Delving into Ritchie's childhood segment is, like Ritchie himself, a bit different from the others.
He, like Mike, has a stable two parent household. Unlike Mike, Ritchie's folks aren't aware on any conscious level of the inherent evil of Derry, but they don't suffer as characters for it (what little time we see Ritchie spend with them).
Ritchie and Bill go back to Bill's house to look at the possessed picture of Georgie together. They witness a snap of an old-tyme Derry street come to life, replete with old-tyme versions of themselves getting lured by Pennywise. Bill reaches into the picture and cuts himself badly before Ritchie saves him from having his fingers chopped off.
This is foreshadowing for later in the book when Bill nearly loses to IT during the ritual of the CHUD, and Ritchie comes in to save him. It's also telling that they share the first simultaneous experience with IT: until now everyone has seen IT when they were alone. They also come to the conclusion together that IT is not a clown, but a monster.
Ritchie then goes to the movies and the Barrens with Ben and Bev, showing more of his normalcy. The next notable thing is when Bill joins them with a kid that Ritchie instinctively knows is not 'part of them'. Ritchie can feel the Ka-Tet forming.
I'm not sure why Ritchie has such a strong connection to the Turtle. It may be familial: his mother watches the boy have tea before going to the house on Neibolt street to try and find/possibly kill Eddie's leper, and she thinks that she doesn't understand them, and is both afraid of and for them.
It may be due to Ritchie's unique strategy of dealing with IT. When he and Bill arrive at Neibolt street, they get into the house, and are attacked by IT in the guise of The Teenage Werewolf (the horror movie he'd seen with Bev and Ben). Bill shoots it, doing little damage, while Ritchie throws sneezing powered in IT's face. This hurts IT enough for them to escape.
Ritchie recognizes that his gambit somehow hurt IT worse than Bill's: the ritual of the CHUD has to do with riddles, which are tied into humor. Just like how later Ritchie saves Bill, here he does the same. Again, it's a duel encounter with IT, where Bill and Ritchie go through it together. These two share a powerful connection with each other inside the Ka-Tet, and to the Turtle: Bill due to his innate goodness and leadership, Ritchie because of his humor and devotion to Bill.
Wow, that got heavy. But no worries: next we get more spousal/child abuse with Bev!
He, like Mike, has a stable two parent household. Unlike Mike, Ritchie's folks aren't aware on any conscious level of the inherent evil of Derry, but they don't suffer as characters for it (what little time we see Ritchie spend with them).
SPOILERS
Ritchie and Bill go back to Bill's house to look at the possessed picture of Georgie together. They witness a snap of an old-tyme Derry street come to life, replete with old-tyme versions of themselves getting lured by Pennywise. Bill reaches into the picture and cuts himself badly before Ritchie saves him from having his fingers chopped off.
This is foreshadowing for later in the book when Bill nearly loses to IT during the ritual of the CHUD, and Ritchie comes in to save him. It's also telling that they share the first simultaneous experience with IT: until now everyone has seen IT when they were alone. They also come to the conclusion together that IT is not a clown, but a monster.
Ritchie then goes to the movies and the Barrens with Ben and Bev, showing more of his normalcy. The next notable thing is when Bill joins them with a kid that Ritchie instinctively knows is not 'part of them'. Ritchie can feel the Ka-Tet forming.
I'm not sure why Ritchie has such a strong connection to the Turtle. It may be familial: his mother watches the boy have tea before going to the house on Neibolt street to try and find/possibly kill Eddie's leper, and she thinks that she doesn't understand them, and is both afraid of and for them.
It may be due to Ritchie's unique strategy of dealing with IT. When he and Bill arrive at Neibolt street, they get into the house, and are attacked by IT in the guise of The Teenage Werewolf (the horror movie he'd seen with Bev and Ben). Bill shoots it, doing little damage, while Ritchie throws sneezing powered in IT's face. This hurts IT enough for them to escape.
Ritchie recognizes that his gambit somehow hurt IT worse than Bill's: the ritual of the CHUD has to do with riddles, which are tied into humor. Just like how later Ritchie saves Bill, here he does the same. Again, it's a duel encounter with IT, where Bill and Ritchie go through it together. These two share a powerful connection with each other inside the Ka-Tet, and to the Turtle: Bill due to his innate goodness and leadership, Ritchie because of his humor and devotion to Bill.
SAFE
Wow, that got heavy. But no worries: next we get more spousal/child abuse with Bev!
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