Who does Johnny think is a hero? Do you think Dally is a hero?

To Johnny, Dallas Winston is a hero. He looks up to Dally. To Johnny, Dally is everything that he would like to be but isn't. While hiding out in Windrixville, the boys read "Gone With the Wind" to pass the time. Johnny mentions that the southern gentlemen in the story remind him of Dallas.

Johnny looks up to Dallas. Dallas is "tuff", rugged, reckless, and he doesn't care what anyone else has to say about it. Johnny wishes that he could be this way. In Johnny's mind , if he held just a small portion of Dally's attributes, he might have been able to stand up to his parents, protect himself from the Socs and he may not have been so traumatized by the  incident.

Ponyboy disagrees with the notion that Dallas is anything like the soldiers in the book. He doesn't look at Dally the same way.