The Justice of Business

Tony Kushner in his play, Angels in America, hits on many justice issues that, in that time period were very controversial.  The play talks about religion, sexuality, business, and family; in this post, I will be focusing on business.  Specifically addressing the characters: Joe, Roy, and Louis.    

            First, this play has many queer qualities to it, not only because there are many homosexual characters, but also because some characters are different and out of societal norms.  For example, Joe is a businessman that has been offered a job in DC, however, when he comes out to his mentor, he is told to restrain his feelings and live a “normal” life (act 4 scene 1).  This scene not only shows that Joe is queer, but it brings up the question, what is a “normal” life?  In this play, a normal, non-queer, life is considered a man and a woman married with children; the man has a job and the woman stays home with the kids.  Roy, Joes mentor, believes that this is the just way to live; but what is so just about it?  Just because it is the social norm, does not mean that having this life style means you are living a just life.  The term justice means, “just behavior or treatment: a concern for justice, peace, and genuine respect for people”.  If justice means having a genuine respect for people, why is living a “queer” way unjust?  For Joe, I believe it is because he is a successful businessman and Roy knows that the business word does not see the justice in someone being himself or herself for happiness. 

Since, the term businessman is male generic language, most people assume that only men are included.  Although, Joe is male, being a: homosexual, queer, man, leads to others to stereotype that he has a more feminine communication; meaning, that he would be: less assertive, less dominant, less confident, and more emotional (Wood, Julia T.).  In 1985 when the play takes place, most women did not work and this caused business to be male dominated.  If a male dominated society let people with a different communication language in higher positions, then the male dominated society would become, what they would consider, an injustice.  The irony of this is that Roy was indeed a closeted queer, and was a big time lawyer in New York; this is another reason why, Angels in America, is queer.  Even though he appeared to fit the image of a normal lawyer, he actually was, by definition, queer.     

            Louis worked as a word processor under Joe and Roy.  For him, he was queer because he was a homosexual.  Although he did work in the business world, he was the “lowest of the low”(28).  In act one, scene six, Louis is crying over the sink when Joe comes in and is surprised to find another man crying.  This adds to the stereotype of gay men having a more feminine communication style.  Louis tells Joe that the past three of his coworkers fled when they saw him crying and Joe replied, “they just didn’t want to intrude” (29).  This proves two things, that Louis has a feminine communication style, Joe has a mixture of both feminine and masculine, and Joe’s coworkers, who we assume are heterosexual, have a masculine communication style.  Since Louis in this scene continues conversation and shares details about himself, one can assume that the stereotype of a queer man having a feminine communication language is correct (Wood, Julia T.).  Joe on the other hand, sees that Louis is upset and feels the need to console him, which is a women’s way of interpreting nonverbal behavior.  However, he also uses minimal response cues such as, “well…” and “nothing”(29), which is a form of masculine communication.  Lastly, even though we cannot be positive that the coworkers who ignored Louis were heterosexual, to be less emotionally responsive is a factor in masculine communication.   

            What I find most queer about the business part of Angels in America is that these queer businessmen are fighting for justice within their society.  They all work for the government and to make justice prevail.  These characters, who are restrained for their sexuality by what is considered just, are fighting for the society’s idea of justice and against their sexuality.  Joe and Roy are forced to hide themselves from society to continue to succeed; Louis has accepted who he is and is proud of it, but is held back from success.  For me, I do not see the justice in holding people back from their fullest self and potential.  However, I believe that these characters understood the justice in their lives as a social norm that had to be done; they knew that they had to choose either a career or their sexuality because they did not know any different and for me, this produces a queer sense of justice.  Men, who I see being held back from their full abilities, are fighting against themselves to make a living instead of standing up and fighting for their justice.    

Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives. S.l.: Cengage Learning, 2016. Print.