Comparitives - Tumblr Posts
the truth the dead know - anne sexton // untitled - @nephrosoupp // dolce, episode 3.06 - hannibal // everlong - foo fighters // intimacy - angelica alzona // mascara - deftones
Theon, Asha, Gender, & the Reccuring Theme of Clothes.
angels of porn - nicole dollanganger, on clothes - kahlil gibran, plural - jordaan mason, clothing symbol in orlando - litcharts, bodymap - leah lakshmi piepzna-samarasinha, "what do women want?" - kim addonizio, the wrong parts (vivian sisters singing) - jordaan mason and the horse museum, son and daughter - queen
(for Theon Appreciation Month, Day 18: Themes of Gender & Sexuality.)
insp.
Love. Fear. Whatever.
In The Cage - Ernest Sandeen / HBO Succession
Your love is killing me.
2.02 Grilled / The Last Temptation of Christ / 2.11 Mandala / 2.13 ABQ / Wishbone / 3.07 One Minute / 3.10 The Fly / J'ai tué ma mère / 4.10 Salud / Your Love Is Killing Me / 5.09 Blood Money / 5.11 Confessions / The Last Days of Judas Iscariot / 5.12 Rabid Dog / 5.13 To'hajiilee
On Existence and the Human Experience.
Joseph Campbell, “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth”, Ep. 4, “Sacrifice and Bliss” / Louise Glück, “Snowdrops” / Ellen Bass, “The Thing Is” / @obeliskandmetronome / Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” / Maggie Stiefvater, “Blue Lily, Lily Blue” / Eve L. Ewing, “Testify”
TW: Spoilers for The Outsiders By S.E.Hinton, Talking about death, Alcohol and Suicide
If you're familiar with S.E. Hinton's classic novel "The Outsiders," then you probably know all about Dallas “Dally” Winston, the quintessential bad boy of Tulsa who's always causing trouble and ending up in the cooler (jail). He's a complex character pivotal to the book's plot development. Recently, while listening to music and contemplating the parallels between Dallas Winston and to the songs I was listening to, I noticed a striking correlation. Specifically, McCafferty's songs "Trees," "Bottom," and "Beachboy" encapsulate the essence of Dallas Winston's character archetype This observation compelled me to write this essay, which delves into the thematic connections between McCafferty's music and the portrayal of Dallas Winston in "The Outsiders."
The First song I will be covering is the song ‘Beachboy’ Which is track 6 off of the 2014 Album Beachboy This song was the song that made me initially link Dallas Winston to the band. This song could be confusing and have a lot of different meanings but the interpretation I am going with is put best by the authors at Songtell “is about accepting change and making the best of the situation. It speaks to the idea of growing up and taking on responsibilities, even when it is difficult or uncomfortable to do so.” (Songtell) Overall the song has the vibe of an angst-filled teenager who you gave access to a guitar and a music editing software, but a few parts of the song stuck out to me in particular when I heard the song with the idea of it representing Dallas. The first quote that represents Dallas Winston is “She says, ‘Your lips tasted like they did way back in July’/ Headaches and overdose I Hope that we never die”. While it's never fully stated where Dallas lives. Lots - if not all of fan theories and fan fiction - believe that he lives at Buck Merrill's Barin a spare bedroom when he isn't crashing on Curtis’s couch. Buck, is stated to be a shifty character “Buck Merril was Dally's rodeo partner…and made most of his money on fixed races and a little bootlegging” (Hinton 52) Buck along with earning money dishonestly was a troublemaker similar to Dallas, stated in the same paragraph “he used to be bucktoothed before he had the front two knocked out in a fight.” Buck Merril was also known for throwing parties and all around not being a safe individual so much so that The main character of the book Ponyboy was instructed by both of his older brothers to not be caught WIthin the proximity of his Barand he was happy to abide “I was under strict orders from both Darry and Soda not to get caught within ten miles of his place, which was dandy with me”(Hinton 52). Ponyboy notes that some of the events at Buck's parties leaned to the more adult sides of things “I was remembering what usually went on in the bedrooms at Buck's parties…” (Hinton 52). It should also be stated that in Pre-Book events Dallas had a girlfriend named Sylvia. Sylvia was Dallas's girlfriend but while Dallas was in Jail for one of many reasons she cheated on him. Dallas says this Himself to Steve on page 13 of the book “‘You break up with Sylvia again?" ‘Yeah, and this time it's for good. That little broad was two-timin' me again while I was in jail.’”(Hinton 13) Knowing where Dallas stays his past relations with Sylvia and potential future relations with Cherry Valance and any other girl that Dallas will flirt with You can assume that he has taken at least Sylvia to Buck's place to party, this relates to the song Beachboy By McCafferty because the second paragraph has the line “She says, ‘Your lips tasted like they did way back in July’/ Headaches and overdose I Hope that we never die” The ‘She’ in this scenario could be Sylvia because Dallas has been thrown in jail so many times one could infer that they go long periods without seeing each other which explains why she cheated on him and could explain the line “Like they did way back in July” following up with that, knowing buck is a shady character known throwing parties you could also make the argument that “headaches and overdose” could be hangovers and poor decisions being made while hanging out with Buck and Sylvia.
The next set of lines off of Beach Boy that describe Dallas are the lines “And I know that you think that I don't care / About all the friends I left behind” which would make sense,If there is two words to describe Dallas winston it would be Cold and callous, Ponyboy makes that Exceptionally clear when describing him even if not those word exactly anytime Dallas is described in the book it is always made clear about his bitterness and hatred towards the world one example being “His eyes were blue, blazing ice, cold with a hatred of the whole world.” (Hinton 10) and then in the same paragraph “the warfare is between the social classes… Maybe that was why Dallas was so bitter.”(Hinton 10) with descriptions like that anyone would assume Dallas Winston is some Unbridaled hate machine, another example being “One time, in a dime store, a guy told him to move over at the candy counter. Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose. A complete stranger, too” (Hinton 22) Dallas is willing to hit a *STRANGER* so hard it knocks a tooth out However, it's stated that Dallas has a soft spot for Johnny Cade over any of the other members of the gang this is made clear after Johnny Scolded Dallas for harassing Cherry Valance and Marcia At the drive in “Dallas scowled for a second. If it had been me, or Two-Bit, or Soda or Steve, or anyone but Johnny, Dally would have flattened him without a moment's hesitation. You just didn't tell Dally Winston what to do … But Johnny was the gang's pet, and Dally just couldn't hit him. He was Dally's pet, too.”(Hinton 22) All of this is to say that Dallas reminds me of this set of lines because Dallas goes even further to protect his friends than just not hitting them, Dallas is seen as a hardened criminal by the group, due to his time spent in the “Wild side of New York'' and his character all around, after Johnny Kills Bob the Soc Johnny and Ponyboy Run to Bucks bar to go to Dallas for help and without a second thought he helps them, Giving them a loaded gun and 50$ cash to buy groceries, on page 53 “Dally appeared after a minute. He carefully shut the door. "Here"--- he handed us a gun and a roll of bills--- "the gun's loaded. For Pete's sake, Johnny, don't point the thing at me. Here's fifty bucks. That's all I could get out of Merril tonight He's blowin' his loot from that last race."(Hinton 53) This is Major enough Dallas also gives Johnny and Ponyboy the location of an old church to hide out in Windrixville and on top of all of this Dallas lies to the police on their behalf to keep the cops from looking for them In Tulsa, or Windrixville Oklahoma “‘The fuzz won't be lookin' for you around here," Dally said, lighting up. "They think you've lit out for Texas…”(69) Now Dallas has had his fair run share of run-ins with the police before, and Johnny didn't Just pull some small-time thievery he killed a man, Dallas knew how much trouble he could get in for helping Johnny and Ponyboy out here, He was now an accessory to a crime but he still did it for them because he cared about them. While Dallas may have left the rest of the gang behind, literally when he killed himself via cop shoot-out at the end of the book he died caring for them he died because Johnny was the only thing keeping him afloat, he is also shown caring up until the end with his last words being “Ponyboy” He Died angry at the world yet in the same vein he died caring about his friends until his last moments. (1/3)