his own life along with it.
It only ever hurts to hear the line
"Dally wanted to die. And Dallas Winston always got what he wanted."
To know that it means he, after years of imprisonment and gang violence and associating the streets with home, the only thing big enough to break Dallas Winston was the sheer volume of love he felt for Johnny Cade. And it literally killed him. Dally couldn't think to live in a world without that boy, so he didn't.
And damn the man who ever dared try to say Dally Winston didn't have a heart, because his heart bled darker and deeper than any greaser or soc in all of Tulsa.
i started atyd and never finished it because of how long it is. i think i'll finish it someday
i haven't updated my pinned post in a while, but now i absolutely love james and barty, and of course, evan
idk who's my favorite, they're all such well-developed characters thanks to the fandom. i'm a whore for well done characters, it's insane how we took names and created the marauders fandom
Hello we have similar interests would you like to be friends (I’m looking for outsiders mutuals and I noticed I’m also in pretty much all your other fandoms… also my best friend is the same personality type as you so well probably get along.. idk why I’m explaining myself I could have just said hi)
yeah of course!! i would love another the outsiders mutual <33 i live and breathe s.e. hinton
lmao i totally get overthinking/explaining/rambling about things, and i absolutely love it ngl
Hello we have similar interests would you like to be friends (I’m looking for outsiders mutuals and I noticed I’m also in pretty much all your other fandoms… also my best friend is the same personality type as you so well probably get along.. idk why I’m explaining myself I could have just said hi)
yeah of course!! i would love another the outsiders mutual <33 i live and breathe s.e. hinton
lmao i totally get overthinking/explaining/rambling about things, and i absolutely love it ngl