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Millennium Approaches: Act 1, Scene 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Angels in America, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Homosexuality in the AIDS Era
Prophets and Prophecies
Progressivism, Conservatism, and Change
Fantasy, Escape, and Tragedy
The Clash between People and Principles
Summary
Analysis
We open on Prior crawling on the floor of his apartment. Louis sees him and yells that he’s going to call an ambulance, but Prior refuses to go to the hospital. Louis calls for an ambulance using his landline. While Louis does so, Prior begins bleeding, and evacuates his bowels. Prior loses consciousness, with Louis weeping next to him.
It’s important that Kushner doesn’t censor the gritty details of the AIDS crisis. He balances out elaborate fantasy sequences and heady debates about politics and religion with scenes like this one: a less bodily approach would be dishonest.
Themes
