Gun Hill Road also uses wealth as a destructive theme. Vanessa, lacking the funds and familial support to obtain government sanctioned medication for her transition, resorts to buying hormones and silicone injections illegally. Capitalism negatively effects her story by transitioning only being availed to those who can afford them. Vanessa’s desperate attempts to acquire the proper medical supplies to transition could have had dire consequences; since the medication she took was illegal, she couldn’t have truly known what her body was metabolizing, nor how the silicone injections she was receiving would impact her body. Capitalism indirectly caused Vanessa’s dangerous search for transitioning. Gun Hill Road paints capitalism as a harmful force in Vanessa’s life. …show more content…
Enrique, as a newly release convict, is tasked with being labeled as a productive force unto society by upholding and encouraging Capitalism. He must prove his worth to the government by getting a job and submitting evidence of his occupation by showing his parole officer his pay stubs. This system puts a heavy importance upon contributing to the Capitalistic machine of government. Enrique, struggling to understand his child and protect them, misses one of the meetings with his parole officer, in which he must present proof of his productivity. As he is absent to the meeting, the parole officer, without sympathy, arrests him. Enrique doesn’t have an opportunity to explain himself or the situation he is in- the system brands him as unprofitable, so he has to be punished through prison. This unfeeling, unconcerned method of doling out harsh punishment for ex-convicts who are trying hard to endure life whilst balancing a family and a job is overly cruel. Thus is the nature of Capitalism. Gun Hill Road paints capitalism as a harmful force in the life of the Rodriquez