Portraying Prior Walter's and Harper Pitt's progressive journey in Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), language: English, abstract: In this paper, I will take a look at how Kushner's characters Prior and Harper deal with challenges in the changes in the postmodern world of the 1980s.

Tony Kushner's two-part drama "Angels of America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" takes place at the height of America's conservative politics and culture in the mid-1980s under the leadership of Ronald Reagan. The very complex drama depicts the life of a group of people from New York against the background of national themes, which examines the AIDS epidemic and political situation during that time. Scholars who explore the play from the historical, political, and sociological point of view, claims that it reconstructs the American nation. I will focus on the notation of progress and change, which exemplifies our struggle between staying put and our need to move forward.

I will investigate the progress of two special characters, who were considered as either weak or insane at the beginning of the play, but as they went through life changing challenges, they became independent and strong personalities. As Fisher pointed out: "The play proceeds to explore the deep anxieties of its characters through their visions of the forces that effect and control their lives, and as they discover their own strengths and weaknesses". How to move forward into an uncertain future if things around us are collapsing is one main question of Tony Kushner's play. He encourages people to move forward, releasing from the past and to embrace uncertainty because humans just need to progress and change, although it is very painful sometimes. The character Prior sums it up in her a final monologue, telling us that "The world only spins forward". In a broader sense, the question arises how these small human triumphs relate to the play's larger political themes. Progress, especially in today's postmodern era, is mostly considered positive and helpful, considering how newly gained knowledge and technology make life so much easier and more pleasant. Nevertheless, in a progressing world, humanity faces many problems, for example environmental pollution. Besides, traditions and old values disappear or get replaced, while isolation and selfishness proceed.