Who is Johnny Cade?

Johnny Cade is a fictional character in author S.E. Hinton's novel, "The Outsiders." The story is a coming of age tale set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the mid-1960's. Johnny Cade is the youngest and most vulnerable member of the Greasers gang of poor boys struggling for respect against the Socs.

Johnny Cade is a verbally and physically abused 16-year-old who has a horrible and violent home life that leads him to identify with the gang as the only true family he has. Johnny idolizes the Greasers leader Dallas because he sees him as an example of how you don't need a family to survive, but the violent lifestyle ultimately takes Johnny's life.