Dally's Life In NYC

[sharpshooter]

After watching hours of Gangland and The Outsiders, one gets to thinking. What's everyone's view on Dally's history in New York City?

I'd go into a full length spiel about my views and such on the topic, but I'm not completely sure yet. The ideas are still churning. But, I would love to hear everyone else's opinion on what life in NYC might have been like for our bad a-- greaser, and under what circumstances Dallas Winston became so 'cold to the world'.

-oh, and just let me know if this topic would have fit elsewhere-

[theinsider]

I don't think there was one specific incident that turned him 'cold to the world', if that's what you're asking. Personally, I think he just saw a lot of death and destruction. I went to NYC once. No, it wasn't a pretty place (but I loved it anyway, lol). But, yes, I can imagine living on the streets there as a kid would make you very Dallas-like.

[sharpshooter]

[I was wondering more along the lines of what kind of stuff was he involved in? Was he there with his Mom, or with his Dad, or both of them? Was whoever had custody over him tired of him getting into trouble all the time, so that's why they moved Dally to Tulsa, or was it because they had to get away from New York?

Ha, it's kind of hard to think about it when I've got Patrick Swayze and my mother singing in the background 'She's Like The Wind'.

[Tensleep]

Excellent question. This topic fits well here.

I spend a lot of my time researching gangs on top of my own history, so maybe I can shed some light.

Dallas probably was young when he ended up in New York - we know ten for sure, but probably not born there if he was content to just stay in Tulsa - and was most likely picked on until he stood up for himself. That would have impressed some of the older kids who were in a gang. So they may have brought him along and introduced him around and some of the even older kids may have seen his potential or ways to use him.

To make him that hard, I would assume the gang was well established and he was part of the future generation. There was a big racism issue and with the immigration to New York, there was a big conflict. Dallas probably saw a lot of blood spill over where someone was from, what color their skin was, and where they decided to live now that they were in New York. That's where we get the emergences of Little Italy, China Town, Harlem and the like being racially and culturally isolated. With a name like Winston, he would have been with one of the native gangs and they liked to start most of the trouble. That's probably one of the reasons why you never saw a colored skinned person in the book, even though because of the relocation of the Mississippi river valley tribes Oklahoma had a huge native population of Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, etc... since 1830.

Anyways, they would have made him a runner. Now a days he would have been taking drugs or guns or whatever they were dealing from one place to another because he was a young kid and he probably got caught doing it. Back then, drugs wouldn't have been as serious. He'd probably get grilled for information, get his hand slapped when he got nothing, and get sent home to his mother for a proper punishment. So outside of murder, manslaughter, and assault with a deadly weapon, I couldn't have told you what ten year old Dallas did that was so serious he skipped the Reformatory went away for it.

As for the living arrangements, I think for sure his mom was there because his dad seems to be in Tulsa. I always saw it that they split, she took Dallas, Dallas got into trouble she didn't need and she sent him to his dad. His dad probably didn't care either way - thus Dallas not understanding Johnny one bit.

[sharpshooter]

That's about what I was thinking. Actually, the idea of Dally being a runner with the drugs and everything kind of came to me when I was watching- and this is a bit embaressing- but while I was watching 'Good Times', and old show from the 70's. This kid, maybe ten years old, was dealing drugs, and wathcing him I was just like 'Wow, that's Dally".

I picture his mother maybe trying to raise him the first couple of years he was born, maybe still living in Tulsa or some place close by, like Oklahoma City. But when she encounters some troubles, she moves her and her son to NYC and discovers its harder then she thought to raise a son as 'spirited' as Dally, and turns him out to the street. And as you said Tensleep, he was probably picked on for a while until he caught on to the ways of the streets, and started doing stuff back and probably hooking up with a gang.
A gang would provide him with protection, and he could have the feeling of not being so much on his own after his mother lost interest in him.

The wheels in my head are turning... There are so many possibilities.