Character Analysis
The Schofield Kid is exactly that: a kid who carries a Schofield pistol.
He's probably around twenty years old if that, and the reason he's not given any other name is because he's supposed to represent any number of generic young aspirants to William Munny or Ned Logan outlaw status.
The Kid is a braggart and a loudmouth if there ever was one. He lips off to Will and Ned as if he's as experienced as they are—or almost, at least:
THE KID: I'm a damn killer myself, except I ain't killed as many as you because of my youth.
When he goes off like this, Will and Ned pretty much just do the ol' smile-and-nod routine.
After he kills Quick Mike in what amounts to a very pathetic death (Mike dies while sitting on the toilet), the Kid suffers a breakdown. He tries to brag and laugh about it, but then he starts sobbing.
Okay, let's be honest. The Kid has really been on our nerves for pretty much, oh, the entire film. He's a cocky loudmouth who is just plain annoying. Once it becomes clear that he can be saved from a life of crime, however, we all of a sudden start to feel bad for hating on him.
Even more than Ned, the Kid has something like a conscience, an idea of right and wrong, and of guilt. Sure, Ned doesn't have the heart to kill anymore, but he doesn't cry about his sins (like the Kid does) and completely reject the outlaw lifestyle in the same way the Kid does:
THE KID: You want it, keep it. I'm never gonna use it again…I won't kill nobody no more. I ain't like you Will…Go on, keep it. All of it. It's yours…I guess I'd rather be blind and ragged than dead.
The Kid, unlike Ned, flat-out casts judgment on Will, God-style.
The Kid suffers from very poor eyesight, and this is a symbolically rich detail. For most of the film he is not only literally quite blind, but morally: he thinks killing is no big deal, and that being an outlaw is cool.
It's only after he kills Quick Mike and suffers a conversion that he learns to "see," a fact symbolized quite obviously when Will urges him to purchase a set of spectacles with his share of the money, a share that he at first attempts not to take, given the remorse he feels for his misdeeds.
And hey; we hope it worked out for him. We hope he got some specs, learned to keep his mouth shut, and went on to lead a very long, very boring life.