The very existence and success of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America suggests a decline in prejudice and an increase in tolerance. And while this forward movement has certainly occurred, the content of the play challenges the congratulatory and affirmatory outlook we may be inclined to offer the present, and rather suggests that inhospitality and impracticality characterize the present. Through a coupling of emotional resonances and a series of binary disruptions of the clear divides we rely on to navigate the world: right and wrong, heterosexual and homosexual, fantasy and reality, and past and present, Kushner debases our prevailing worldview as inadequate, exclusionary, and inaccurate. And as this emphasis on the shortcomings of our world …show more content…
Joe and Harper present a moral dilemma that offers perhaps previously unexplored moral terrain to a predominantly heterosexual audience. When Joe comes out to Harper after years of marriage, Harper’s reactions vary, ranging from “I want this to stop, to go back,” to converse begging, “I want to get away from here. Far away. Right now,” and also an expression of indignance and betrayal over the fact that “[he was] going to save [her], but the whole time [he was] spinning a lie,” spurring the questions: should Joe have told Harper the truth and does the truth necessarily dissolve their marriage (2.9.65-66;73;77-78). But no clear answer exists to either question, an ambiguity made visible through Harper’s diverging emotions that imply Harper wants both the truth and ignorance and wants both an ending to the relationship and a lack of change. The dilemma created by Joe’s homosexuality cannot be answered by conventional morality, debasing the existing moral framework as inadequate, and implicitly, as our current methods of understanding the world default, we move towards a recognition that more complex people and experiences exist than we may have …show more content…
By denying us a context for understanding this magical moment, Kushner disables our ability to judge these moments, and once Kushner has denied our ability to repudiate the elements of magic in the play as distinctly fabricated and separate from reality, he continues to build the blurring between fantasy and reality through the inclusion of magical details and events more directly intertwined with
Stoddard begins his argument successfully with pathos, or emotional appeal, to attain the reader’s empathy for those who have been deprived of a loved one. The story tells of a woman named Karen Thompson, who was basically married, but not legally, to her female partner; when Thompson’s partner was in a critical car accident, her partner’s parents completely cut Thompson off from all contact with their daughter. Had the two women been married, they would not have had to deal with such heart-throbbing pain. This example is effective on presenting how marriage “can be the key to survival, emotional and financial” (Stoddard, 1988, p. 551). Making the readers attentive to their feelings captures their attention to the issue of gay marriage and supports his first minor claim.
The lecture hall filled with the audience members’ conversations in the gymnasium-sized room, which the microphone on the podium in center stage amplified. Through the double door entrance to the hall walked a conference attendee named Adam Moore, who found his seat in the last of many perfectly aligned rows of folding chairs. He began reading the brochure handed to him as he arrived and “homosexuality” being on the list of discussion topics intrigued him because he is an openly homosexual member of the Episcopal Church. After all the discussions had concluded and the ministers and clergy answered every question, Moore approached Father McAllister and asked him to explain some of the Catholic Church’s teachings to him. Father McAllister happily agreed and they both returned to the lecture hall to have their conversation. Father McAllister sat next to Moore, who reclaimed his conference seat. Moore explained that although there were many topics he did not fully understand in Catholic Church teaching, there was only one he wanted to discuss with him. He sought to understand what the Catholic Church taught on the topic of homosexuality and what the Church’s opposition was to homosexual relationship...
A deeply pious man, John considers the Bible a sublime source of moral code, guiding him through the challenges of his life. He proclaims to his kid son, for whom he has written this spiritual memoir, that the “Body of Christ, broken for you. Blood of Christ, shed for you” (81). While John manages to stay strong in the faith and nurture a healthy relationship with his son, his relationship with his own father did not follow the same blueprint. John’s father, also named John Ames, was a preacher and had a powerful effect on John’s upbringing. When John was a child, Father was a man of faith. He executed his role of spiritual advisor and father to John for most of his upbringing, but a shift in perspective disrupted that short-lived harmony. Father was always a man who longed for equanimity and peace. This longing was displayed in his dealings with his other son, Edward: the Prodigal son of their family unit, a man who fell away from faith while at school in Germany. John always felt that he “was the good son, so to speak, the one who never left his father's house” (238). Father always watched over John, examining for any sign of heterodoxy. He argued with John as if John were Edward, as if he were trying to get Edward back into the community. Eventually, John’s father's faith begins to falter. He reads the scholarly books
Tony Kushner, in his play Angels in America, explores a multitude of issues pertaining to modern American society including, but not limited to, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Through his diverse character selection, he is able to compare and contrast the many varied experiences that Americans might face today. Through it all, the characters’ lives are all linked together through a common thread: progress, both personal and public. Kushner offers insight on this topic by allowing his characters to discuss what it means to make progress and allowing them to change in their own ways. Careful observation of certain patterns reveals that, in the scope of the play, progress is cyclical in that it follows a sequential process of rootlessness, desire, and sacrifice, which repeats itself.
In his play “On Tidy Endings, a lover and ex-wife have gathered to sign documents and tie up loose ends after the death of a man. It was during the conception of this play that most Americans mandated being homosexual was a crime against god. These actions came because of a belief that god created man for woman, and woman for man. I believe Mr. Fierstein’s theme is to show people same sex marriage does not differ from any other, but it is the judgment by those who do not unde...
...of the characters’ lives as their motivation affects what they do. The play’s overall theme of manipulation for personal gain as well as general control transmits to me clearly that we are not in control, of the events that happen to us. In spite of that revelation we are in control of the way in which we react to the circumstances in our lives. Hence, no human fully grasps the capabilities to control the way we act. We simply allow certain circumstances to overpower us and dictate our actions. Ultimately, I learned that we are our actions and consequently we should acknowledge the accountability that is implied when we act a certain way. Instead of blaming others for the mistakes we make, we should understand that we have the control as much as the power to make our own decisions rather than giving that ability someone else.
There are many themes can be found in the play Angels in America by Tony Kushner, such as religion, sexuality and politics. Actually, they are all connected and related to the source of selfishness, because it just acts like a road sign to give a direction to a person. Sometimes, selfishness can lead you the way to save ourselves when you are in different situations; but at the same time, selfishness can hurt and change a person deeply. In these two scenes, act 1 scene 8 and act 2 scene 9, we can see how selfishness appears in these two pairs of couples which are in different situations, Joe with Harper and Louis with Prior.
...win discusses how Americans have an idea of reality that is not quite true and a writer’s responsibility is to bring to light the truths that Americans are too busy or too ignorant to notice. A novel of the 1950s cannot just be an idealized picture of heterosexual couples and their nuclear families living in suburbia. An accurate depiction of the 1950s needs to discuss homosexuality. It must discuss revolutionary pieces of literature on the subject, like Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior In the Human Male. It must also illustrate how macro events, such as the Cold War, influenced micro events, such as the Lavender Scare. Homosexuals were met with persecution and oppression in postwar America. Without the inclusion of homosexuality in a depiction of the 1950s, the American identity will continue to be incoherent and confine itself within a myth of the American experience.
McNulty, Charles. "Angels in America: Tony Kushner's Theses on the Philosophy of History." Modern Drama 39.1 (1996): 84-96.
Moody gives a very insightful look into the common line crossings of church and state on the issues of gay marriage. Having the credentials of a clergy member and of someone who writes and lectures often on subjects of ethics and social policy, Moody evokes trust in his
In the essay “Why The M Word Matters To Me” by Andrew Sullivan, he states “This isn’t about gay marriage. It’s about marriage. It’s about family. It’s about love” (159). A student’s response to this statement made by Sullivan prompted him to claim that Sullivan was not speaking about marriage itself - as a concept, more rather weddings in particular within his essay. I fully agree with this student’s response and as a result, I shall be thoroughly analyzing the validity of his claim outright.
People are expected to know their roles in society. We are born into the world that has a system and place for everything ranging from who belongs where all the way to how one should act in life. In these two short writings, “The Bridegroom” by Ha Jin and “Corner” by Ralph Pomeroy, there is an underlying tension between one’s society and themselves that continues to grow through the story. “The Bridegroom” focuses on the idea that only a woman and a man are expected to be in a romantic relationship and anything otherwise is highly unacceptable. During this time, homosexuality was illegal and seen as a mental disease that one must either go to jail or get help for. While in “Corner” the main focus is on the tension and power control between
In Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the interconnection of people and events, that might ordinarily be viewed as disconnected or unrelated, is implicitly presented in the characters section. Dual roles are implemented by a playwright that has one actor portraying the roles of two or more characters, with or without thematic intentions. The use of “dual roles” in several scenes of this play can be viewed as a demonstration of Kushner’s effort in maintaining the interconnectedness between characters, communities (i.e. queer, heterosexual, AIDS and political communities) and events to which they are relative. This essay will argue that Kushner’s use of dual role’s effectively interconnects characters, events and their communities that may be seen as usually unrelated. Analysis of four specific characters, Antarctica, Oceania, Australia and Europa, in Act Five, Scene Five of “Perestroika”, will demonstrate the connection of each Act Five, Scene Five character, to the actors main character based on the implicit evidence presented in the actors “primary” and “secondary” roles, the scenes dialogue and the character interactions. As one will see, by implementing dual roles, Kushner is able to expand or preserve the concept of a major character while the actor portrays another character, keeping the audience from having to completely renegotiate their knowledge between what they physically see of new characters and actually use the new context to view triumphs and struggles for a major character.
Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
Tony Kushner’s play, Angels in America, comments on a number of social issues of its time; ranging from political to societal. Additionally, it incorporates many concepts discussed in the Modern Condition courses. Thinkers such as Nietzsche, Borges, and DeBeauvoir are specifically represented in the play through the characters presented. Kushner uses his characters to convey the ideas of these thinkers in the context of the culture the play takes place in.