Angels in America Essay Questions

How is America represented in the play?

Belize encapsulates what America is one phrase: "Terminal, crazy, and mean" (213). It is a place where conservative politics reign supreme; where the president turns his back on suffering citizens; where pollution floods the atmosphere and dooms the planet; where people evince all manner of prejudice and phobia; where the attainment of wealth and power have supplanted any desire to be a good and moral person. It is a place where, as Belize says, big ideas reign but people are dying. Kushner ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that if people come together as a community in their differences, life in America may be palatable; overall, though, America is not depicted favorably—and with good reason.

Angels is rife with lawyers, discussion of the law and justice, legal jargon, references to famous American trials, and more. What does the play suggest about the nature of lawyers and the American legal system?

First of all, there is Roy—a lawyer who ignores/sublimates/flouts the truth, is corrupt to the bone, and is a stereotypical litigator. As critic John Quinn notes, Cohn lives his life the way he perceives the law: full of loopholes and fictions, where "indeterminate, alterable rules" are the norm and "the law follows deed." Cohn's cancer is mirrored in the way a cancerous law can affect society, in which "it infiltrates and draws on the body's internal systems to spread, eventually overtaking and destroying the host—Cohn or the law." Cohn dies just as he learns he is officially disbarred, which adds to the sense that he is a symbol for flawed American jurisprudence. Cohn can also be seen to have infected Joe: Joe works hard and believes in the system, but his adherence to that very system means he ignores real human suffering (see the court case decisions he wrote). Overall, the play suggests that the law is not followed as it should be: the dictums and rules that undergird our society can be warped and bring about real suffering.

Which characters are sympathetic, and why? Which are not, and why?

The most sympathetic characters are Prior, Belize, Harper, and Hannah. Prior not only has to deal with the disease ravaging his body but also with the dissolution of his relationship. Belize, frankly, can do no wrong, and sympathy for him comes from the fact that he deserves better from the fellow characters. Harper is trapped in a terrible marriage and is doing her best to navigate the illness that comes from that, while Hannah manages to transcend the conservative background she comes from to be truly compassionate towards Prior. The least sympathetic are Joe, Roy, and, at times, Louis; interestingly, though, Kushner is sympathetic to even the most horrendous of his creations, allowing Roy and Joe to have small redemptive moments amidst their cruel egomania and extreme selfishness, respectively. Louis can be somewhat polarizing, as he does achieve some sort of redemption and tries to make things right, but his narcissism and whiny selfishness are hard to ignore.

What role do ghosts and dreams/visions play in the narrative?

Kushner's play features aspects of magical realism (Merriam Webster describes this literary genre as one that "incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction"), and ghosts and dreams play into that. Both act as conduits to self-knowledge: Harper and Prior's crossover dreams help them understand something about themselves and their lives. Dreams provide comfort, as do Harper's visions that take her out of her tortured reality. Ghosts can provide guidance, as with Prior's ancestors, or they can manifest as parts of one's conscience, as with Ethel appearing to Roy. Dreams and ghosts also tie into Kushner's motifs of religion and myth, which are flush with both.

Are there different types of "insane" in the text? If so, what are they, and which does the text privilege?

Prior clearly moves beyond reason and rationality when he becomes a prophet, talks with/has sex with/fights with an Angel, and travels to Heaven. Prior gains self-knowledge from these visions and, as critic Natalie Meisner writes, "Not only is his madness justifiable, it is proven productive when his status as a prophet is confirmed." Harper also has visions but is not given the same status as Prior. She is perceived to be crazy, perhaps a "witch." She doesn't even believe herself sometimes, dismissing herself as crazy. The homeless woman in the South Bronx is similarly mad but "when insanity appears in Harper or the Woman from the South Bronx it is framed as neurotic rather than visionary due to its lack of support by the events of the play."