y’all i need to get this shit off my chest: richie tozier does not have a good home life. i get that we all want him to, because he deserves it, but with my limited knowledge of developmental psychology, a good home life does not create his behavior 1/12

(ie: his loud and crude jokes, repressing issues and feelings, self deprecation, humor as a coping mechanism, low self esteem), that behavior is built on years of neglect or some environmental issue. 2/12

now i’m not saying his parents didn’t cloth and feed him (but they could’ve not), but they didn’t give him attention. that sounds bad the way i phrased it, but it makes sense as why he is so loud. 3/12

at home he feels so alone, so surrounded by quiet that when he isn’t there, he’s loud. he feels invisible, forgotten, brittle. he needs that loudness so that people remember him, that they know he is there. 4/12

my damning evidence is the fact that his father is a dentist, most doctors will continually have to visit medical conventions, so his father would at least be gone more than anything. his mother tho? she’s a wild card, i don’t know anything about her 5/12

okay, so i took a tangent, sorry. so richie is most likely alone or mostly alone most days of the year. just imagine years of that building on you, feeling like you’re invisible to the people who should care about you. 6/12

that shit will fucking sit on your mind forever, it will remind you that no one loves you. it will tell you to trust no one, don’t tell anyone your problems because they’ll leave. that’s why richie uses humor. 7/12

when he makes jokes he doesn’t have to think about the quiet, and the louder and more crude the more attention he gets. so jokes are a form of him hiding his problems, but also getting attention that he craves. 8/12

richie isn’t attention seeking, he just is severely malnourished in actual love. that’s why he tries to seem happy go lucky, so he is easier to love. it’s all coping to hide how much he hates himself and puts his own value below anyone else. 9/12

he comes off as a selfish narcissist, because he needs that attention, but he cares about everyone above himself. that’s why he represses his feelings, because he feels like he isn’t important. 10/12

he doesn’t tell anyone he is suffering because those years of solitude have told him that no one cares about him. that he is nothing. it’s why he clings to the losers, and why he continues to be loud and obnoxious 11/12

so that they will remember him, because he is so scared of being invisible again that he is desperate to just have anything. to just be anything to someone. and that shit doesn’t come from loving and present parents. 12/12

this thread’s purpose is not to invalidate others and their experiences, it’s just my interpretation of canon.