What is a hero? What does it mean to be one? The Outsiders is written by S.E Hinton published in 1967 by the Viking Press, the most recent edition was published in 2006. One or more Greaser(s) can be considered a hero, there are many examples such as; Johnny and Ponyboy saved children from a burning fire, Ponyboy stopped Two-Bit from telling off Johnny’s mom, and Johnny risked his life to save Ponyboy’s.
Firstly, Ponyboy and Johnny were found in a very difficult situation, Ponyboy was being brutally drowned in a fountain by Bob the Soc, and Johnny was about to be beat. This was a very traumatic moment, during this Johnny was trying to figure out how to save Ponyboy, then he had remembered his switchblade and pulled it out. As Ponyboy was nearing death he stabbed Bob and Bob fell to the floor. A quote from that scene is “They might have killed you, and they were gonna beat me up.” Pg 57 Many argue this is self defense and many argue it’s not, but this clearly states Randy was coming after Johnny too, so it does fall under self defense. Not only did Johnny save Ponyboy’s life he risked his. That is the work of a hero. …show more content…
But there are those brave moments where he does, one of them is when Johnny’s mother is blaming Two-bit and Ponyboy for Johnny ending up in the hospital mother was really pushing their buttons, and that’s when Two-Bit decides to say “No wonder he (Johnny) hates your guts.” Pg 123 That’s when Ponyboy realizes that Two-Bit was about to freak, so he nudged him to walk away and Two-Bit did. Even though this might seem like a small thing, it prevented an argument between one of the Greaser’s mom’s and a Greaser themselves. Ponyboy really took courage to save them from having a fight and that shows great heroic