Like others in Angels, Joe embodies a virtuous inclination of love, but proves figurative stagnation through the portrayal of identity-loss. When Harper confronts Joe’s closeted homosexuality, he retorts: “Does it make a difference? That I might be one thing deep within, no matter how wrong or ugly that thing is, so long as I have fought, with everything I have to kill it…there’s nothing left, I’m a shell. There’s nothing left to kill. As long as my behaviour is what I know it has to be. Decent. Correct. That alone in the eyes of God” (Kushner 40-41). Connotations in Joe’s plea juxtapose love’s paradox: sexual identity and social identity are inseparable; mere conformity according to socially-accepted standards impels internalized oppression …show more content…
Reproaching James’ sympathy and tolerance, Aloysius criticizes: “You’d trade anything for a warm look…I want to see the starch in your character cultivated. If you are looking for reassurance, you can be fooled. If you forget yourself and study others, you will not be fooled” (Shanley 15). Aloysius’ assault reveals a critical danger: too much of a good thing – and calls on objective refinement and stamina to avoid love’s deceptions. Also, Flynn, confronting Aloysius, attests their similarity; she retorts: “We are not the same! A dog that bites is a dog that bites! I do not justify what I do wrong and go on. I admit it, desist, and take my medicine” (Shanley 54). Figuratively, Aloysius’ shield suggests that one is what one does without absolve, and the only remedy for deviance is accepting punishment. Connecting cover to cover, Shanley entitled the play “Doubt: a parable” (2005); in its ending, following Flynn’s transfer, Aloysius admits her lie, and laments: “In the pursuit of wrongdoing, one steps away from God. Of course there’s a price…I have doubts! I have such doubts!” (58). Aloysius’ confession reveals a fallacy of relevance; two wrongs do not make a right; the “price” infers consequence of action and dread of its result. Gallicho (2005) adds that doubt “refers to multiple questions and betrayals…for …show more content…
Gaining entrance to Heaven and resigning as Prophet, Prior reasons: “We can’t just stop. We’re not rocks. Progress, migration, motion is…modernity. It’s animate, it’s what living things do. We desire. Even if all we desire is stillness, it’s still desire for…Even if we go faster than we should. We can’t wait. And wait for what? God – […] He isn’t coming back…” (Kushner 275). Prior also pleads for life: “I still want…My blessing…I can’t help myself…I’ve lived through such terrible times, and there are people who live through much worse, but…You see them living anyway…I recognize the habit. The addiction to being alive. We live past hope.” (Kushner 277-279). Having survived for 5 years, Prior concludes: “The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come…You are fabulous creatures, each and every one. And I bless you: More Life. The Great Work Begins” (Kushner 290). Angels is intricately sectioned and contains two connected plots, personal and public; Prior’s pleas to Heaven represent a personal resolution while the ending represents social absolve. Portraying the personal resolution, the key-words “rocks” and “animate” juxtapose stasis for homeostasis to define innateness of life. Inherent “progress” and “desire” portray life’s journey and longing, even in its inaction (“stillness”), absolute
Another scene where gender conflict arises is in which Father Flynn wields his power suggesting a “leave of absence” towards Sister Aloysius after being questioned about his “talk” with Donald Muller (33). It is clear that Father Flynn is outraged and his natural defense is to hold his power in a threat towards the sisters. As Sister Aloysius doubts Father Flynn, she sees him as personifying these doubts and believes that only by eliminating him can she regain her religious conviction, staking her entire way of life on her
... If anyone is being accused of molesting a child, the reputation that they’ve got will be ruined forever. There’s no going back, she leaves him with nothing, other than a dirty slate, whether or not he is guilty. This nun gets her way, and her certainty drove her to believe something that was never proved to be true. Her authority and the wall she’s created between herself and everyone else makes her credible. His compassion was mistaken for something that he didn’t do. She had the upper hand, with her manipulation skills. The Sisters are her puppets as she remained in control of her parish. Father Flynn’s leave does affect Sister Aloysius, her certainty vanishes but the only thing that somewhat puts her at ease, is that she wants to believe that his leave, was his confession. Sister Aloysius has doubts that crush her in the ending scene. She caused her own demise
Aloysius has doubts about Father Flynn, yet her motive for prosecuting him remains ambiguous. Sister James accuses Aloysius of one possible motive, bias against Flynn: “You don’t like it that he uses a ballpoint pen. […] You don’t like it that he likes ‘Frosty the Snowman’! And you’re letting that convince you of something terrible, just terrible!”(35). James believes that Aloysius is prejudiced against Father Flynn because of his disregard for her traditional values. Aloysius makes her hatred of ballpoint pens clear to Sister James by telling her that “the students really should only be learning script with true fountain pens”(9). Sister Aloysius believes her way, the fountain pen, is superior to Father Flynn's way, the ballpoint pen. In a similar sense, she tells Flynn directly that “[Frosty the Snowman] should be banned from the airwaves”(29). Again, Aloysius views Flynn’s methods as inferior. As Sister James fears, Aloysius could be letting her distaste for Father Flynn cloud her judgement. This could be her motive for accusing Flynn of something terrible, but the audience can’t be
Firstly, Father Flynn is much more modern than Sister Aloysius would like him to be. Father Flynn suggests that in the Christmas Pageant the school should, “include a secular song” (Shanley 28). The reader is now aware that Father Flynn is not a traditional priest. The reader now thinks that Father Flynn wants to modernize the church. This statement is significant because it reveals the gap in ideals between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius. Sister Aloysius does not want modern ideas in the church because she thinks that the corrupt the good nature of the current traditions. Also, Father Flynn uses a ballpoint pen. Sister Aloysius found a ballpoint pen in Sister James’s room once and commanded Sister James to take away any ballpoint pens she found because ballpoint pens do not promote good penmanship. Because Father Flynn uses a ballpoint pen, Sister Aloysius has a hatred for Father Flynn. Finally, Father Flynn adds sugar to his tea. While this fact may seem insignificant, it is not that way at all. Sister Aloysius and Sister James do not add sugar to their tea because it is considered sinful. It is more traditional to drink tea without sugar. However, Father Flynn puts three spoons of sugar into his tea. This contemporary style to drinking tea enrages Sister Aloysius because she does not want any modern customs in her
In the play Doubt, by John Patrick Shanly, Sister Aloysius is treating Father Flynn unfairly. Sister Aloysius is the principal of St. Nichols School, who is suspicious and always doubt everyone, especially Father Flynn. She thinks that Father Flynn is guilty, but has no proof. Sister Aloysius doesn’t like Father Flynn in the school and his ideas. She treats him unfairly. Sister Aloysius treats Father Flynn unfairly when she still accuses Father Flynn of giving the altar wine to Donald Muller after Father Flynn tells her the truth. She treats him unfairly by forcing him to request the transfer without proving if Father Flynn is guilty or not and also makes him resign by lying about his past.
Joe only cares for himself from the beginning of the play. He doesn’t admit or show others that he is a true homosexual. Not only because of the society still don’t widely accept a homosexual at that time, it is also because of his religion. If Joe decides to be a homosexual, then Mormons consider him is a serious sin person. Therefore, Joe starts to save himself in a nominal marriage with Harper. He treats this relationship as a friendship, because there is no husband in the world will call his wife “Buddy”. Joe doesn’t have an attention to Harper. Even though he knows she is suffering some kind of drug problem, but he still doesn’t care and find out the reason behind the issue. In addition, Harper never receives any sexual gratification from Joe. That makes Harper feels rejected, and she starts to question herself whether she is unattractive than other women or she is an enemy of Joe. “I’m the enemy. That’s easy. That doesn’t change. You think you’re the only one who hates sex; I do; I hate it with you” (Kushner 43) In spite of that isn’t Harper’s fault; Joe doesn’t feel her is attractive, because Joe is ...
Andrew Sullivan, author of, What is a Homosexual, portrays his experience growing up; trapped in his own identity. He paints a detailed portrait of the hardships caused by being homosexual. He explains the struggle of self-concealment, and how doing so is vital for social acceptation. The ability to hide one’s true feelings make it easier to be “invisible” as Sullivan puts it. “The experience of growing up profoundly different in emotional and psychological makeup inevitably alters a person’s self-perception.”(Sullivan)This statement marks one of the many reasons for this concealment. The main idea of this passage is to reflect on those hardships, and too understand true self-conscious difference. Being different can cause identity problems, especially in adolescents.
In an effort to legitimize all subcategories of sexuality considered deviant of heterosexual normatively, queer theory acknowledges nontraditional sexual identities by rejecting the rigid notion of stabilized sexuality. It shares the ideals of gender theory, applying to sexuality the idea that gender is a performative adherence to capitalist structures that inform society of what it means to be male, female, gay, and straight. An individual’s conformity to sexual or gendered expectations indicates both perpetration and victimization of the systemic oppression laid down by patriarchal foundations in the interest of maintaining power within a small group of people. Seeking to deconstruct the absolute nature of binary opposition, queer theory highlights and celebrates literary examples of gray areas specifically regarding sexual orientation, and questions those which solidify heterosexuality as the “norm”, and anything outside of it as the “other”.
...der further than what we have in front of us. We want to impose our opinion on everything. We want to relate to it in a way that can only be done through out imagination. So, due to this, when we are not given the flexibility, then the context no longer becomes entertaining. The viewers do not want to be told how to think. Given these points, if they are influenced to believe that Sister Aloysius is a cruel individual like the movie portrays, then at the end of the movie and book when Sister Aloysius says, “ I have doubts! I have such doubts!” they will take that as a confession from her, and be further lead to believe that the accusations against Father Flynn are false. I think John Patrick Shanley chooses specific diction to create a conflict that has no precise resolution,he wanted the reader get lost in story and enter into their own story manifested within.
... Nonetheless, the signs also point to Father Flynn hurting him, because he was violating him. People’s assumptions are based upon personal experience and gut feeling, also on their upbringing; nature and nurture. Shanley uses inference in this play to create doubt in the audience’s minds'. The verdict is never in, on Flynn; guilty or not guilty. Shanley’s audience is left to be the jury.
This scene, and the entire film, are meant to leave the audience questioning their own decisions in order to force them to ponder their own self-doubts. Shanley’s intentions for this film are to vividly depict his idea that certainty is temporary but “doubt is infinite” (Ryan). Especially when decisions seem to be justified. As seen in the final scene Sister Aloysius validates her lies to Father Flynn because she claims it was in the “pursuit of wrongdoing,” yet she is left in an even more “doubtful” state of mind than ever before. Through Sister Aloysius’s convictions and the “admirably complex” and “ambiguous” ending of this film, Shanley succeeds in his goal of leaving the audience doubting the decisions in their own
Milstein, Susan A. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Sexuality. Ed. William J. Taverner and Ryan W. McKee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Father Flynn tells Sister Aloysius, “Even if you feel certainty, it is an emotion and not a fact.” I think he means that without concrete evidence, you cannot rely on your emotions for the truth. In Father Flynn’s sermon he discusses doubt and truth. He says, “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty.” Sister Aloysius treats her doubt as the truth, and ignores any uncertainty she has. Throughout the story, Father Flynn denies and wrong doing and cites that there is no evidence of any misconduct. Doubt becomes battle with two viewpoints. When questions are asked, they are answered with more questions, leading to more
Sexuality is a fundamental part of our self-discovery, involving much more than just being genetically or anatomically male and female and it is not defined solely by one 's sexual acts (Ministry of Education 1989, p.79 cited in Gourlay, P 1995). The notion that sexuality is fixed and innate disregards the social aspects that impact ones’ sexualities. Gagnon and Simon (1973) further commented that sexuality is a feature of social
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...