# data[].attributes.body
Dear Prairie Mountain 7th grader,

I believe you will enjoy the novel ''The Outsiders'', it is sad, funny, scary and even touching at times, it the story of a Gang. They are referred to as Greasers. This is the late 1900s So the popular kids are the Socs. These Socs may also organize in Gangs, and then Both vwill jump eachother, which is were the book can get scary, and Painful to read, concidering the death of one of the main characters Johnny. You will enjoy this novel, with its endless suspense, I guarantee you will read past the assigned chapters every day...

# data[].attributes.body
5 years later... The relaxation I felt. It was as if all the weight I ever experienced in this world was lifted off my shoulders. I soaked in the pleasing comfort knowing it would only last this one year; the year after Highshool Graduation. 19 now, I feel so independent. I'm an Adult! That realization has only hit me now. It didn't matter so much before, but taking a year off was all my decision and it feels very good right now. Looks like 26 year-old Darry doesn't have so much power any more. I still love him, but I feel a little more free now. Besides He's too busy Badgering Soda about his Job, because he's not in school. Poor Sodapop. He still has the same job, along with Darry. I now work at Dairy Queen with Cherry, funny it is the same Dairy Queen right outside of the old Church that burned down. I have a small-paying scholarship for my smarts, so I guess you could say we are all a happy family. As for Twobit and Steve, we simply do not know where they are. We still miss Johnny but feel better. We try our best to stay out of trouble , but we are , after all Greasers...

# data[].attributes.body
16-year-old Johnny Cake dies in hospital in early spring after jumping in to a burning church to save 5 children. For more information, TURN TO OBITUARY...

16 year- old Johnny grew up with abusive parents. His mother describes her regret ignoring him, and confesses his fathers violent drunken acts toward the young Hero. Along side Johnny, Ponyboy another outlaw and friend also jumps into building to save the children. All children survive and the only death is Johnny. He was a kind hearted spirited person with many friends, and quoted by his friend Ponyboy '' We needed him as much as he needed us''

# data[].attributes.body
The word Hero can represent a lot of different things; whether a hero is the man in

the cape who saved the day, or whether its someone who has demonstrated phenomenal traits. To me Ponyboy, Johnny

and Dally are all Heroes. These are the people that possess courage, responsibility, and loyalty. They are selfless and at one

point or another strived to be Heroes throughout this novel. Ponyboy is right. Its the inside of the person that matters. So if

you aquire the same traits as the four Heroes in ''The Outsider'', than you two can have editorials written about you in the Newspaper.

# data[].attributes.body
Another Greaser in the Newspaper, and an older brother to Ponyboy, Darry  can also be concidered

a hero. Although he never saved a life or did an incredible deed. Darry possessed a trait that no one

else demonstrated throughout the entire novel '' The Outsiders'', and that is loyalty. With a successful job, and bright career, Darry would have been very well off. And he would have even have been a Soc if his parents didn't die in a car wreak. suddenly he focused his money he was owning on Ponyboy and Soda.

With no extra money, the family all became Greasers. Dally, a friend and fellow gang member of Ponyboy, Johnny, Soda, and Darry, Is a hero as well, and for the same reason as Darry. He was loyal to Ponyboy

and Johnny. When the two of them came to Dally for help, and the confession of murder, Dally listened. And he also helped them, instead of helping himself; He armed them and gave them cash. Because he cared about them. Many people would say that Dally isn't a Hero. But I believe he is.

# data[].attributes.body
Johnny, another Greaser, like Ponyboy, Is an excellent example of the traits, or inside of the person

that are making the true decisions. Rather than the outside, or the identity of the person. In the novel

''The Outsiders'', Johnny commits a murder against a Soc named Bob. But with courage and

responsibility for the fire, like Ponyboy, he turns his life around from a villain who killed, to a hero

that saved. Johnny, otherwise known as Johnnycake, Died as this hero, with editorials describing his

bravery and courage in the Newspaper.

# data[].attributes.body
Ponyboy is a hero because he jumped into the burning church to save children at risk of death. He was able to begin, and complete this task because of a trait he possessed;

Courage. Therefor Ponyboy is a Hero. However there is a trait you must have  before even courage can be present, and that is responsibility. Ponyboy took

responsibility in that he realizes that he started the fire by misplacing a cigarette, and than had the courage to fix what he started. The difference between Hero and Villain is dependent on the qualities possessed on the in- side of the person, as Ponyboy describes in the novel the ''The Outsiders'', in his conversation with the Soc, Randy. Ponyboy said that it was the inside of the person, not the identity of the person, that makes the ultimate decisions. And that Randy, two, would have saved the children.

# data[].attributes.body
What is a hero?...What do you think of when you hear that word... hero?

Do you think of a Superhero or other fictional characters, or do you think

of someone who is selfless. Someone who will help others before they help

themselves. Ponyboy is an example of someone who possesses selflessness.

He is a hood and a Greaser, and he is still a hero. With that prospective of Heroes

in mind, I believe that although they are Greasers, Ponyboy, Johnny, and maybe

even Darry, and Dally are heroes.

# data[].attributes.body
Logan Leister        Essay on the novel '' The Outsiders'':