Curate, connect, and discover
OH MY GOD IVE BEEN WANTING TO SAY THIS FOR SO LONG.
Two-bit is obviously emotionally intelligent, he can always tell when something’s off with Pony (in contrast to Darry), like when he was sick or when he was threatening those socs, and it’s showed that Two-Bit really cares about Ponyboy.
Two-Bit is probably one of the closest to Pony, even if it isn’t exactly said in words, it’s shown, like whenever Ponyboy is in trouble, Two-Bit is always there to back him up. (The drive-ins, when Randy asked Pony to talk in his car, at the end when Pony threatens the socs.) I mean, Two-Bit was even going to drive all the way to Texas just to get Johnny and Pony home.
Two-Bit isn’t just some funny knucklehead with nothing else going for him, he’s way more complex than that. He’s an alcoholic, he has an absent father and a single mother and he clearly struggles in school. Honestly, I think Two-Bit is too smart to be held back if he was trying, so I’m figuring he isn’t. I think he purposefully gets held back because he likes the constant of school, he likes that it’s something that doesn’t change.
Ponyboy mentions that Two-Bit fights for conformity, to be like the others, to not appear any different, which I feel is so interesting because it implies that he feels like he needs to fight and get in trouble to be like the rest of the group, much like Ponyboy.
That’s it, that’s all I have to add because I’m tired as hell right now LMAO 😻😻
Listen. LISTEN. Two-bit Mathews is by no means my favourite character in The Outsiders but something about the way he is frequently reduced to being nothing more than comic relief by the fandom doesn't sit right with me. Nor does te fact he's commonly characterized/viewed as dumb. Yes, Two-bit is funny, it's clearly characterized as somewhat as a defense mechanism, and it's also not all he is as a character. And he's not dumb. I'm aware everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of the source material and the characters, but even among somewhat serious, non crackfics, I often see these ideas prevail- and I don't know why. Pony even praises Two in his narration quite a bit . Sure, he isn't quote on quote 'book smart', he's still a junior in high school at nineteen and a half, but he's street smart, he has to be, he's a greaser. But that's not the intelligence I'm talking about. Two-bit is socially and emotionally smart. He sees the fraught social dynamics between greasers and socs for what they are ("Two-bit sure put things into words good." / "He saw things straight and turned them into something funny.), he knows the greaser way of life is a choice as much as it is circumstance ("I couldn't just take it or leave it like Two-bit" / "Two-bit for conformity"), and it's something frequently brought up in the book. Two-bit chooses the greaser lifestyle, chooses loyalty to his friends, chooses conformity to following the way of life he's chosen. Consciously he chooses it, because seeing and understanding the world around him and the complex social dynamics that dictate it he recognizes that it is the safest/best choice for himself. I'm not saying he's a genius, but he's a lot smarter than people give him credit for, and I'd argue that the ways in which he is intelligent directly foil the ways that Darry- smart, high school graduate, boy of the year Darry Curtis- isn't. Two-bit's friendship with Ponyboy adds depth to pony's relationship with Darry because it provides such an interesting look at not only what Darry and Pony don't connect over, but why they can't get alone. Darry isn't particularly emotionally smart the way Two is. It's one of the reasons he and Ponyboy can't get along. Cheapening Two's character- even in fics, ESPECIALLY in fics exploring Darry and Ponyboy's relationship- doesn't just cheapen HIS character, but it cheapens Darry's and Ponyboy's and the rest of the gangs' too. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.