Why does Dally appear sick in Chapter 2 of The Outsiders?

Dally looks sick because he sees Johnny has been badly beaten by the Socs.

Dally is one of the toughest members of the greasers gang, but he has a soft spot for Johnny, whom Pony describes as the gang’s pet.  When Johnny is jumped by greasers, Dally takes it particularly hard.  All of the gang members are shaken by it, but Pony finds Dally’s reaction troubling, because he is so tough.

Dally was there, too, swearing under his breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York's West Side. Why did he look sick now? (Ch. 2)

Dally cares deeply about Johnny, but he knows that the boy is fragile.  He has a difficult home life, because he lives with an abusive and neglectful father.  It makes him jumpy.  When he is attacked by the Socs, it is almost more than poor Johnny can take. 

Johnny was also hurt very badly.  Pony says he thought, looking at Johnny, that he might be dead.

Johnny's face was cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone. … His white T-shirt was splattered with blood. I thought he might be dead; surely nobody could be beaten like that and live. (Ch. 2)

Socs have a tendency to target greasers who walk alone.  They prey on the weak.  Johnny, like Ponyboy, belongs to the gang because he wants a family.  He is not necessarily a tough kid.  There is no way he could defend himself against the brutal Soc beating. 

After he was jumped, Johnny was even jumpier than usual.  It caused things to be more strained between the greasers and the Socs, and led to the fight in the park between Johnny and Bob that caused Johnny to kill Bob in self-defense (and defense of Ponyboy).  This is the first link in a chain of events that will alter all of their lives.

What aspect of Dally's character is revealed in chapter 6 of The Outsiders?

In chapter 6 of S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, we see a different side of Dallas Winston, who is nicknamed Dally.

Prior to this chapter, we see Dally as the toughest member of the gang. He has a police record and is streetwise. He knows exactly what to do when Johnny and Ponyboy come to him scared after Bob's murder. Dally also shows his arrogance at the drive-in when he interacts with Cherry Valance.

In chapter 6, we see a more tender side of Dally. He shows his care and concern for his friends, particularly Johnny. When Johnny announces that he's planning to turn himself in, Dally respects the decision instead of just shutting him down or telling him it's a stupid idea. He says "You sure you want to go back? Us greasers get it worse than anyone else."

He also gets angry at Johnny, but out of protective concern for his friend. Johnny wants to know if his parents have asked about him. Throughout the book, we've seen the neglect and abuse Johnny's parents have shown him, so Dally's anger is because Johnny still cares about his parents. Dally thinks he should just write his parents off and realize that the gang is his family now. Dally further explains his reason for getting angry in the quote below:

"Johnny," Dally said in a a pleading, high voice, using a tone I had never heard from him before, "Johnny, I ain't mad at you. I just don't want you to get hurt. You don't know what a few months in jail can do to you. Oh, blast it, Johnny"—he pushed his white-blond hair back out of his eyes—"you get hardened in jail. I don't want that to happen to you. Like it happened to me . . ."

This is the first time readers see Johnny pleading with anyone, for any reason. He is showing his love for Johnny, too, because he wants to explain that he isn't mad at him. Also, much like a father figure, he doesn't want Johnny to go to jail because he wants something better for his friend than the life he's experienced.

What are Dally's parents like in The Outsiders?

Dallas’s parents do not care about him, and he does not care about them.  They are not in his life.

Dally is described as “tougher than the rest of us-tougher, colder, meaner” (Ch. 1), having spent three years “on the cold streets of New York” and arrested by the time he was ten.

Dallas described his parents as not being involved in his life.

Shoot, my old man don't give a hang whether I'm in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter.  That don't bother me none." (Ch. 6)

It’s clear that any kid who wanders around New York City and gets arrested by ten must not have a lot of parental involvement.  Ponyboy says he feels sorry for Dally because he knows that he is telling the truth when he says he does not care about his parents and his parents don’t care about him.

Ponyboy points out that Dally is tough, and could take it, “and when he wasn't, he could turn hard and tough” (Ch. 6).  Growing up without parents, he learned to fend for himself from an early age.  This made him a sort of father figure for the group.  Thus, while he was tough and kind of scary, they also respected and cared about him. 

In a way, they all became a dysfunctional family for each other because their own families were even more dysfunctional.  Darry does his best to hold Ponyboy and Sodapop together after their parents die.  Johnny’s father hits him.  Even the Socs have problems, as Cherry demonstrates.  Dallas is a typical kid who joined a gang in order to have a family because his own family was no longer working, a story that had been going on before and has continued to go on ever since.

Did Dally's parents influence his personality in The Outsiders?

Dallas Winston's personality has definitely been influenced by his parents or, more specifically, the lack of parenting in his life.  This fact is made very clear in Chapter 6 of The Outsiders, a classic novel written by S.E. Hinton. 

Although Dally says that his "old man don't give a hang whether [he's] in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter.  That don't bother [him] none," he obviously truly cares very much that his father does not care about him.  Otherwise, Dally would not bring up the matter when Johnny Cade is hurt by his parents' failure to ask about him; Dally sympathizes with Johnny's feelings and wants to protect him from the hurt that Dally himself has had a great deal of experience with.

Ponyboy Curtis has always considered Dally to be strong and believes that Dally "meant it when he said he didn't care about his parents."  Until Chapter 6, Ponyboy was unable to recognize the hurt that Dally had gone through, which caused him to have to become hardened to protect himself.  Dally's pain is also the reason he cares so much for Johnny and wants so badly to keep him from being hurt.

"Johnny," Dally said in a pleading, high voice, using a tone I had never heard from him before, "Johnny, I ain't mad at you.  I just don't want you to get hurt.  You don't know what a few monts in jail can do to you.  Oh, blast it, Johnny...you get hardened in jail.  I don't want that to happen to you.  Like it happened to me..."

...I felt my eyes getting round.  Dally never talked like that.  Never.  Dally didn't give a Yankee dime about anyone but himself, and he was cold and hard and mean...And I suddenly thought of Dally...in jail at the age of ten...Dally growing up in the streets...

If Dally had had any parenting or been shown kindness by anyone (before the Greasers), he probably would not have ended up in jail at the age of ten.  If he had not been forced to live on the streets, he probably could have allowed himself to be softer; he would not have had to become hard and harsh in order to survive. 

How did Dally's beliefs influence his actions in The Outsiders?

Dally is authentic in how his beliefs guide his actions.  He stands up for Johnny, and this is one of his beliefs that guide his actions.  He looks out for Johnny during the rumbles.  He helps him when he is in trouble.  When Johnny dies, Dally's spirit of hope and care dies with him.  At the same time, Dally does not shy from his belief of intense hatred for the Socs and what they represent.  Dally does not mollify his beliefs in any way.  His sense of anger and resentment fuels his hatred of the Socs and his actions represent this.  Dally is transparent in his own past run- ins with legal and social problems. This is a part of his being, as Dally does not use his past as an excuse or as something from which to flee.  Rather, Dally understands that his past is a part of his belief system.  He understands who he is, what he has been, and how this influences how he will always be seen and perceived.  For Dally, the way he ends his life is reflective of his beliefs:  Challenging authority, being seen as a threat when he really is misunderstood, and standing up for something larger than himself.  

In The Outsiders, what excuse did Dally give when stopped by the police?

In Chapter 9, the boys beat the Socs in a rumble and Dally tells Ponyboy to get into the car because Johnny is dying and they need to see him at the hospital. Dally is driving his friend Buck Merril's T-Bird as fast as he can down Tenth Street when the boys hear sirens. Dally turns to Ponyboy and instructs him to "look sick." Pony leans his head against the glass and starts to act sick. When the policeman approaches the car and knocks on the window, he asks Dally, "Where's the fire?" Dally points to Ponyboy and tells the officer that Pony fell off a motorcycle, and he is taking him to the hospital. Ponyboy groans for dramatic effect and the officer asks Dally if he would like an escort. The officer believes Dally's excuse and Dally calls him a "sucker." The policeman drives ahead of the boys, and they make it to the hospital in record time.

What does Dally's talk about jail and his actions in the church in The Outsiders reveal about him?

Dally's plea to Johnny not to turn himself in reveals how much he actually cares for the other boy:

"Johnny, I ain't mad at you.  I just don't want you to get hurt.  You don't know what a few months in jail can do to you" (89).

Despite Dally's tough exterior and hardened persona, he shows that he genuinely cares for Johnny like a younger brother; this moment transforms his characterization in the novel by revealing that Dally does have a sensitive, caring side.  Moreover, Dally acts selflessly to save Johnny from the church fire, putting himself at risk to help someone else, which is a direct contrast to his earlier self-centered attitude.  Chapter Six really showcases Dally as a character who does care deeply for his fellow gang members, that he does, in fact, have a heart.

In The Outsiders, how does Dally react before the police shoot him?

If you start at the moment that Johnny died in the hospital, it is clear that Dally's heart had broken. He rages at Johnny not to die and then says "that's what you get for tryin' to help people." It is clear that Johnny was incredibly important to him. Dally may very well have hoped that by taking care of Johnny he could help him avoid the terrible things he had seen and felt in prison and in his life on the streets. So once Johnny is gone, his reason for trying to keep it together seemed to disappear.

It would seem from the way it is described that Dally wanted to get caught and wanted to get chased by the police. When he pulls the gun in front of the chasing police, Pony recognizes that this was what he wanted. He even says that he died "with a look of grim triumph on his face," and that death was what he really wanted.

In The Outsiders, describe Dally's encounter with the police.

Dally encounters the police after he is on the run for holding up a liquor store.  He frantically called Darry's house, asking for help, and the gang agrees to meet him in the vacant lot.  As Dally nears the vacant lot, the police are also right behind him.  He makes the fatal mistake of showing his gun, and the police open fire.  Dally is shot down under the street light, right in front of his friends. 

Later, Ponyboy reflects that Dally pulled his gun on the police because he wanted to die.  The older, streetwise boy knew the police would open fire if he were armed.

Why does Dally appear sad in The Outsiders?

Dally is a tough hood from New York, but when the gang's pet member Johnny gets severly beaten by the Socs, Dally looks away "with a sick expression on his face" (33).  Ponyboy usually sees Dally as cold and unemotional, but even hard-hearted Dally had a tender place in his heart for Johnny.  Seeing a kid who he looked at as a younger brother so viciously beaten shakes Dally up.  Dally does not have many tender moments in the novel, but he definitely valued his relationship with Johnny Cade; his caring for the younger boy becomes even more evident after Johnny's accident, and Dally and Ponyboy return to visit Johnny after the rumble.  Dally pleads with Johnny not to die and then desperately bolts from the hospital room.