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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 in his apartment is Prior at the beginning of Act 2, Scene 1?

2. Why is Harper confused by seeing Prior in her hallucination?

3. What does Harper threaten to do if Joe walks out on her in Act 1, Scene 8?

4. What does Joe Pitt say he has to do before accepting a job with the Justice Department?

5. In what room of the Brooklyn Federal Court of Appeals does Act 1; Scene 6 take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. What bad news does Prior deliver to Louis the day of Sarah Ironson's funeral?

2. In Act 2, Scene 5, why does Belize fear that Prior is losing his mind?

3. What does Martin Heller say is the result of loading the federal courts with conservative judges?

4. How does Hannah Pitt react to Joe's late night call to her?

5. What call does Hannah receive as soon as she arrives at Joe's apartment?

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

7. What do Prior and his two ancestral visitors in the beginning of Act 3 have in common besides a name?

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

9. How do Prior and Hannah meet the second time?

10. How does Mr. Lies explain Harper Pitt's ill sense of ease?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In Angels in America, Kushner couches his theme of community in relationships. Three romantic relationships dominate the narrative, each saying something about the nature of community in modern America. Write an essay about these three pairings:

Part 1) Prior and Louis are relationship-based on need and ambivalence. To what extent do both men embody these emotions? What drives them apart, and are they ever reconciled?

Part 2) What is the central schism between Harper and Joe Pitt? How do Harper's fears of the world connect to Joe's desires? What is the only thing keeping Joe in the relationship?

Part 3)How is the relationship between Louis and Joe a communion based on self-interest? Does this coupling have a chance of surviving? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Tony Kushner's play takes place almost entirely in New York City. This is the home of virtually every character, but he also has two other distinct settings that exist in the real world but exist in the play as fantastical realms. Write en essay about these two places. Why does Kushner choose them as fantastical lands? What is different about them? What do they represent?

Part 1) Antarctica

Part 2) San Fransisco

(see the answer keys)

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