The Outsiders/Tear Jerker

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Tear Jerkers in The Outsiders include:

• Johnny's Death and life leading up to it. This was a 16 year old kid whom had to put up with growing up in poverty with alcoholic abusive parents, whom if they're not fighting each other, they're taking it out on him. As if that isn't bad enough, the Soc's hassle him every chance they get. One of which, using rings to beat the shit out of him, giving his face some scars. All of which make him suicidal to the core. The Greasers, especially Ponyboy and Dallas are the closest he has to brothers and he returns that loyalty in kind. As if things couldn't possibly get any worse, he ends up killing Bob. The Soc that cut him and was trying to drown Ponyboy in the fountain for flirting with Cherry Valence. As a result he and Ponyboy are wanted fugitives hiding in an abandoned church and while Bob deserved it, Johnny feels immediate regret for killing him. However what makes things a lot worse, is that during his time with Ponyboy, Ponyboy introduces him reasons to live. Such as enjoying sunsets and reading stories like Gone With The Wind. Which wouldn't seem so bad, if not for what happens next. After Dallas comes to check on him and Ponyboy and giving them some BBQ for lunch, they go back to the church to find that it's on fire. To top it off there are kids inside. Against Dallas' orders Ponyboy and Johnny run in to save them, but just when they're about to get out a beam falls on Johnny's back, breaking it and trapping him inside to burn. Dallas gets him out, and he's covered from the neck down in third degree burns while Dallas only has a burned arm. When Ponyboy goes to visit him, Johnny laments his regret for his suicidal tendencies after finding reasons to live. His mother comes to the hospital, but the stress of seeing her on top of demanding the nurse to make her leave causes him to pass out. After the Rumble, Ponyboy and Dallas talk to Johnny one last time. After lamenting the pointlessness of fighting, he tells Ponyboy to stay gold before he dies. It becomes a bit more heartwarming, when Johnny asks the nurse to write a letter for him and puts it into his copy of Gone With The Wind. Telling him among most things how he understands Robert Frost's poem, how saving the kids is worth it and to tell Dallas to appreciate life more. The latter of which becomes heartbreaking, when Pony realizes he's too late he can't fulfill his dead friend's last request.
• Dallas' death and the events leading up to it. After the Rumble, Dallas picks up Ponyboy and tries to speed to the hospital. Dallas at first seems to be his usual tough guy self, boasting that if Johnny was smart like him, he wouldn't have done what he did that landed him in the hospital. However one can tell, at least in the movie version that while he sounds tough, Dallas is a scared kid worried about his best friend. After Johnny dies, Dallas loses it. First pointing an unloaded gun at a doctor to mess with him, then afterwards taking his frustrations out on a shopkeeper. Robbing him, causing the cops to come hot on his trail. Then organizing things to make sure his friends see him get killed by the cops when he pulls the same stunt to them with the unloaded gun. The latter of which caused Ponyboy to collapse from stress.

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