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Tal Eskinazi

Professor Batty

English 102

24 October 2019

Abstractions of America: A analysis of Angels in America

At the core of almost every human action is an underlying belief, and a belief is but an

abstract idea predicated on evidence. From religion and politics, to the arts and sciences, the

power of beliefs and abstract ideas have permeated almost every aspect of human culture, as well

as our collective and individual identities. In the critically acclaimed play Angels in America,

author Tony Kushner weaves together the multiple fates of an ensemble cast of characters living

in New York City amidst the A.I.D.S crisis of the mid-1980s. Kushner invites audiences to peer

inside of the LGBT community during the Reagan administration, examining the trials and

tribulations faced by those present then and now, within the queer community. Although many

have praised Angels in America, as being a prime example of art which successfully subverts

public perception on LGBT issues, the truth is that in doing so, Mr. Kushner, has nonetheless

contributed to reinforcing and upholding some of our oldest cultural norms, by failing to present

any new or interesting ideas that challenge our current beliefs, ideals, and abstractions.

One of the major stereotypes and prejudices, Mr. Kushner, tries to break down

throughout the play is whether being gay is a choice or a given. Early in the play, Roy is

portrayed as a big-shot lawyer but by the end of the first act is embroiled in a bitter battle of

words with his doctor over his A.I.D.S diagnoses. Roy unable to accept what his doctor is telling

him, says:
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Your problem, Henry, is that you are hung up on words, on labels, that you believe they

mean what they seem to mean. AIDS. Homosexual. Gay. Lesbian. You think these are

names that tell you who someone sleeps with… But really this is wrong. Homosexuals

are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of

trying cannot pass a pissant antidiscrimination bill through City Council. Homosexuals

are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. [Men] Who have zero clout. Does

this sound like me, Henry? (Kushner, 31)

The stigma of being gay is nowhere in Roy’s worldview. He views himself outside of the gay

community although he is an active member. The doctor immediately tries to plead with Roy

angrily, saying, “So get on the phone, Roy, and dial the fifteen numbers… because you can call

it any damn thing you want, Roy, but what it boils down to is very bad news.”(31) Why is Roy

not allowed to hold this view? If anything, it may have led to him being one of the few gay men

at the time to be able to receive any new experimental treatments. Again, the play fails to

differentiate between the person and the idea, presenting the audience with a forced dichotomy,

of either accepting or denying Roy’s claim, instead of offering a more nuanced perspective that

sees Roy dealing with life the way he sees fit.

A character in the story facing a similar identity crisis is Joe-- a recent Utah transplant

living in New York City, working as a city clerk— who is only recently coming to terms with his

own sexuality. In act II, Joe tells his wife, Harper, that he’s gay and has known this fact since

before they had been together, to which Harper responds, “…the whole time you were spinning a

lie. I just don’t understand that” (Kushner, 47). Harper tries to implicate Joe as a liar and fraud,

but under closer scrutiny this may not be the truth. In an earlier fight Joe tells Harper, “I don’t

know, I thought maybe that with enough effort and will, I could change myself . . . but I can’t.”
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(Kushner, 46) Before Joe was able to admit to himself that he was a homosexual, he honestly

believed that he could change himself and, in his own words, “…kill it.” The play in some way

supposes that Joe was able to make a choice, while simultaneously asserting that Joe’s

homosexuality is a given. This only feeds into the narrative that people are only and always just

one or the other and fails to leave room for the multitudes of others whose sexuality is fluid,

whether spoken of or not. Joe is turned into an abstraction much like Roy in that their abstract

identity has consumed the very real and complex people that the truly are. The author presents

the audience with two characters who are seemingly at constant odds with their own identity,

although when under closer scrutiny it would seem as though these characters are completely in

line with what they truly believe about themselves. The failure comes in not separating our

binary ideals from the physical reality that we inhabit. Although it may not seem like it, the

world is made from black and white but comes out in greyscale, not the other way around.

The plays main weakness is its failure to separate our societies platonic ideals from the

physical world we live in. There is a school of thought referred to as platonism, which, “…is the

view that there exist such things as abstract objects — where an abstract object is an object that

does not exist in space or time and which is therefore entirely non-physical and non-mental.”

(Balaguer) For example, in mathematics there exists perfect objects that do not actually exist in

the real world. This gives credence to the idea that our abstract ideas and truisms about the world

are not counted as wrong merely because something doesn’t fit within the ideal model. Almost

no one fits the description of an angel, which is why Joe’s efforts are ultimately naïve when

telling Harper that he thought he could win with God, in reference to his homosexuality. So, do

we give up the circle since it does not inform us about our reality and since none exist, or do we

use the circle not as an absolute but as an abstract object, both separate and sacred. An
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abstraction which we use as a guiding force for our beliefs. We know from the works of Gödel,

Russel, and Tarski, that self-referential statements cannot be proven, so why do we actively

strive to do so when the goal is futile. When we refer to people by the groups to which they may

or may not belong to we give a part of that person to the idea. One of the many reasons for

biblical prohibition of idol worship and iconography is that in giving ultimate qualities to

abstract ideas, we are always in subordination to them. In the same way Plato posits that, “fire is

that part of [Nature] which from time to time is inflamed and water that which is moistened”

(Plato, 471). Ideas do not have a life of their own but are rather carried through the actions and

words of those that carry them. Instead of severing the link between ideals and concrete reality,

Kushner seems to try and mix all these ideas together and form a new ultimate ideal, robbing

humanity of its choice to do as individuals see fit. This ends up creating just a collection of

abstractions that seem convoluted and forced. This is not subversion of culture, but a subversion

of the arts.

Although the overall message of the play falls short, Mr. Kushner is still an amazing

storyteller and writer. In giving a voice and a sense of humanity to the Queer community during

a time when attitudes were not as open-minded as today, the play and its author are both

commendable. For all its bad, the play has many redeeming qualities in terms of its subject

matter, stylistic elements, and themes; although, the result is ultimately too cluttered to draw any

real meaningful conclusions from the text, turning Mr. Kushner’s, Angels in America, into one of

the abstract objects he seems to reject. Our need for absolute sometimes drives u to seek out

answers that are not there. If there is one major takeaway from the play, it is that we must learn

to separate our ideals from our reality and not give into our beliefs as much. Only when we learn

to live separate from our ideals, will we truly be free to live as we please.
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Works Cited

Balaguer, Mark. “Platonism in Metaphysics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford

University, 9 Mar. 2016, plato.stanford.edu/entries/platonism/.

Kushner, Tony, et al. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes : Revised and
Complete Edition. Vol. Revised edition, Theatre Communications Group, 2013.
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=797400&site=eds-live.

Plato. “Republic. Timaeus. Critias.” Translated by B Jowett, Google Books, Google, 2013,
books.google.com/books?id=aLnWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA470#v=onepage&q&f=false.