Buddy Ebsen by Hilton Als

Buddy Ebsen is not only a short biography of Als’s life but it is also a tribute to Als’s lover who has died of AIDS, or as Als references, “gay cancer.”  Hilton Als is a writer known for his work with the New Yorker and by his own books, most notably The Woman and his help with Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America.  Als’s essay takes place through out his life, showing the reader what his life was like growing up as a homosexual and how his life was shaped by, in his own words, these queers.  I believe Als’s purpose in writing this essay was to show how his life was fully understood when he accepted who he was as an individual.  I also believe Als also meant to show his audience that he didn’t view being gay as a negative thing.  Als shows this by using the word queer, which is usually used in an offensive way, as a way to identify himself and make it a part of himself without a care for any one else’s opinion.  Throughout the essay Als uses the repetitive phrase, “It’s the queers who made me” at the beginning of every paragraph.  The use of this repetitive phrase instills the idea that the gay sub-culture is what created every aspect of his life and that he is proud of it.  I believe Hilton Als did achieve his purpose of showing the reader how his life was shaped by gay culture.  This is achieved by his use of repetitive phrasing which drills in the phrase “It’s the queers who made me” into our minds.  This phrase is engrained into the mind of every reader so that they will be able to remember how his life was not a struggle because of being gay but of how being gay shaped his life’s struggle.

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