Rudy (Tristán) Character Analysis

The narrator of “Remember the Alamo,” a dancer and performer whose stage name is Tristán. Initially, Rudy uses first-person narration, but he quickly slips into third-person narration to describe Tristán’s act to readers. This is because when he performs, Rudy is no longer Rudy, but Tristán, a fantastic dancer who mesmerizes crowds with flamenco, salsa, tango, fandango, merengue, cumbia, or the cha-cha-chá. Throughout the story, it slowly becomes clear that Tristán is a gay man and that he’s terminally ill, which he hints at by writing about dancing with Death herself. Despite his family’s homophobia, they accept him for who he is and even brag about his artistic accomplishments. Still, Tristán must face bigotry when he goes to bars and men come up to him and ask him if he is a “fag.” Above all, Tristán just wants to be accepted by the people watching him dance, and he embraces Death because she wants him so badly; indeed, he’s obsessed with finding a love that “is never used to hurt anybody” and “never ashamed,” a love that can “create a universe where nothing is dirty, no one is hurting, no one sick.”