Johnny cade is "Smaller than the rest, with a slight build. He has big black eyes in a dark tanned face; his hair is jet-black and heavily greased and combed to the side, but it is so long that it falls in shaggy bangs across his forehead. He always has a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes..." (The Outsiders, 11).  "His father was always beating him, and his mother ignored him... I think he hated that [yelling] more than getting whipped" (The Outsiders, 12).