I posted this awhile ago on a forum at ff.net regarding Johnny and how people see him, and I wanted to save it here, because (lol) I like the way I summed up his character. The posters started discussing how Johnny was the gang's pet and how people not in the gang saw him.

Pony actually says when they get off the train and are trying to decide whether to ask the old guy where Jay Mountain is that he looked at Johnny like a stranger would and he saw someone who looked "hard and tough". When the Socs find them at the park, Pony mentions that Johnny "had a blank, tough look on his face - you'd have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes". And after he kills Bob, Pony mentions Johnny looks as cool as Dally ever had. Then during the fire Pony says it was the only time he could *ever* remember seeing Johnny without the defeated, suspicious look he always had.

That's what's so enjoyable about his character - on the outside, strangers see this tough hood, but his friends in the gang see this sensitive kid who's had a rotten life and for some reason he brings out a protective instinct in them. Not only that, but they seem to need someone to protect and look out for like Johnny.

For most of the book, Johnny appears the same age or younger than Pony. Not physically, but in the way Pony sees him and how he seems to act. But after Bob is killed, you really start to see Johnny as the older of the two - he decides they need to find Dally, he takes the gun, he stays awake on the train to wait for their stop, he gets the supplies -quiet, shy, just-killed-a-man Johnny goes out in public a few hours later to get the supplies - he thinks of disguising themselves, he calms Pony down when he gets upset so they can hold it together, he decides to face the music and turn himself in, he decides to rescue thekids. He makes all of these decisions that show how mature and intelligent he really is. The moment he's given charge of something, he takes it.

So on one hand you have this kid who's been abused, hurt and terrifed all his life and on the other you have this tough guy who is cool as a cucumber as he goes on the run with a loaded gun and his best friend. There's such a great play of differences in him, why wouldn't the gang think he's deserving of their protection...that he's the little brother they all want? What a frickin' awesome brother that is. And what a lucky guy to have all those guys willing to look out for him. So I don't see anything bad in the assertion that he's the gang's pet. They should all be so lucky.

Tags: characters, johnny cade
Current Music: Grateful Dead - Sugar Magnolia

Angela - Since Angela gets married in TWTTIN, I picture her stuck in a marriage she was sort of forced into. I think she would finish high school and she'd end up pregnant fairly quickly afterwards. I see her as too weak to break out of her marriage (and also having a strange like/dislike for her husband that keeps her with him) and sort of stuck in her life. She'd be living in a bad situation her whole life, going from crappy guy to crappy guy if she ever did divorce and she knows that. She'd do anything for her kid(s) though, and Tim and Curly give her money to help her out. I think Tim and Curly would have a tenuous relationship with her husband, and whenever the Shepard's end up in jail, Angela's life is a little worse because her husband knows he can get away with more.

I think she's protrayed as very tough, but she's actually very insecure and doesn't think she can make it on her own. I think she relies on men to get her through life and she doesn't see how resilient she actually is. I don't see her having a good relationship with her mother at all and being kind of isolated, maybe having one or two friends in similar situations. I see her as getting more insistent and nagging to her husband as she gets older, and sort of ruling him at home, but knowing deep down that he is in control. I picture her husband as staying involved in crime and a bad lifestyle.

When he gets sent off to jail or prison, I don't see her having any problem finding another guy to take care of her. She doesn't care if it's cheating.

Tags: angela shepard, characters, in the future
Current Music: Kool & The Gang - Celebration

Curly - I can see thinking he's a big shit in his brother's organization, but in reality he doesn't even rate lieutenant status and people are just afraid of him because he's Tim Shepard's brother, and deep down Curly knows it. I can see him being a total liability for Tim, doing risky and stupid things to either get attention or try and get power and respect. He'd be in and out of jail a lot because he get caught doing stupid things. Curly would have a drug problem at some point until Tim set him straight. I can see him wanting to get out from under Tim's shadow, but having no clue how to do it. I think ultimately he would also end up in prison for a longer stint, despite Tim trying to keep him out of trouble. Ironically, I think this would be where he would learn to separate himself from Tim and in an odd way, being in prison for a longer stint, without Tim, would cause him to grow up and become more of a leader type of person. He'd get out and be aiming to be the top guy and be better able to do it.

I think it would be interesting if Curly got out and decided Tim shouldn't be running things. I think his ultimate resentment that he wasn't respected would come out and he would blame Tim for it, rather than himself, which goes to show that he only learns so much about the world.

Tags: characters, curly shepard, in the future
Current Music: Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love

Tim - I always had a vision of Tim as a guy who'd be okay with pot, but would be vehemently against any heroin or harder drugs, so when that moves into Tulsa, he'd be challenged by other gangs and his members for not getting involved in it. He might have a hard time holding onto his gang. I think he'd be getting into more and more dangerous things - running guns, stolen merchandise etc, but he'd stay away from the drug trade and it would cause a big rift in his gang. He'd run a big chunk of Tulsa and be part of a bigger network of criminals. His own guys would be afraid of him, but he'd have a hard time controlling his guys and the drugs and them getting involved. I see him eventually doing a longer stint in prison 5-10 years, but when he gets out, he can't go straight. I think he'd be in for so long, he'd be shocked to find the gang has gone their own ways. I think he'd be more choosy about what to get involved in crime wise. I think he'd stay near Tulsa, where his family is.

Tags: characters, in the future, tim shepard
Current Music: Snoop Dogg - Gin & Juice

Cherry - I think she would've gone off to college and been glad to get away. I think she would start to feel very guilty for how she ignored Pony at school and how she contributed to the Soc/greaser war. I can see her graduating college and doing her best to stay away from Tulsa and create a new life, but never really able to get away from what happened all those years ago. I think ultimately she would come back to town to try and patch things up with Pony and make things right. I can see her having a so-called perfect life to people looking in, but on the inside she feels that it's all fake. I think the circumstances of The Outsiders would've caught up with her a lot later in the life than everyone else.

Tags: characters, cherry valance, in the future
Current Music: Led Zeppelin - Ramble On

Two-Bit - He's a really hard one to peg down for me. Part of me thinks he'd be the same old Two-Bit, drinking and joking and stuff. I think he would've been really stuck at one point - Soda and Steve at war, Pony at college, Darry working, Dally and Johnny dead...he would've been really alone. I think he would've had an internal breakdown at this point. Lots of drinking, partying and having good times. I can see him dabbling in light drugs, but not getting hooked. I can see him getting jailed a bunch of times over shoplifting. I think his mother would've been at her wit's end with him. I think he may have hooked up with Shepard's crew. His turn around would've come through Darry I think - I think he would've helped Two-Bit get back on track and stuff. I can see Two-Bit working part time jobs here and there, pick up work whenever he can get it. I don't see him working full time. I think when all his friends slowly trickled back into town he'd get back to his old self a bit more. He's an alcoholic, but not violent or mean, kind of a fun drunk so no one ever sees him as having a problem. I picture him being married, having a daughter, they all have a good relationship and stuff.

Tags: characters, in the future, two-bit mathews
Current Music: Green Day - Longview

Steve - I think he went to Vietnam and came back bitter and angry. I think Steve always had anger locked up in his soul from when he was a child, and he's not the type to get over it very easily. I can see him being very difficult to get along with in a relationship, so I see him being divorced, maybe having a kid that he doesn't get to see very often and he's bitter about that and blames the mother rather than his own behaviour. I think he would've been involved in drugs, would've ended up in jail. I think he would've come the closest to going to same route as Dally did. I also think he has an underlying base of emotion that eventually saves him - he's not closed off like Dally and even Two-Bit are (Pony says at one point in the the book that Steve "sobs" and had red eyes, so he hasn't lost the ability to cry). I think he would've gotten back on his feet, and the gang would help him. I can see him sort of being the type that always remembers Vietnam, always remembers the people he served with and being very involved with it. I see Vietnam as his defining experience. I think he'd be totally clean, but always close to that line.

Tags: characters, in the future, steve randle
Current Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Darry - I think Darry gave a lot up for his brothers, and I don't think that would've changed at all. He would've continued working so Pony could get through college himself, and I think he would've ended up working in construction or something, making good money finally, but not using much of it. I can see him fixing up the old house and not wanting to sell it or leave it for awhile. I see him running his own construction company, giving people like him a chance with his company. I think he would've met a nice girl and got married. I'm iffy on kids - one minute I think he'd have two, the next I can't picture him with kids. Maybe he wants a break from raising some after Soda and Pony are gone. So when he has kids, he'll be an older dad I think. I think his girlfriend or wife would be the type to try and get him to indulge himself, relax a bit, but he's not able to do that very easily because of his personality. I think as he got older he would've gone to college to get his degree, in his thirties or forties. I don't think he'd ever really be happy until he did that for himself, even if he never used it.

Tags: characters, darry curtis, in the future
Current Music: Joey McIntyre - Rain

Sodapop - He's a tough one, because I really like some aspect of the tragedy of Soda dying young. There's sometimes a feeling in the book of him being too good to be true, and the tragedy of him dying seems to make him more human in a way. But if he didn't die, I think he would've continued working at the DX, maybe managing it one day. I can see him working blue collar jobs all his life, something that would bring him into contact with a lot of people. He's a very social perso