Metaphor: Johnny is described
as 'a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of
strangers', thus emphasizing his vulnerable
qualities
Alliteration: Near
the end of the book, when Johnny dies from his injuries incurred in saving the children
from the burning church, and Dallas dies in a 'suicide-by-cop' scenario, Ponyboy
reflects: 'Two of my friends had died that night, one a hero, the other a hoodlum'. The
'h' in front of 'hero' and 'hoodlum' is an example of alliteration. It links the deaths
of the two characters while at the same time contrasting them: Johnny the heroic
rescuer, and Dallas the violent criminal (although, as Ponyboy remembers, Dallas also
had his good points)
Imagery:
the recurring image of the sunset, which symbolizes the finer things of life and the
sensitive, dreamy side of characters like Ponyboy, Cherry and
Johnny
Foreshadowing: When
reading the book Gone With the Wind Johnny remarks that the
Southern gentlemen, who bravely meet theri death, remind him of Dally. Although Ponyboy
can't see the resemblance then, at the end of the book Dally is said to die in a
similarly 'gallant' manner like those Southern
gentlemen.
Dialogue: in the
following extract, we see the tenseness between the Socs and Greasers and how they
deliberately try and needle each other.
Two-Bit put his elbow on Johnny's shoulder. "Who
you callin' bums?"
"Listen, greasers, we got four more of
us in the back seat..."
"Then pity the back seat," Two-Bit
said to the sky.
"If you're looking for a
fight..."
Irony:
Johnny and Ponyboy are not tough and hardened like the other Greasers yet they are the
ones who end up facing the rap for murder and hiding out from the
police.
Characterisation:
After several lines of describing Sodapop's charismatic and happy-go-lucky nature,
Ponyboy sums him up by saying that 'he gets drunk on just plain
living'.
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