Character Analysis
Every cowboy needs a sidekick, and for our boy John Grady Cole, that sidekick has the very manly name of Lacey.
Okay, so mostly he goes by Rawlins, his last name, which is a whole heck of a lot more cowboy than Lacey. He's John's best friend and his trusty companion for most of the trip.
Rawlins is the worrier of the two, constantly looking out for danger and usually bearing the brunt of it, even though the cause is always either John or Blevins. Despite the troubles his association with John brings, he remains a steadfast friend. He never goes beyond vague complaints, even when things are at their worst.
These complaints, his less awesome ranching skills, and the relative stability of his home life compared to John's makes him a perfect contrast: he seems much more human and fallible and average. As a foil for John, he highlights the superior abilities and virtues that make John's eventual fate seem more tragic.
Doomsayer
If Lacey Rawlins were transplanted into a modern horror movie, he'd be the guy in the group that's constantly freaking out about how screwed they all are. And he'd be the one to die first.
Okay, "freaking out" isn't really a fair description of what he does. Mostly he just grumbles and complains. But he is oddly prescient. If Lacey Rawlins tells you some bad stuff is about to happen, you'd better listen.
Despite his very accurate warning that they were beginning on a voyage of no return once they'd signed on to Blevins's plan to steal his horse back, John goes ahead with it. Rawlins, trusty companion that he is, backs John up 100% nevertheless. Of course, Rawlins turns out to be completely right: the incident leads to them being thrown in prison, which in turn breaks the trust between John and Alejandra and her family, which in turn dooms their romance. Bummers all around.
Trusty Sidekick
Rawlins also sees the trouble coming from John's involvement with Alejandra a mile away, but other than offering relatively passive warnings (the farthest he goes is telling John he's "fixin to get us fired and run off the place" [1997]), he does nothing to prevent what unfolds. Even when the worst occurs and they're dragged off to jail, he simply doesn't speak to John or look him in the eye for a while.
Their short conversation on the subject quickly makes the matter irrelevant: "I never quit you" (2192), Rawlins says, in a way that is actually much less Brokeback Mountain than it may sound out of context. He simply means that despite his complaining, he was never not on his friend's side.
After that, it's business as usual, and Rawlins is right there with John Grady as they're getting beat up in the Saltillo prison. If your friend did some stupid stuff that you warned him about, but he did anyway, and it landed both of you in a jailhouse that probably makes hell seem like Tahiti, would you still be best friends?
Smart Aleck with a Heart of Gold—Sort Of
Rawlins isn't afraid to let people know when he thinks they're being stupid, but if the person in question is not John Grady, he tends not to be as nice about it. This shows up most often in his back-and-forth with Blevins, who Rawlins doesn't trust from the beginning and is suspicious of throughout the novel. From their first conversations, in which Rawlins asks if Blevins' name is actually "Blivet"—meaning 10 pounds of manure in a 5-pound sack—their exchanges are tense:
[Blevins]: You aint said what your all's names was...
[Rawlins]: You aint never asked.
That aint how I was raised, said Blevins.
Rawlins stared at him bleakly and turned away. (716-9)
Rawlins is always the first to call Blevins on a lie, whether it be about his name or his knowledge of horse riding. Despite his distaste for Blevins and the situation he landed them all in, Rawlins nevertheless is torn up when Blevins gets executed by the captain. His rough exterior actually has a good amount of squishiness inside, kind of like a Twinkie laced with granola; after getting out of prison, he is driven to tears after he sees a young kid selling newspapers who reminds him of the deceased Blevins (3180-6).