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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Harper think she heard the man with the knife in Act 2, Scene 2?

2. Where has Harper been the whole time she thought she was in Antarctica?

3. According to Prior's rant in the beginning of Act 3, Scene 7, the Recording Angel snaps the spine of what book?

4. In what country does Louis' Act 3, Scene 2, story of about subtle antisemitism abroad take place?

5. How many bastards have crept into the Prior Walter bloodline, according to Prior 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What revelation of Roy's past shocks Joe in Act 3, Scene 6?

2. What is Prior's reaction to Belize's gift in Act 5, Scene 8?

3. Why is Hannah lost in Act 3, Scene 4?

4. What diagnosis does Roy demand of his doctor in Act 1, Scene 9, and why?

5. What does Roy have to say about a father's love in Act 2, Scene 4?

6. Describe Harper in Act 5, Scene 9.

7. What happens to Prior in Act 2, Scene 1?

8. What information about Joe does Belize tell Louis in Act 4, Scene 3?

9. How has Prior Walter's illness progressed over the course of Angels in America?

10. What does Louis say to Joe to upset him in Act 3, Scene 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

AIDS is the constant pollutant in the world of Angels in America. It has destroyed lives, relationships, and reputations. It exists in a tangible sense as a destroyer of bodies in the play, but it also exists as an idea against which people understand society. Examine the ways different characters understand AIDS in an essay in three parts:

Part 1) Analyze Roy Cohn's creed to Henry about the meaning of AIDS. What is Roy saying about America, power, and the disease itself?

Part 2) Examine Louis and Belize's conversation in Millennium Approaches. What does Louis say AIDS means to America? What does it reflect about the role of tolerance in our society?

Part 3) When Louis and Prior meet for the first time in weeks in Perestroika, Prior attacks his former lover. In the process he discusses the way the gay community has adapted to AIDS. How does this reflect a disconnect between the community at large and his personal experience?

Essay Topic 2

Harper Pitt often communicated with people who are real but not presently in the room with her. In Kushner's world, her hallucinations provide her insight into absent people. Write an essay about three of these occasions. What does she learn from them? How do these experiences all fuel her paranoia and fear and make her feel more isolated?

Part 1) Her mutual dream with Prior in Millennium Approaches

Part 2) Joe Pitt's arrival in Antarctica in the beginning of Perestroika

Part 3) Joe and Louis's argument in the midst of the Diorama at the Mormon Visitor's Center

Essay Topic 3

A central theme of Angels in America is migration. Write an essay on one of the following prompts regarding this theme:

1.) The play opens with a eulogy for Sarah Ironson delivered by Rabbi Chemelwitz. The subject of the eulogy is the migration immigrants like Sarah took, carrying their culture with them. Compare in an essay the sentiments Chemelwitz espouses with the sentiments Louis later states in his first scene with Belize. What do they say about immigrant populations? About the spiritual past of America?

2.) When the Angel finally appears to Prior at the end of Millennium Approaches, she carries with her a message from Heaven. Write an essay about this message and its relation to the theme of migration. How does Prior's decision to renounce his calling reflect Kushner's thoughts on migration?

3.) By the end of the play, two characters have found deep fulfillment by traveling far from their long-time home: Hannah and Harper. Write an essay comparing these two women's journeys. What drives them from home? What do they hope to find on the other side?

(see the answer keys)

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