And cantankerous he no doubt was, perhaps always, not just when he was older.
One of Burroughs' "early revelations": women are either evil or useless.
Another: there is a type of honesty and honor "among thieves" that is not found in polite society.
Yes, I think he deluded himself, saw things in rather a black-and-white way. Rather like my father did.
Burroughs' mother was cold, distant, and his father not particularly approachable either. An early nanny apparently sexually abused little Billy. But Burroughs insisted that his homosexuality had nothing to do with these things, that he was born this way. There is no way to prove it one way or the other.
The writer also tends to write in an almost-schoolboyish way, not quite fully developed. I wonder if this is an affectation of sorts or what.