Homosexuality is and always has been a controversial subject. However, in 1981, the massive outbreak of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ensured that the subject could no longer be ignored(Twenty-Five). Homosexuality was, and still is, frowned upon by many people and religions. The belief that AIDS was a “gay disease” further damaged the gay communities hope for equality. Since then, the attitude towards homosexuality has improved.
Kushner employs multiple methods to get his message of social change across. The largest and most successful of the methods was the use of universal themes. Kushner explores the inevitability of change, community and identity. These themes are all intertwined throughout the play. The characters …show more content…
Not until new changes are embraced will the characters be accepted into a new community. The use of these themes made it easy for readers or audience members to relate to the plot and characters, and allowed them to open their minds to the controversial content of Kushner’s work. An overarching theme of the play is the inevitability of change, regardless of how much one wants to stay the same. The characters struggled immensely over whether it was more beneficial to preserve the lifestyle that they have always lived, and that their ancestors have lived, or to take a chance and start a new behavior. This theme is present from the very start of the play. The first scene of Millennium Approaches takes place at the funeral of Sarah Ironson, Louis’ grandmother. The rabbi remarks that while he didn’t personally know her, he knows her kind. She was a woman who packed up everything …show more content…
In Perestroika, the Angel says that, “Heaven Is a City Much Like San Francisco”(2.2.166). Later in the scene, Prior tells Belize that on April 18, 1906, God abandoned the Angels in Heaven. This was also the day of the Great San Francisco Earthquake(2.2.171). After this earthquake the entire city was devastated. According to the Angel, this is how Heaven looked after God left, and how it has stayed since then. In reality, San Francisco was rebuilt incredibly quickly, and Prior tells Harper that “the real San Francisco, on earth, is unspeakably beautiful”(5.2.263). This contrast is incredibly important to the theme. Both Heaven and San Francisco underwent the same traumatic experience, and had two completely opposite outcomes. Humans immediately sprung into action and changed what had gone wrong, resulting in a city superior to what it was before. Angels did not do anything to fix the situation, and thus Heaven deteriorated until it was only rubble. This enforces Kushner’s idea that change is essential to human nature. It is an instinctive response that cannot be stifled. San Francisco serves as a symbol for the destroyed Heaven, but also as a beacon of hope at the end of the play. San Francisco represents an ideal world for the characters in the Epilogue. As a city of acceptance, tolerance and liberal politics, it is everything the characters had hoped for. San Francisco is known for its
Kushner employs multiple methods to get his message of social change across. The largest and most successful of the methods was the use of universal themes. Kushner explores the inevitability of change, community and identity. These themes are all intertwined throughout the play. The characters …show more content…
Not until new changes are embraced will the characters be accepted into a new community. The use of these themes made it easy for readers or audience members to relate to the plot and characters, and allowed them to open their minds to the controversial content of Kushner’s work. An overarching theme of the play is the inevitability of change, regardless of how much one wants to stay the same. The characters struggled immensely over whether it was more beneficial to preserve the lifestyle that they have always lived, and that their ancestors have lived, or to take a chance and start a new behavior. This theme is present from the very start of the play. The first scene of Millennium Approaches takes place at the funeral of Sarah Ironson, Louis’ grandmother. The rabbi remarks that while he didn’t personally know her, he knows her kind. She was a woman who packed up everything …show more content…
In Perestroika, the Angel says that, “Heaven Is a City Much Like San Francisco”(2.2.166). Later in the scene, Prior tells Belize that on April 18, 1906, God abandoned the Angels in Heaven. This was also the day of the Great San Francisco Earthquake(2.2.171). After this earthquake the entire city was devastated. According to the Angel, this is how Heaven looked after God left, and how it has stayed since then. In reality, San Francisco was rebuilt incredibly quickly, and Prior tells Harper that “the real San Francisco, on earth, is unspeakably beautiful”(5.2.263). This contrast is incredibly important to the theme. Both Heaven and San Francisco underwent the same traumatic experience, and had two completely opposite outcomes. Humans immediately sprung into action and changed what had gone wrong, resulting in a city superior to what it was before. Angels did not do anything to fix the situation, and thus Heaven deteriorated until it was only rubble. This enforces Kushner’s idea that change is essential to human nature. It is an instinctive response that cannot be stifled. San Francisco serves as a symbol for the destroyed Heaven, but also as a beacon of hope at the end of the play. San Francisco represents an ideal world for the characters in the Epilogue. As a city of acceptance, tolerance and liberal politics, it is everything the characters had hoped for. San Francisco is known for its