“Gangstas” by Richard Rodriguez
Method prompt

In his essay, Richard Rodriguez praises Joseph Rodriguez’s photos of the gangster life. He enjoys the photographs because it does not romanticize their subject. I agree with this completely. The first picture, Chivo, shows a father teaching his extremely young daughter how to handle a gun. The mother looks on approvingly, as if it is almost amusing. I do not believe the purpose of this photo is to glorify this lifestyle. I think this photo is intended to shock the viewers. A father should never be teaching his young daughter these types of things. She is around two years old, and already he is bringing violence into her life.

The photo of little Mike Estrada shows him holding a photo of his father, who is in jail. This is also not romanticizing the gangster life. Mike appears to be around six years old and he is without a father. His father was involved in crime, and now Mike has lost a member of his family for a long period of time. It is extremely sad for such a young child to lose his father, especially when it is because his father has committed a crime. This is sad, now glorious. Rodriguez makes a point of showing this through his work. Finally, the last photo shows the funeral of a two-and-a-half-year-old, and his sad family. Thomas Regalado was only an infant. He died before he had any decent amount of time to experience life. It is obvious that Thomas, at such a young age, could not have done anything to deserve death. This, therefore, does not glorify the gangster life. Instead, it shows how stupid the lifestyle can be to lead an infant to such an early death.

Both the essayist and the photographer seem to share a similar distaste for this type of life. However, the photographer expresses the gangs better. The characteristics and lifestyle is clear through the photos. It may be difficult to understand the photographer’s opinion through them. Yet, the photo accurately depicts the true life of gang members. The essayist focuses more on his opinion, and therefore may not be entirely accurate.