A Comparison Of Gay Life In Richard Rodriguez's Late Victorians?

There are many different types of houses. There are bungalows, barns, mansions, ranches, splits, colonials, Victorians, etc. Each of these types of houses has a steretype attached to them, there is one group of people who is usually “seen” living in these houses. Richard Rodriguez addresses what gay life in San Fransisco is, through the use architecture, and design of homes in certain areas of the city. He wrote a piece titled, “Late Victorians” after the death of a close friend (or rumored lover), this death influenced him to try and do something to make a change. Rodriguez sets out to educate the straight people of San Fransisco about what being gay is like, in a city like San Fransisco. Rodriguez subtly addresses this by using architecture …show more content…
In “Late Victorians” Rodriguez takes advantage of the architecture of San Fransisco and parallels it to how life is different for a gay person living in San Fransisco than a straight person living in San Fransisco. He uses Victorian homes as a symbol for gay life, in the …show more content…
He wrote this to educate them on what he has to go through as a gay man emotionally as well as physically. Rodriguez was not blunt about his lesson though, instead he avoided being straightforward. He subtly hinted at his overall point by using architecture as a motif throughout his entire essay. The reason he used architecture is because it is a topic that most people have no bias towards or against, it’s not very controversial. Choosing an uncontroversial symbol made it easier for readers to take what Rodriguez was saying and draw conclusions to what that meant on their own, which allowed them to come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be gay. Instead of him forcing his ideas onto his readers, Rodriguez allowed the readers to have more freedom with his narrative while also guiding their thoughts subtly through the use of architecture as a