Now to someone who does not understand this, homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men. But really this is wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through the City Council. Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout.
Roy believes that since he has a social position that grants him power, he can’t be called a homosexual. The scene where Roy talks about homosexuals reveals how American society in general regarded homosexuals. For the general population, homosexuals were not even regarded as people; for them, homosexuals are nobodies or examples of morally degenerate behavior, human beings who have no power or influence and who are ignored or despised by those around them. Because of this indifference, hatred, and discrimination, homosexuals often have to live on the fringe of society or choose to remain hidden, fearing how those around them will react. Roy wants no part of this and refuses to embrace this identifier.
"Terminal, crazy and mean."
When an argument breaks out between Louis and Belize over Roy Cohen, Belize compares Roy’s state and America’s state. In his opinion, both are sick and can be characterized by the quote above. Belize's opinion of Roy is understandable, as he treated him and he saw his illness progress. Belize knows that Roy is terminal and there is nothing he can do about it. What is interesting, however, is not the description Belize offers for Roy but rather the comparison between Roy and America. The characters in the play all have an ideal image of what America is like, and the general idea is that America is a decent place for someone who is marginalized. The characters that have this belief are those who are privileged and don’t offer an accurate image of what America is really like. Belize, on the other hand, can see clearly because his point of view isn't one of privilege. He is gay and clearly American society was extremely prejudiced against homosexuals, but he is also a black man, privy to racism and discrimination. Taking all this into consideration, it is clear why Belize sees America as a terminally ill patient for whom there is no hope.
She was pretty crazy. She was up there in that home for ten years, talking to herself. I never visited. She looked too much like my mother.
Louis utters this only a short time into the play, but it foreshadows his abandonment of Prior and gives viewers insights into his particular character flaws. He does not tolerate weakness and cannot bear to be around it at all, even if it is in reference to someone who is family or a lover. He concludes she is crazy without even knowing her, and he uses the flimsiest of reasons to explain why he avoided her. Later, when he abandons Prior, he similarly offers flimsy excuses, saying that Prior did not give him time to adjust and that Prior was too much of a victim. He complains of the ignominy of the disease and how lonely he is. Louis is thus not a person who values kin, loyalty, or evincing sympathy. He learns some of this by the end of the play, but again, his betrayal of Prior does not come as a surprise.
Life is full of horror; nobody escapes, nobody; save yourself. Whatever pulls on you, whatever needs from you, threatens you. Don't be afraid; people are so afraid; don't be afraid to live in the raw wind, naked, alone...
In this quote, Roy is both entirely accurate and off-base. He is accurate in his understanding of the real horrors of American life in the 1980s. Sure, he has attained wealth and power, but only at the expense of certain aspects of his identity. He knows that, now that he is sick and out of the spotlight, all of his "friends" have vanished, along with his real power. He is courageous in his ability to face this. However, he encourages an intense selfishness in his advice to Joe not to consider others. Roy thinks a person has to look out for themselves only, and be alone rather than linked with others. This perverse, individualism-at-all-costs attitude characterized much of the 1980s, and it is part of the general decline of social networks, the government's safety net, and real community.
...and she says to him, 'Thaddeus, real love isn't ever ambivalent.'
Belize, ever the voice of reason, tells this to Louis when Louis is talking about Prior. This phrase is significant because it expresses an eternal truth: real love has to be unconditional. Louis could only love Prior when Prior was healthy and their relationship was happy and easy. Now that Louis has to deal with Prior's disease and what he identifies as Prior's tendency toward victimhood, he is ambivalent towards his boyfriend. He does not like the sores, the smells, and the weakness, and so he backs away from Prior. He has to able to really, truly love before Prior will even consider being friends with him.
Everything's...closing in. Weirdness on the periphery.
After Prior is informed he is a prophet, there are a few disturbing things that begin to happen to his body that are seemingly unrelated to AIDS. First, he develops a limp, which is reminiscent of the biblical Jacob's limp. Second, in this quote we learn that Prior's eyesight is going bad, which suggests kinship with that famous mythological prophet, Tiresias. The seer of Apollo, favored by Athena, was noted for his clairvoyance. Interestingly, he also spent seven years as a woman, which evokes the non-binary gendered world Kushner favors.
Who are you?
Louis asks this question of Joe; while it is seemingly a simple and straightforward question, it isn't really. Joe is a man who barely knows himself, who languishes in his feelings of guilt, frustration, and desire. He married a woman when he always knew he was gay, and he conveniently closes his eyes to the plight of homosexuals under the conservative government he works for and constantly lauds. He thinks he is in love with Louis when he is just lusting after him, he cannot see Roy for who he really is, he tortures Harper with his ambivalence, and he eschews his mother's attention. Certainly Joe has had real troubles, including a father who did not love him and a religion that tells him his queerness is a sin, but Joe really does not know himself, making Louis's question incredibly pertinent.
I wish you would be more true to your demographic profile.
This conversation between Prior and Hannah is one of the warmest and most touching of the play, for both realize that it isn't fair to judge, presuppose, or be afraid of difference. Hannah isn't a gay-hating religious zealot, nor does she think Prior is insane for saying he saw an Angel. Prior realizes that he has to extend his tolerance to someone who is Mormon, hence his joking comment that she has made it impossible for him to stick to his previous prejudices. This sort of compassionate interaction is a model for what Kushner believes is a better, more harmonious America.
I want to be an octopus. Remember that, OK?
This line might strike some initially as rather odd. Why would Roy want to be an octopus, of all things? Certainly the octopus is a powerful creature, but, as critic Jonathan Freedman writes, there is more to the image as it is presented in the text. Freedman explains that Jewish men were typically seen as grotesquely sexual and perverse, preying on innocent Gentile girls. Octopus tentacles appear like phalli, and they are everywhere at once—terrible, powerful, and disturbing. Thus, Kushner "conjoins the image of the Jew as hyperphallic monster with one that stresses the perverse dimensions of that figure." The octopus's suckers "[unite] implications of cheating, vampirism, and fellatio in a vivid image of monstrosity that is both recognizably Jewish and demonstrably queer." Roy thus self-abnegates both aspects of his identity while articulating the cruel ways in which both of those aspects were viewed by the rest of the Western world.
We can't wait. And wait for what? God...God...He isn't coming back.
Prior explains to the Angels why humans cannot accept their request to stop migrating: namely, migration is an intrinsic part of their makeup and since there is no God in their world, they have to evolve and shape their lives of their own volition. The comment about God being gone is important for two reasons. First, it expresses the sense that, in present-day America with all of its horrors, there simply cannot be a benevolent God keeping things orderly and doling out punishment and rewards. This is a God-free world; how else could one explain the myriad of terrible things human beings are doing to each other as well as the vagaries of chance and fate? Second, if there is no God in the universe, it is actually more liberating for human beings in the sense that they have to make choices for themselves and work to make life on earth what they want to be. They can't simply pray, wish, and hope: they have to create the community they desire.
