Sexuality, Religion and Politics

Sexuality, Religion, and Politics

            Angels in America was a very interesting, enlightening, and a very thought-provoking play to say the least. There were many queer elements to the play along with representation of AIDS in America. There were also very strong themes of justice in the play and in general this play causes its audience to rethink certain things such as sexuality, religion, identity and politics. One element I would like to focus on within the play is identity. Many of the characters seem to be struggling with their identity, in the process of changing their identity and peering at others identities. For example, my favorite character is Roy, he is known as the villain of the play and is hated by almost everyone in the play and even the audience. Roy is struggling with his identity more than anyone else in this play, he is a closet homosexual, he is Jewish, and he is a big time lawyer. Even though Roy is a homosexual and Jewish he is often very homophobic and anti-Semitic. When Roy is told he has AIDS he cannot come to an understanding, he argues with the doctor and when being admitted to the hospital he calls his condition colon cancer. He desires to be very powerful and influential and with his diagnoses of AIDS Roy thinks of it as losing power and respect. Roy is very condescending and arrogant to everyone around him, even on his deathbed he is very cruel to the last person to ever take care of him. For example, on page 187 when Roy is talking to Belize he says, “ Move your nigger cunt spade faggot lackey ass out of my room.” Belize will be the last person to ever take care of Roy and yet Roy still treats him horribly. Roy’s real identity is his need for power. He refuses to be called gay because he thinks it will weaken his power and he does not boast about his Judaism because he also thinks this can lessen ones power. Roy is very rough around the edges, however his character does say something about AIDS in America and politics and even a little about justice. Roy is an angry pit-bull who will do anything to get what he wants especially at the expense of others. With this at his core it helps to shed some light on why he is so rough around the edges. Back then being Jewish and gay and having AIDS, which were both minority groups, could lessen ones popularity and even power. Roy’s character shows an approach to combat that, he closes off his identity to get what he wants and because of this he is an angry old bastard in every situation. However at the root of Roy’s character and the bigger picture I think Roy’s character is trying to show how damn HARD it would have been in the 80’s to be a Jewish homosexual with AIDS. It shows the bigger picture on how hard it is to live in America and furthermore how hard it is to ‘make it’ in America. Roy did what he thought he had to do to in a rough time. In my opinion Roy is a product of his environment and is very misunderstood. My favorite quote from Roy is when he is talking to Joe on his deathbed on page 210. He says, “My generation, we had clarity. Unafraid to look deep into the miasma at the heart of the world, what a pit, what a nightmare is there-I have looked, I have searched all my life for absolute bottom, and I found it, believe me: Stygian. How tragic, how brutal life is. How false people are. The immutable heart of what we are that bleeds through whatever we might become. All else is vanity. I don’t know the world anymore. After I die they’ll say it was for the money and the headlines. But it was never the money: it’s the moxie that counts. I never waivered. You: remember.” In Roy’s eyes it was never about the money or the fame it was all about never quitting, never backing down, and his determination and nerve. In the world we live in sometimes it doesn’t matter about ones sexuality or religious beliefs it matters much more what someone does with those beliefs, it matters what they did with what they had. Roy’s character shows one side of the impact of having AIDS in the 80’s in America, and his character shows the complexity and hardship associated with sexuality, religion, politics and ones identity.