Throughout the book Angels in America, Tony Kushner uses the truth to portray how ignorance and innocence can worsen situations that are unwanted, while cognizance may not fully solve the problem, it may help this person come to a realization of what needs to happen, and ultimately end or move on from that current situation. In this quote about the truth, Prior specifically does not say that the truth always fucks you, he states that the truth “mostly” fucks you. The word “always” means, at all times; on all occasions, and the word “mostly” is defined by: as regards the greater part or number. The reason Prior uses the word mostly is because Prior realizes that although the truth may well “fuck” people at first, by comparing the definitions
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For example, when Henry, Roy’s doctor, diagnoses Henry with AIDS, Roy responds with, “No Henry, no. AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer” (47). AIDS has been proven to quicken the spread of liver disease, so what Roy may be stating, is not that the prognosis of him is wrong, just the label for the disease he has is wrong because only homosexuals have AIDS and Roy claims to not be a homosexual. The reason Roy does not want to be labeled a homosexual is because Roy believes that homoseuxals do not have power and if only one thing could be taken from what we have learned about Roy, it is that he loves to feel powerful. Although Roy is currently stating “fuck the truth”, this disregard of him having AIDS ultimately screws Roy over as he eventually loses the battle against HIV. This belief of labeling people differently from the “normal” group based off of their race, ethnicity or sexual attraction is another theme that has a strong presence not only throughout the book, but throughout world history as …show more content…
In fact, Joe’s mother Hannah just believes Joe is acting drunk when he tells her he is a homosexual, “You’re ridiculous. You’re being ridiculous... You really ought to go home now to your wife. I need to go to bed. This phone call- We will just forget this phone call” (79). In this quote, Hannah’s first thoughts appear to believe that Joe is crazy, she uses the word ridiculous as an adjective to describe him, not once, but twice. The word ridiculous is very similar to the word absurd, which is, an idea or suggestion wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate. Hannah shows thoughts of both illogical and inappropriateness in Joe’s comments to him about his sexual preference. Firstly, Hannah tries to show Joe that him being a homosexual is illogical by directly disregard Joe’s comments on his sexual preference and directly stating that he needs to do back to his hetrosexual life with his wife. Next, after being irrational, Hannah believes Joe is being inappropriate, and she tells him this, “Drinking is a sin! A sin! I raised you better than that” (79). The use of the word “sin” in this sentence is interesting because the definition of a sin is, an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. An interesting aspect to Hannah’s use of the word sin in terms of drinking, is there are people who do believe that being a homosexual is a sin. Therefore, Hannah believes Joe is intoxicated
For example, when Henry, Roy’s doctor, diagnoses Henry with AIDS, Roy responds with, “No Henry, no. AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer” (47). AIDS has been proven to quicken the spread of liver disease, so what Roy may be stating, is not that the prognosis of him is wrong, just the label for the disease he has is wrong because only homosexuals have AIDS and Roy claims to not be a homosexual. The reason Roy does not want to be labeled a homosexual is because Roy believes that homoseuxals do not have power and if only one thing could be taken from what we have learned about Roy, it is that he loves to feel powerful. Although Roy is currently stating “fuck the truth”, this disregard of him having AIDS ultimately screws Roy over as he eventually loses the battle against HIV. This belief of labeling people differently from the “normal” group based off of their race, ethnicity or sexual attraction is another theme that has a strong presence not only throughout the book, but throughout world history as …show more content…
In fact, Joe’s mother Hannah just believes Joe is acting drunk when he tells her he is a homosexual, “You’re ridiculous. You’re being ridiculous... You really ought to go home now to your wife. I need to go to bed. This phone call- We will just forget this phone call” (79). In this quote, Hannah’s first thoughts appear to believe that Joe is crazy, she uses the word ridiculous as an adjective to describe him, not once, but twice. The word ridiculous is very similar to the word absurd, which is, an idea or suggestion wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate. Hannah shows thoughts of both illogical and inappropriateness in Joe’s comments to him about his sexual preference. Firstly, Hannah tries to show Joe that him being a homosexual is illogical by directly disregard Joe’s comments on his sexual preference and directly stating that he needs to do back to his hetrosexual life with his wife. Next, after being irrational, Hannah believes Joe is being inappropriate, and she tells him this, “Drinking is a sin! A sin! I raised you better than that” (79). The use of the word “sin” in this sentence is interesting because the definition of a sin is, an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. An interesting aspect to Hannah’s use of the word sin in terms of drinking, is there are people who do believe that being a homosexual is a sin. Therefore, Hannah believes Joe is intoxicated