In your opinion, what was the biggest giveaway of Eddie’s sexuality?
Oh god. Anon, you’re KILLING ME!!!! I can’t just pick one thing fnsdjgjna. In my opinion, there isn’t like one BIG giveaway, it’s a lot of smaller giveaways that add up to a really obvious conclusion. So if you don’t mind, this turned into more of an expanded Top 5 list… SO HERE IT GOES:
Okay first and foremost, the original ‘Leper’ was real, not IT. The hobo who tried to assault Eddie was very much real, and it’s notable (particularly in 1958) that Eddie was more concerned with contracting the hobo’s disease than the solicitation itself (probably because he doesn’t know what a blowjob is). He doesn’t really start running until the hobo starts touching himself, that’s when he kind of realizes what’s happening.
I don’t think Stephen King would have included the blowjob thing if we’re just supposed to believe Eddie’s afraid of actual diseases alone. I think the blowjob aspect is meant to be symbolic of Eddie equating being gay/homosexual acts WITH disease and literally rotting from the inside out - because that’s what he’s afraid will happen to him if the hobo touches him. That he will rot from the inside out (this will tie into point #4 later).
ITs manifestations around Eddie after this are very clearly based in disease AND sexuality, but MOSTLY sexuality. He doesn’t know much about sex, but he knows ENOUGH to be afraid of sexual things. ITs leper could have easily been a crusty old rotting woman soliciting him, and it matters that it wasn’t. IT never takes the form of a woman around Eddie, despite his mother being arguably his biggest fear. IT only ever takes the form of a rotting man soliciting sex from Eddie. Not just the hobo, but also Belch Huggins (this will tie into point #3).
Just like with Beverly, Eddie’s fear is just “gross” on the surface, but sexual in its symbolism. Blood is gross and creepy, but Bev is really afraid of womanhood and the sexual objectification that comes with that. Rotting flesh is gross and creepy, but Eddie is really afraid of homosexuality and the stigma and otherness that came with it.
2. Parallels between Eddie and other gay (real and fictional) men.
First, the parallels between Eddie and Adrian Mellon. They are both described as small in stature and asthmatic, and the real person Adrian is based on, Charlie Howard, was targeted by bullies in school for being small, “fragile”, and not ‘masculine enough’, just like Eddie. When Mike describes Adrian’s death to the Losers, Eddie has a physical reaction to the story and grabs his inhaler - are we really supposed to believe he only related to Adrian because of ASTHMA? No. There was more to it than that. Additionally, Adrian was attacked by a group of bullies that mirror the Bowers gang - there was a violent leader (Henry), a dumb big guy (Belch), and one that was not as interested in the violence as the others (Vic). Adrian stood up to the bullies just like Eddie did. Adrian was brutally beaten by the main bully, just as Eddie’s arm was broken by Henry. And, Adrian was bitten by IT in the same spot on his arm (where the arm meets the shoulder) as Eddie is later, when IT bites his arm clean off.
Second, the parallels between Eddie and Anthony Perkins. Bill compares Eddie to Anthony Perkins as adults and it goes well beyond attaching a youthful, clean cut, brunet description to him. It also goes beyond the “haha get it?” implication that Anthony Perkins’ character in Psycho ALSO had a crazy mother who controlled every aspect of his life and taught him that sex was sinful. It’s deeper than that, because in real life, Perkins was a closeted gay man. And he DID have a mother like that - which is why he was perfect for the part of Norman Bates. Perkins’ father also died when he was five, he also had an overbearing mother who controlled him his entire life, even down to his emotions, and he spent his entire adult life trying to overcome the damage she caused.
Perkins definitely struggled with his sexuality, even undergoing conversion therapy in his 30′s, and did not have a relationship with a woman until he was well into adulthood (like Eddie, who was implied not to have much if any experience with women before marrying Myra at 35). Perkins had quite a few relationships with men who were quiet about it at the time but more vocal when it became more acceptable to be out, and he later died from complications due to his ongoing battle with AIDs. He even lived with a woman who was like his mother, for quite some time, while having relationships with men in private. Interestingly, one of Anthony’s close friends was openly gay Don Bachardy… whose name is almost LAZILY close to Adrian Mellon’s partner Don Haggerty.
3. The way Eddie thinks about boys vs. the way he thinks about girls.
Eddie’s chapters are FULL of flowery and symbolic language, moreso as an adult but even as a child. Eddie loves to wax poetic, LOVES IT. So it’s important to pay attention to the way he talks about things or thinks about things. Phrasing is important. Effort is important. This is more true about the way he thinks about other characters than almost anything else. Basically, when Eddie thinks about boys (Richie and Bill mostly, but even seemingly innocuous comments about the other boys too, and even BELCH), he’s always using descriptive language and is just very… wistful about it. Compare this to the way he thinks about Myra, or his childhood crush on Greta, or even Bev - there’s a marked difference in tone. It’s very stiff and ambiguous in comparison to the freedom in his expression when he thinks about boys.
Eddie’s descriptions of Myra are very… unloving. He talks about her under a thin layer of disgust, and often (rightfully) compares her to his mother. He did not marry her for love, he married her because she was able to continue confining him to his comfort zone after his mother died. The only time Eddie is able to start convincing him he could have loved her is when he’s far away from her and knows deep down that he’ll never go back. Also, at the Loser reunion, he gets really defensive about not having had any kids when Mike comments on it, because he seemed to take it as an accusation that he can’t perform (which is probably true). It’s hinted that he and Myra almost never have sex (the crickets), and when their physical relationship IS mentioned, he thinks of it as acts she does TO him, not something they do together. He’s extremely passive in that relationship, because he does not want to be there. He also has a secret stash of quaaludes in his medicine cabinet, which implies he abuses sedatives - possibly just to get through life with Myra.
When Eddie thinks back on his crush on Greta, he thinks about two things: her shoulders, and her clothes. He doesn’t describe her face, or her appearance, other than her hair being blonde. He just describes her clothes, and thinks of her shoulders as pretty - possibly THE most gender-ambiguous body part ever. He also never goes into detail about how pretty Bev is, doesn’t blush around her, and just isn’t described as having an attraction to her. In fact, during the fight at Neibolt when her shirt gets torn, ALL of the boys are described as having some kind of obvious reaction to seeing her bare chest, except, notably, Eddie. Then there’s the sewer scene… but all I’m going to say about that is that Eddie was NOT interested.
Compare all this with the way he describes Bill’s face as ‘lovely and well-loved’ and continually thinks about loving Bill and dying for Bill, the way he constantly CONSTANTLY talks about and thinks about Richie and how great and funny and interesting he is (more on that in #5), the way he describes Stan’s reflexes during baseball as ‘angelic’, even way he remembers Belch’s large body as ‘existing in its own cosmos of slow thunder’… every SINGLE time Eddie thinks about a boy, he uses figurative and poetic language, or simply goes on and on and on about how great they are. The tone is COMPLETELY different. (Notably, referring back to the Leper, just after remembering Belch in this way, IT manifests as the Leper AS Belch, in a Yankees uniform, asking about blowjobs, so… yeah).
4. Miscellaneous Symbolism
Religious symbolism - Eddie as a kid is in constant fear that the church will somehow “know” how bad he is and damn him to hell, despite never having done anything wrong in his life. He thinks about this, specifically, after a very obvious double entendre with Richie (the rocket ice cream scene). While he’s dying, as well, religious symbolism comes into play, though this time it is about self acceptance, and is ALSO directly connected to Richie. I talk about it a lot more in depth in this meta.
Rotting symbolism - this is connected to the religion thing, but also the leper and Eddie’s fear of disease. Eddie feels like he’s rotting from the inside out because of something inside him that is inherently bad. This comes up when he’s feeling religious guilt AND when he encounters IT, because he’s afraid that if the Leper touches him, it will speed up the process. Then everyone will be able to see how disgusting he is. It is NOT an accident that King makes this sexual by having the Hobo/Leper solicit Eddie. Eddie’s feelings of guilt and self-disgust are directly tied to sexuality. Eddie has been bullied for his perceived gayness and has heard his mother condemn gay men over and over, and he’s internalized that as something that Is Bad and, even more, something that Is Bad About Him that everyone - from God to Henry Bowers - can somehow see. When he dies in Richie’s arms, he thinks to himself that he is being CLEANSED of that rot, and it’s symbolic for his self acceptance.
Referring back to the rocket ice cream thing, King uses innuendos once in a while to plant hints as well. This is the best example of one, because rocket ice creams are super phallic, and the way the whole scene is described, it is basically “Can I suck your dick, Richie?” “But your mom wouldn’t approve!” “I’ll take my chances.” Like… no more needs to be said about it.
One of the tiniest, but most telling hints, are Eddie’s rings! As others have pointed out, pinky rings during this time period were popular among gay men (from the 50′s up to the 80′s, so basically his entire young life). Whether Eddie was or wasn’t aware of the meaning is unknown, but I doubt King would have mentioned it MULTIPLE TIMES if he wasn’t trying to send a message.
5. Richie, Richie, Richie
Finally, there’s Richie. I wanted to leave this until last because I think that ‘Eddie is gay’ is an argument that stands very well on its own OUTSIDE of Reddie. Eddie is gay regardless of whether you read Richie and Eddie’s interactions as romantic or platonic. BUT, I do read it as romantic, so here we go!
This goes back to the way Eddie uses poetic language when he thinks about boys. He’s a super emotional, reflective person, so his inner monologues are always way more revealing than what he says out loud. With Richie, he thinks about how great he is a good deal more than anyone else, EVEN Bill. He thinks about how Richie gave him a secret identity with the nicknames he claimed to hate but actually liked. He thinks a lot about Richie’s ambitions and goals and desires - in some ways, we get more insight into Richie’s character from Eddie’s chapters than we do from Richie’s. He sees that Ben is looking at Richie with a mixture of ‘awe and wariness’ and understands why. He thinks of Richie as having “enchanting, often exhausting, charm.”
He knows exactly what Richie’s report cards look like. He knows exactly who Richie’s idols are. He knows what kind of tape Richie uses to mend his glasses. He knows and uses ALL of Richie’s terminology (chucks, getting off a good one) and those are some of the first things Eddie thinks of as an adult on his way back to Derry. He takes the bait every time Richie picks on him, calls him cute, or tries to trick him - he literally cannot help himself. He just KNOWS Richie and thinks of him often, the way anyone with deep and honest feelings for someone does. There’s no trace of hero worship or pining from afar, it’s just… knowing another person so well and so easily that you don’t even realize you’re thinking about them. He even remembers the way Sonia complains about Richie in an exact quote, rather than in general as with the rest of his friends.
There’s also the rocket scene again, the way Eddie reacts to being called cute, the way he blushes when Richie asks him if he knows what fucking is, the little things that could just be Eddie’s naivety but could also be more than that.
Fighting with IT, Eddie puts up the biggest fights when it is something directly connected to Richie. As a kid, when he fights the Crawling Eye, he originally leaps into action because of Bill, but he puts the most effort into encouraging Richie to fight it too. He knows it’s one of Richie’s biggest fears, and he really goes hard at it (this is the Battery Acid moment) and is screaming at Richie to fight back. As an adult, it’s Richie’s mental calls for help that get Eddie to leap into action yet again. He distracts IT and attempts to hurt IT again because of Richie, for Richie. He dies for Richie.
The death scene, which doesn’t even NEED explanation. It was going to be a confession, point blank.
HONORABLE MENTION: Eddie drinks gin and PRUNE JUICE, which just sounds disgusting and seems like a joke… at first glance. Until you think about how prune juice is high in fiber and is supposed to “move the mail” as Ben says. Eddie’s out here getting drunk while clearing out his system. So basically, Eddie is GAY and tryna get fucked on what he assumes is his last night alive, as one does.
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