#I’ll get one. I know I will. things will clear up. all will be fine.
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Johnny Cade and Steve Randle as Foils
Ok so the great thing about the Outsiders is how every character foils every other character in some way, but there is one glaringly obvious foiling is barely ever talked about and it drives me crazy because it’s brilliant. I’m talking of course, about the similarities between Johnny Cade and Steve Randle.
The brilliance of them as characters is that personality wise they’re almost complete opposites. Steve is cocky and self assured and has a bitter, occasionally cruel streak a mile wide. Johnny on the other hand, is unsure, quiet, and deeply kind. These differences are what people seem to focus on the most when discussing these characters, but as characters they’re actually INCREDIBLY similar.
Both of them are the members of the gang with the worst home lives, coming from downright abusive situations- yes, Dallas had a shit dad, but at the time of the book it’s established he’s living by himself at Buck’s, he’s made himself an adult and as such his home life doesn’t foil Johnny’s, not really. Steve on the other hand, still lives at home but gets kicked out every other week, and ends up crashing at the Curtis place or anywhere else he can find. His mother is deliberately never mentioned, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions, but it’s clear Steve doesn’t have much of a relationship with her. Either she’s a doormat who doesn’t defend him when his dad is hollering or maybe even beating him around, or she isn’t around at all and she left him with his dad. Either way, Steve has an abusive father (EVEN if it isn’t physical it is DEFINITELY psychological and emotional) and a neglectful mother. We have even more backstory for Johnny whose mother is an emotionally abusive ‘selfish slob’ and whose father beats him viciously. Of all the gang, their backstories and home life are the most similar, and their characters have been shaped by it as a result. (The way Steve is sometimes vilified in this fandom for his very real responses to childhood trauma and abuse, while Johnny is universally pitied is a whole other essay so I’ll save if for another day.)
Ponyboy even says as much early on in the book;
“Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time. Living in those conditions might have turned someone else rebellious and bitter; it was killing Johnny.”
Rebellious and bitter, huh? Sounds like Steve Randle to me. His presence in the book is to show what kids in Johnny’s situation but without Johnny’s kindness turn into. Yes, Dally foils him a bit in this regard too, but I think Steve is a better, more in your face example of it. Their are other pieces in the book too, that highlight Steve and Johnny’s similar upbringing and the effects it has had on them, without directly calling them out as foiling characters, such as the fact they’re the two members of the gang who Pony calls out as examples when he’s talking about starting smoking young (woohoo nicotine as a coping mechanism am I right?);
“Johnny had been smoking since he was nine; Steve started at eleven.”
Here, the linking of their names even in what Pony views as an innocuous thing- smoking isn’t a big deal to him- forces us as readers to think about why they started. Knowing that smoking is used by the greasers as a tool to help them calm down reminds us that at their core these characters aren’t so different, and they likely felt the need for nicotine to deal with horrible experiences Pony never had to. Ponyboy smokes a lot, and he started young too, but whatever his catalyst was, it wasn’t the same as Johnny or Steve’s.
Yet another attribute that links them as characters is their fierce independence. Johnny is young, and the gang is protective of him, but as his core he is incredibly self sufficient because he has to be. He finds himself places to sleep, is forced to provide himself with food, and prior to being jumped was fine walking by himself. Steve works for a living, and much like Johnny, he too has to find himself a place to sleep and food to eat on the nights where he isn’t safe to be at home. Both Steve and Johnny are also incredibly protective in their own ways, especially of their more ‘innocent’ best friends (Soda is less innocent than Pony by a long shot, but he is still used to a modicum of security that Steve isn’t.) Steve gets angry at Ponyboy on Soda’s behalf when he asks about Sandy, even though Pony had no way of knowing what happened. Johnny kills Bob for Pony and looks out for him a whole lot in the church, then later sacrifices himself when he pushes Pony out of the fire. To their buddies, their main ‘safe’ zones, both Steve and Johnny are ride or die.
Finally, an important scene that rounds out my analysis of them as foils, is when Dally dies and Steve breaks down crying.
“Steve stumbled forward with a sob, but Soda caught him by the shoulders.”
Here we see Steve Randle pushed to his limit- and Steve’s breaking point leads to tears, whereas Johnny’s breaking point pushed him to kill Bob. There’s a subversion of their roles here, where the usually cold, bitter, hateful Steve shows a sensitive side, and quiet little Johnny Cade gets rough and cold. To me, this just shows once again, how they’re very similar characters, with similar trauma, that has simply shaped them differently and made them tough in different ways. Steve, with bravado, craving a fight all the time because he can’t fight the helplessness or the feelings of being stuck; Johnny, resigned to his lot in life and tough because of it, seeking out love when he knows he will never find it where he wants it; but at their cores the both of them are battered, lonely kids who were forced to grow up way too fast.
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(UPDATED: STILL URGENT) I’m taking commissions
Hello my loves, I never thought I would have to do this again, but I really need help right now. I am doing art/translation commissions again, if you’ve known me since the pandemic you will remember I started to work in order to help my parents after my dad lost his job and got depressed, and was at the time too sad to do anything. I thought my parents were doing fine post pandemic since my dad got the will to study to get a masters degree, but my mom told me very recently that she is in debt (around S/ 20k peruvian soles or maybe more) and I’ve been weighing the options we currently have.
I know I haven’t been a good child to them. I dropped out of uni, and then dropped out of art school because I am too sick (clinical depression) to go. I am currently looking for a job as a waiter, and that money will go towards easing my mom’s debt. My best bet is looking for expensive restaurants, because foreigners come and go, and I’ve heard they leave big tips. I only speak spanish (mother tongue) and english (second language) fluently and I have faith that this privilege will help me. I’m trying, I really am.
Aside from doing this separately in order to help my parents, I am working on commissions (both art and translation) to help my partner. If I thought that my family had it bad, when I met and started dating my boyfriend it became clear that what we were going through is nothing. He is a very sweet boy, and he treats me like I am an angel, but he is my angel. He’s had it very rough. He’s struggling with addiction and I fret over him constantly, because he lives very far from where I do and if he were to be in any danger I wouldn’t be able to reach him in time.
Aside from struggling with drug addiction since he was a child, he left his home this year, and started living alone. I know that it is not ideal, but he was desperate to get away from his mom. I know i’ve been judgemental and I know I don’t trust his mom still. But I reached out to her today because I was so worried about him. I’ve learned a few things today. He’s been living in the house of a friend. That I knew. What I didn’t know was that this person is a drug dealer… These people are not good friends. My boyfriend isn’t a good friend to them either. None of them are good friends to each other. His mom, I do not trust her, and I don’t think I could ever understand why she had to treat him so…
However, after I learned my boyfriend is taking harder drugs from someone else, I pleaded for help to my own mom. And she told me I have to tell the woman what is happening because things are so wrong right now. We need her help too. My love told me he wanted to be someone she could be proud of. If I have to trust his mom, for him I’ll try my best. I need to be kind. I’ve never been a mother. I could never understand the desperation of being in her position. He’s her only son. I called her and she started crying. She’s scared. She told me that if I ever felt this taking a toll on my health, that I should leave. But there’s no reason for me to be here if I can’t help him.
Earlier tonight, I got a message from a friend of his, asking me about him. It’s bad… she told me that her friend saw him at around 10pm yesterday (it’s 4 am right now) …he’s not well at all. The girl saw him babbling and falling. I shouldn’t have let him go back. I am devastated… he promised he would come see me today, and hopefully, he will agree that he needs help. But he’s a stubborn one… I am begging on my hands and knees for anyone up there listening to have mercy. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. He doesn’t deserve this… he’s the last person deserving of such pain. I won’t let him go.
I will plead with my family for him to stay here at home. He can’t go back to Carabayllo. Now that I know what’s happening, we can’t take that risk. His heart has already stopped before because of an OD. If I let him go back, he will die. Giving him an apartment close to where I live isn’t enough. He needs to be supervised. And he needs help. I know he’s terrified of being admitted to rehab… I understand. I’ve been in the psych ward twice before because of my attempts. I know what it’s like. I never wanted to die as much as I did when I was in the ward.
He won’t go if I can help it. I’ve been doing research and there’s alternatives… Rehabilitation at home, and another alternative is going to the hospital periodically. I’m going to ask any people who might know. My mom works with doctors… I’ve already asked her and I know she will do that for me. Please pray for him. For him to accept that he needs help. That it’s not fine… and for him to see how much he’s hurting himself.
As for me, I’m still taking commissions. Please DM me for any information, my prices range from $15 to $45, no more, depending on the complexity of the piece. The only thing I will not draw is heavy gore and cp. I can also translate from english to spanish and spanish to english, if anyone’s interested. I’m charging $0.10 per word, because this is new for me despite being fluent. If you’re interested, you can check my tags: #my art // #translation for examples… I’ll tag them below to make accessing this information easier.
If you’re peruvian, and you know of any place that offers such treatments, please contact me as soon as possible.
I’m terrified. I feel like I’m falling to pieces, like it is all my fault. I should have been more patient with him. I’m supposed to be gentle, but I keep losing my patience with him, despite knowing how hard it is to deal with addiction. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for being mean. But… this is not about me. All I do is for him. This is for him.
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#my love#commissions open#my art#translation#art#please reblog#help#signal boost#attack on titan#sonic the hedgehog#the legend of zelda#romeo and juliet#original character#anthro#furry#personal
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