“The main focus of Burroughs' Wild Boys tetralogy is an apocalyptic world in which the social order is disrupted enough to allow gay men the possibility of forming seperate communities. The eponymous characters of The Wild Boys band together in the deserts of North Africa to create an alternative to heterosexual society and simultaneously wage war on an intolerant, heterosexual social order that refuses them independence. Burroughs repeatedly links the boys with the youth movements of the late 1960's. He cites Genet's belief that 'it is time for writers to support the rebellion of youth not only with their words but with their presence as well.' The Wild Boys can thus be read as a progression from the riots of Chicago and Stonewall in that they are a radical group of youthful, queer, multiracial revolutionaries who echo Burroughs' own belief that non-violent action is not enough.”

“The culture in which you parent, mentor, or educate boys exhorts them to be individualistic and group-oriented at once, but does not give them a tribal structure in which to accomplish both in balance. It used to be that the tribe formed a boy's character while the peer group existed primarily to test and befriend that character. Nowadays, boys' characters are often formed in the peer group. Mentors and intimate role models rarely exist to show the growing boy in any long-term and consistent way how both to serve a group and flourish as an independent self.”

“The texts' representation of homosexuality thus overturn the Christian fundamentalist accusation that it is sinful because it is not procreative. As the boys produce new beings through gay sex, they empower both themselves and the site of their desire, the anus. The heterosexual fear of the anus as a "grave", as death, and as nothingness, is challenged and transformed into a queer celebration of its role as a site of desire and alternate reproduction.”

“Youth is the time for dreams, boy...The trick is, when you get older, not to forget them.—Captain John Winters”

“A boy's will is the wind's will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”

“well she was precious like a flowershe grew wild, wild but innocenta perfect prayer in a desperate hourshe was everything beautiful and differentstupid boy, you can't fence that instupid boy, it's like holdin' back the wind”