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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. According to Louis in Act 2, Scene 7, what do you have to be willing to do even if you are scared?

2. Which of the following is not a prediction Harper makes about the coming of the Millennium?

3. What famous instigator does Louis Ironson claim his grandmother saw speak?

4. What does Harper bring with her when she enters in Act 1, Scene 2?

5. What does Joe blame for Harper's pills in Act 2, Scene 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Louis' point about fear in America at the end of Act 2, Scene 7?

2. Describe the interchange between Henry and Belize in Act 1, Scene 4?

3. Which of Louis' assertions particularly offends Belize in Act 3, Scene 2?

4. Why is Joe Pitt confused by Louis' invitation to come home with him?

5. What does Prior tell the Continental Principalities regarding human progress in Act 5, Scene 5?

6. How do people change, according to the Mormon Mother?

7. Describe Roy's response to Belize in Act 1, Scene 5.

8. Where is Roy the last time we see him in the play?

9. How do Prior and Harper meet for the first time in the real world?

10. How does Louis use an explanation of smell in Act 1, Scene 6, as a sexual come-on?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Joe Pitt is the most ambiguous figure in the play. He is at once tortured, principled, and selfish. He is a victim and a bully. Write an essay about Kushner's attitude toward Joe. Divide the essay into three sections, focusing first on examples of sympathy for the confused and self-loathing man. The second section should focus on the unsympathetic qualities of Joe's character. The last section should be an opinion as to what Kushner believes about Joe as a person.

Essay Topic 2

The play Angels in America centers on two men battling the ravages of AIDS: Prior Walter and Roy Cohn. As the health of both men deteriorates, both become immersed in a supernatural world. How do the different experiences of Prior and Roy reflect two different attitudes towards death? AIDS? Companionship? In an essay, use these men's relationship to death and disease to delineate their different worldviews.

Essay Topic 3

Louis is a character concerned with self-loathing. Write an essay on the source and progression of this self-hate. From what act does this guilt stem? What does Louis do to try to stem the tide of guilt that threatens to overwhelm him? What expiates Louis from this loathing, and how is he left at the end of the play?

(see the answer keys)

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