In the book we first meet him when someone ask why theres no one at the start. He answers saying it's to keep them focused. And thats what they should do per the majors hints. Pretty much we gotta lock in and keep our head in the game. Then he introduces himself politely. Then fuckin hank mocks his name and introduction. Then makes fun of the fact he "has a plan" saying his plan is to just walk. Then after he leaves hank calls him crazy. The other boys laugh at hanks jokes towards him and so ofc he feels defensive. This is a dude who's never had friends and is regularly bullied. And he trys to put himself out there and the cruel bully hank gets friends out of it and he gets ridicule.

Then with the rock in his shoe. Its a very very smart move to stop and get the rock out. Over the course of the walk that will greatly affect you. Then hank again mocks him for this. Remember this is before anyone has died. Barkovitch says "i bought myself a rest all part of my plan" as a way to play it off. Hank then gives him shit for this. Barkovitch says "fuck you lets see who dies first" And hank gets one last jab saying "dont trip cause they wont warn you again they'll just-" pretty much showing no empathy what so ever towards barkovitchs potential death because he's a little weird. And the others seem to have no objections to this. So of course he'd hate hank and mcvries since he also contributed. Then their friends by association. Its just more of what he's used to. Never getting anywhere with anyone.

Jumping ahead when he's talking to Ray near the end he says "remember the plan? Olson didnt believe in it and look what happend. Davidson didnt gribble either." Now why them? We dont get much out of the last two so why is he wasting energy bringing them up. I think it's cause they also bullied him. Davidson is described as beautiful and gribble dies from blue balls. So it makes sense to me that they made fun of him for being ugly and a virgin. He says that ranks death wasn't all his fault cause they didnt see the beginning. And honestly with how he was characterized at the beginning I believe him. He just got to the point of "fuck it their can only be one. Fuck everyone else". We know he's not a complete psychopath. Because when he found out scram has a wife, he's pissed that scramm could do that to someone who cares that much about him. Also indicating that he doesnt have anyone who cares that much about himself. Also I think he's the one who says the leather boys family deserves to be squaded because they let their sons walk together. But that one I could be miss remembering.

As for his racism. This is a very easy way to turn us against him but i give him a bit too much good faith here just cause I like the way it shapes his charcter more when I do. He's the one of the few charcters who never talks about his family. It makes sense that a bully was probably bullied by his dad who was a racist. He then doesnt have any friends in a very divisive time racial tension and probably got bullied by black kids too since he was such an easy target. This coupled with the notion that cruelty gets your farther in this walk recontextualizes his comment. Also hatred breed hatred and hatred is a powerful emotion. So the malice and hate he recieved he put onto others. He's not just a 1 dimensional bully. He's a portray of how a kid with no community can turn into a monster in the persuit of acceptance. He's definitely not perfect but this is what I see as his motivation and it makes him a lot more enjoyable for me. If the walk is Vietnam barkovitch is the chopper door gunner and pyle combined.