Selfless or Careless People in The Outsiders

A person that look careless, rude, and or bad may be the one who cares about you the
most. In The Outsiders which was written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy was a main character
and also be a narrator at the same time. He was the one who told the story and described other
characters by using his opinion. There were many characters that were seen as careless in his
eyes (and in others too) but actually, who will know that those characters were selfless for
other people. Some characters even were unheeded by the public. There were three main
characters who could be a good example for this type of character, which were Darry, Dally,
and Sandy.
Darry was an older brother of Ponyboy. In Ponyboys eyes, he was a cold, tough, and
rude guy. He never thought about other people that much and always be careless to Ponyboy.
Ponyboy did not like him. He always worked too hard and too long in his job. There was one
time that Ponyboy went back home late. He complained and slapped Ponyboys face so hard.
This made Ponyboy felt more confidence that he did not love him at all. However, who
would know that everything that he had done he did because he wanted to take care of his
family and protect them as much as he could. He might be a cold guy and never satisfied
about anything that Ponyboy did, but he was actually the one who loved Ponyboy the most.
Darry works too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture, so Im not
like that.(2) Why he had to work too hard and too long? Because he needed money to treat
his family because after his mom and dad died. He should grow up. He had been a real
popular guy in school: he was captain of the football team and he had been voted Boy of the
Year. But we just didnt have the money for him to go to college, even with the athletic
scholarship he won. And now he didnt have time between jobs to even think about college.
So he never went anywhere and never did anything anymore, except work out at gyms and go
skiing with some old friend sometime.(16) He even had to leave a school that he liked or

threw away his future, but he was willing to accept that. He might be an adult as fast as he
could to look after his younger brothers. In his head, he always afraid of losing someone who
he loved. That was why he always strict with Ponyboy. He just needed the best for him.
Suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying. He didnt make a sound, but tears were
running down his cheeks. I hadnt seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had
been killed In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me
came through. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because
he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me. When he yelled Pony, where have
you been all this time? he meant Pony, youve scared me to death. Please be careful,
because I couldnt stand it if anything happened to you (98) Also, Darry said to Ponyboy
that Oh, Pony, I ehought wed lost youlike we did Mom and Dad(98) Darry cried
because he thought that he already lost his beloved brother, Pony, from the accident that the
church was on fired. All these things already showed that how much he sacrificed to his
beloved his family.
Dally who looked colder, tougher, and meaner than other member of his gang, Geaser.
He had eyes with a hatred of the whole world. He had been arrested, rolled drunks, jumped
small kids. He did everything he wanted by did not have to care the others. He will not listen
to anyone voice except Johnny, the youngest member of Geaser. Ponyboy did not like him,
but Ponyboy did respect him. Actually, he was not a selfless person in the first place. He
thought that being a selfless person was useless and nothing good would happen. Anyway, his
attitude was wrong with his thought. He had done a lot of things that helped his members
which was very dangerous to him and unheeded by the public. I leaped out the window and
heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost falling,
coughing and sobbing for breath. Then, I heard Johnny scream, and as I turned to go back for
him, Dally swore at me and clubbed me across the black as hard as he could, and I went

down into a peaceful darkness (93) From this passage, it said that he ran to help Ponyboy,
Johnny, and other kids from the accident that the church was on fire. He hit Ponyboys head
to stop him from trying to run into the church. Then, he decided to run into the Church to
help the rest. His arm was badly burned but still be okay. Dallys eyes were closed, but when
I spoke he had tried to grin and had told me that if I ever did a stupid thing like that again
hed beat the tar out of me. This shows that he did care about his members. After that there
were reporters who wanted to interview a person who had helped those two kids who stuck in
the Church. They chose to interview Ponyboy because they thought that Ponyboy was person
who had helped them and called him a hero. No one knew or even looked at Dally, the real
hero. But I remembered Dally pulling Johnny through the window of the burning church;
Dally giving us his gun, although it could mean jail for him; Dally risking his life for us.
Trying to keep Johnny out of trouble. And now he was a dead juvenile delinquent and there
wouldnt be any editorials in his favor. Dally didnt die a hero. He died violent and young and
desperate, just like we all knew hed die someday. (154) He was selfless for his friends. He
could even give away his life to protect them. In the last part of this passage, it said that he
died. Because he robbed a grocery store because he couldnt stand that Johnny died. He
called his friends and told them that he would come to them. However, when he was running
to them, polices followed him. He didnt want his friends to get in trouble because of him.
Then he took his fake gun out, and this cause polices misunderstood and shot him to dead. All
of his attitude already proved that he was selfless person who could throw away his life for
his friend.
Sandy was a girlfriend of Sodapop, older brother of Ponyboy. She was not really was
mentioned in the book that much, but at the end of the story, she was judged that she was a
careless person who left her boyfriend because she didnt love him as much as he loved her
so that was why she could left the town easily by didnt tell him at all. On the other hand, she

was mentioned that she was a good girl. I liked Sodas girl Sandy just fine, though. Her hair
was natural blond and her laugh was soft, like her China-blue eyes. She didnt have a real
good home or anything and was our kind -geaser- but she was a real nice girl. (15) From
what Ponyboy said about her, he said that she was a real nice girl. Also, her family was not
that good. Then, how could she willing to leave the town with them alone? Plus, how could
she be so careless and leave her lover with no word? The truth was that she was pregnant
with Sodapop. She might care about him so much so she decided to leave the town with her
family. This would help him to continue his life as he pleased by didnt have to worry about
her and their baby. He still young and didnt have a job. It might be hard thing for him to take
responsibility to take care of these two life. She didnt not love him, but she just cared about
him a lot. He was the only one who she really love, so she could be a selfless person who
walked away from his life and confronted with all of the hard things by herself.
To sum up, a selfless person doesnt have to be a real good or perfect person who is
accepted by other people. A selfless person is just someone who thinks about other people
first but not himself. Even though they may be seen as careless people, Darry, Dally, and
Sandy are actually just humans who know how to love and care about a younger brother, a
friend, and a lover. Never judge people by their outside or attitude. People have their own
reasons to do or not do something. Finally, if there are people who willing to look cold or bad
in other peoples eyes, doesnt it mean that they are a selfless person?