Content Warning: The book and this study guide depict or include references to alcohol addiction, death by suicide, child violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and police violence. The book also contains offensive language that is biased against gay people, Asians, unhoused people, and people with disabilities.

“All over this country—all over the world—men and women are painting pictures, writing stories, playing instruments. Some of these wannabes go to seminars and workshops and art classes. Some hire teachers. The fruit of their labors is dutifully admired by friends and relatives, who say things like Wow, really good! and then forget it. I always enjoyed my father’s stories when I was a kid. They enthralled me and I thought Wow, really good, Pop! As I’m sure people passing on Dump Road saw Uncle Butch’s brash and busy murals of town life and thought Wow, really good! and then went on their way. Because someone is always painting pictures, someone is always telling stories, someone is always playing ‘Call Me the Breeze’ on the guitar. Most are forgettable. Some are competent. A very few are indelible. Why that should be I don’t know. And how those two country men made the leap from good to good enough to great—I didn’t know that, either.”

“Two Talented Bastids” concerns the question of whether talent is natural or developed. The above passage encapsulates this theme, suggesting that despite all the effort people put into developing their craft, “very few” are successful in the annals of history. Mark’s narrative voice of Mark assures readers that the reasons for this are complex, yet he hints at his thoughts on the matter through the shared experience of Butch and Laird. He sees their leap from “good enough to great” as suspicious.

“Nothing can give you what isn’t already there.”

This quote uses ambiguity to address the question of talent’s origins. The story suggests that Butch and Laird became famous after their encounter with aliens, but the aliens themselves indicate that the talent was in them all along. If the encounter was necessary to activate that talent, then that necessity negates the alien’s axiom in this passage. This adds tension to the resolution of the question the story seeks to address.

“I suppose the question has to do with talent—was it in us, or was it something given to us like a box of candy, because we saved Ylla’s life? Could we be proud of what we accomplished, kind of a lifting-up-by-the-bootstraps deal, or were we just a pair of poseurs, taking credit for what we never would have had if not for that night?

What the fuck is talent, anyway? […] Why would I be chosen when so many others try so hard and would give anything to be chosen? Why are there so few at the top of the pyramid? Talent is supposed to be the answer, but where does it come from and how does it grow? Why does it grow?

Well, I tell myself, we call it a gift and we call ourselves gifted, but gifts are never really earned, are they? Only given. Talent is grace made visible.”

Following through on the implications of the previous passage, this one highlights Laird’s doubts about the source of his talent. Despite the alien’s axiom, Laird can’t claim ownership over his success if his talent was given to him as a reward.