“johnnys a widdle shy guy who can’t stand up for himself and the gang needs to be his guard dogs and pwotect him 🥺” are you forgetting who killed bob lmfao??
not to mention he canonically fought back when bob jumped him. he has no problem standing up to dallas wintson—the toughest greaser in tulsa. pony mentions that johnny looks really scary to people who don’t know him, what with that eye scar he has. he gets sassy sometimes. he was the one who wanted to turn himself in to the police just so pony would get home safe, even if that meant he would likely get the electric chair. he ran into the burning building before pony did to save those kids. he was willing to risk his life even before the fire just for pony, and you really think that after all of that, johnny cade is the own who needs protecting?
tbh i think it’s just because he’s quiet, doesn’t like to get violent and he’s an abuse victim but it’s just so stupid.