A poster at IMDB recently bought a switchblade just like Johnny's and shared some info and pictures of it, including the make.

( Click for photos and information )

Tags: johnny cade, switchblade
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I've decided to do astrology charts for each of the characters, based on their ages if the book/movie is set in 1966:

Darry - January 5 1946
Soda - October 8 1949
Ponyboy - July 22 1952
Two-Bit - June 20 1948
Steve - April 15 1949
Johnny - March 1 1950
Dallas - November 9 1948
Tim - November 5 1947

I didn't do astrology for Cherry, Marcia or Randy, because we aren't given their ages, we're only told the girls are 16 or 17. Bob is "about 18", but no age is given for Randy, who could be 17 or 18.

Cherry - March 8
Randy - February 10
Marcia - May 24

I made up my own birthdays for Curly and Angela for my own stories (these are NOT canon):

Curly – April 9 1951
Angela – August 10 1952

( This way for Outsiders Astrology 101 )

There is one sign I left out - the rising sign or ascendant. It is the sign rising on the horizon when you're born and you need your birth time to find it. So the characters could be any rising sign depending on their time of birth. Each sign is rising for about 2 hours a day, so during a 24 hour period, all signs hit the horizon. A rising sign affects how others see you. So we can guess at those ones for each character and make them whatever we want.

Tags: astrology, birthdays, characters' ages, dallas winston, darry curtis, johnny cade, ponyboy curtis, sodapop curtis, steve randle, tim shepard, timeline, two-bit mathews
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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
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Johnny Cade

- S.E. Hinton gave his birthday in an interview as March 1 (Pisces)
- nickname 'Johnnycake'
- four Socs beat him up four months before book begins
- scared of his own shadow after that
- his face was cut up and bruised; had a wide gash from temple to cheekbone, permanent scar
- he was found half-conscious in the lot; cried when they found him and it took a lot to make him cry
- Pony says he looks like a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and lost in a crowd of strangers
- smaller than the rest of the guys
- 16 years old, but looks younger
- slight build
- big black eyes, dark tanned face
- jet black hair which was heavily greased and combed to the side, bangs across his forehead
- nervous, suspicious look in his eyes
- he's the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother
- father was always beating him up; his father is a drunk
- dad once beat him with a two by four
- his mother ignored him unless she was mad, then she yelled so loud at him you could hear her down the street
- would've run away a million times if not for the gang
- quiet, doesn't talk unless he has to
- nervous around strangers
- couldn't say boo to a ghost
- is Dally's pet as well
- worshipped the ground Dally walked on
- never talked back to anyone, never gets in arguments with anyone
- ears got red when he's embarassed
- looks fourteen and it bugs him a lot
- started smoking at age 9
- wears a jean jacket
- not a coward, a good man in a rumble
- never walked by himself after getting beat up
- most law abiding of the group
- carried a six inch switchblade in his back pocket
- didn't talk to girls much
- never talked about getting beat up
- has been suicidal
- cares a lot about the fact his parents don't care about him
- you'd have to know him to see when he was panicked
- after stabbing Bob, he's scared but Pony says he looks as cool as Darry ever had
- to a stranger he looked hard and tough
- liked to go to church
- failed a year in school (so he'd be beginning 10th in the book, but he's supposed to be in 11th grade)
- didn't understand anything shoved at him too fast
- slow to get things, liked to explore them once he did
- smokes Camel cigarettes (unfiltered most likely)
- is crazy about drag races
- had never been out of their neighbourhood aside from running away to Windrixville
- has a deathly fear of cops
- sensitive
- a good fighter
- can play it cool
- hated for anyone to be mad at him
- wasn't scared rescusing the kids in the church - Pony says it looked like he was having the time of his life
- unconscious after the fire, was given plasma in the ambulance
- back was broken when timber fell on him
- had 3rd degree burns
- was charged with manslaughter
- was in critical condition in the hospital
- during a rumble he and Pony would gang up on one guy
- sometimes played the pinball machine in the bowling alley
- would sleep in the lot if it was warm
- stayed at the Curtis house or Two-Bit's
- Randy said Bob scared Johnny into stabbing him
- Johnny used to listen to more beefs and problems from more people than anyone else
- felt he hadn't done enough or seen enough in his life
- in the end, felt dying was worth saving the kids

In the movie:

- was smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes (when he and Pony ran off after Darry hits Pony)

Tags: character profiles, johnny cade
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