Whitman, who are you?
I would like to know a bit more about Whitman’s life growing up. Particularly what events may have influenced his views on love, friendship, and connection. It seems like he developed very strong and radical ideas for the time. I think that more often than not, this is a consequence of belonging to a minority group, and regardless of what Reynolds says I still maintain that Whitman was gay, but there’s also always more to it than just that. It would be interesting to see how he developed these ideas and whether his childhood experiences played a role in that.
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That’s an interesting question, Brendon, because in some ways WW’s childhood could have created a very different man: poverty, some amount of itineracy, very limited schooling, a father who was very probably a serious alcoholic, etc. But he remained very close to his mother and some of his siblings throughout his life. If you read more of the Reynolds book (and FYI I just don’t think there’s any question that WW is gay, honestly), you’ll see that he traces many influences on Whitman’s thinking,including some of the radical and reform speakers he heard as a young man.