"Angels in America"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the construction of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" weaves different forms of modern American culture, such as Jewish assimilation, gay rights, the anti-communism of the past era and the Republican politics of the present, into a singular narrative. The author points out that, through dreams and by combining different parallel stories together on the stage, the play ultimately calls upon the viewer to perceive a larger American truth. The paper relates that Kushner implies that no matter how fragmented Americans may be by their politics, there is a cohesive humanity, which unites America together under the common guiding vision of the same angel.

From the Paper:

"The suggestion that America is a seamless fabric of interrelated issues, rather than a patchwork of identities, is first suggested in the opening monologue of the rabbi, who is administering the funeral of an elderly Jewish woman. The rabbi speaks of the assimilation of the Jewish woman's children and the struggles of the woman's ancestors to make it in America. Although the rabbi rather cynically says that in the American melting pot nothing truly melts, the stories of the different characters do intersect, if only in dreams, during the course of the play."

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