Dallas Winston Character Analysis
Dallas Winston, from S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, is both complex and intriguing. The ambiguity of chameleon-like
Dallas reveals multi-layers of his psyche; many people, including S.E. Hinton, concludes that
Dallas is a 'cold-hearted hood who cares little about himself or others', but his actions contradict
that. Dallas embodies the archetypal Greaser: white T-shirts that clung to his slender but
muscular frame, black boots scruffy and etched with historical scars, blue jeans that were boot-cut, enunciating that he's ready to take on the world with a vengeance. His hair was white-blonde, that falls over his face in wispy curls at the tips. What most people would remember about him was his face; a sharp looking chin, ears like a lynx, and even sharp pixie teeth, but the main trait was his eyes. His eyes were ice-blue, hunks of cerulean that would pierce through your very core and frighten you. They were bitter and cruel, forcing people to sense that there is no tine he is ever nice and sweet. And with his harsh attire and appearance comes his personality; he smokes, drinks, steal cars, and brawl just for fun. His criminal record is as long and as wide as a phone book. But despite his crooked criminal nature comes a quality very few people see: Honesty. The one thing Ponyboy, his ally, could say is that he enjoys participating in rodeos and he does it fair and square, no cheating. He looks down on anyone that does otherwise; even go as far as to punch Buck in the face when assumed Dallas cheated to win his rodeos. Another trait about him is nobility; he refuses to rat out his friend Two-Bit to the police when Two-Bit vandalized property, and even went as far as to take the blame. That leads to responsibility; if he gets caught, he accepts responsibility and takes his punishment like a man. He will even take the fall for his friends, producing a notion that he's also loyal; he will always stick to his friends regardless of what happens.
But the one friend that forced people to open their eyes to Dallas was Johnny; Johnny was the only boy who could stand up to him when Dallas got out of line, who Dallas ever truly loved. When Johnny died Dallas took it the hardest, leading to his self-destructive behavior that lead to his death when he was gunned down by police in a suicide. Dallas wanted the best for Johnny; when Johnny considered turning himself in Dallas feared for him for he saw himself in Johnny; the scared little boy left abandoned and alone, and doesn't want Johnny to wind up like him. He latches onto Johnny because he found he had more in common with him than he did the other Greasers; They came from a rough background and parents that don't exactly care for him. Dallas lived on the rough streets of New York, exposing him to horrors no innocent child should ever see. It slowly broke him until his arrest at age ten that killed the little boy in him, cementing the hardened criminal he was at seventeen.
When people think of Dallas, they don't regard his noble traits of going out on a limb for his friends, taking care of Johnny to the point o0f being paternal, or even his ambiguous past, but he's the most noble and fearless of the bunch, even the most empathetic and sympathetic. He embodied the child who was ignored and abused, striving for love and affection and got nothing. He was the child who grew up too fast for his own good, and died young and violent. Young and noble. He was a hardened child that faced reality too early, and never considered that there is still good outside what he was used to. And that is sad. His death will always reflect the importance of staying young, and everything isn't always what it seems. He is a lesson that few people will learn the hard way.