The Guncle Abroad

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses anti-gay bias.

As a sequel, The Guncle Abroad follows Patrick and his family five years after the events of The Guncle. Each character is not only older but also in a new part of their life. Many of the characters, and particularly Patrick, struggle to accept how aging shapes and changes their lives and relationships with others. For Patrick, nearing 50, aging means facing uncharted waters. He is not only single again for the first time in years but also uncertain of what to do with his life. The text partly attributes this to personal matters and partly to systemic anti-gay bias. He feels a lack of guidance, with no role models to base his life path off of: “Part of the problem was that he didn’t know who he wanted to be next. He did his best to explain. Not only was there not much of a career model for a gay man of fifty to follow, there wasn’t much of a life model” (30). This suggests that the tension of aging disproportionately affects marginalized groups, as Patrick tries to carve out a midlife path as a gay man.