Angels in America

Angles in America
How does one character embody this struggle between stasis and change? Each and every character in Angels in America faces changes in some degrees but each character reacts differently to the situation. In the beginning of the play, when the characters first face changes, they all are afraid of changes and prefer comfort life by denying what is happening to them. For example, when Louis finds out that Prior has AIDS, he leaves Prior even though he knew it was not the right thing to do. Prior also struggles after the angel visited him and tells him that he is going to be a prophet. Harper was also afraid of changes in the beginning of the play. Even though nothing has happened to her yet, she fears what might happen to her. She is afraid of losing her husband and everything she has. Instead of facing the change that was about to happen, she deals with it in her own way by creating imaginary characters. This was the way she communicates to the world, shows that she wants to escape from the troubles and she wants to be protected. However, her attitude changes throughout the play. In Act III, Scene V of part II, Harper asks the Mormon mother how people change. the Mormon mother describes it as a painful and destructive process. She tells Harper that “God splits the skin with a jagged thumbnail from throat to belly and then plunges a huge filthy hand in,…. It’s up to you to do the stitching.” Act III, Scene V. The Mormon mother believes that changes are painful just like the angels believe, but she tells Harper to face it instead of denying it or avoid it. Towards the end of the play, she does lose her husband and everything that she believed she owned, but she realizes that it does not matter if she should change or not, but how she should live afterwards. At the end of the play, she leaves to start a new life knowing that it is only a part of progress of find one’s own way and a new perspective of life. On her way to San Francisco, she suggests, “Nothing’s lost forever. In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we’ve left behind and dreaming ahead.” Not only to Harper, but to all the characters in Angels in America, changes they faced was only a journey to find their identities, who they truly are, and what really matters in their lives.