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| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What addition to the Antarctica of Act 3, Scene 3 confuses Mr. Lies?
2. Which of the following is not a reason Joe gives for declining Roy's Justice Department offer in Act 3, Scene 5?
3. Where is the pay phone that Joe uses to call his mother in Act 2, Scene 8?
4. What does Harper threaten to do if Joe walks out on her in Act 1, Scene 8?
5. In Act 1, Scene 9, who does Roy claim he can reach on the phone in five minutes?
Short Essay Questions
1. What do Prior and his two ancestral visitors in the beginning of Act 3 have in common besides a name?
2. Why does Prior wrestle the Angel in Act 5, Scene 1?
3. Why does Harper long for the end of days?
4. What diagnosis does Roy demand of his doctor in Act 1, Scene 9, and why?
5. What does Prior tell the Continental Principalities regarding human progress in Act 5, Scene 5?
6. Describe Roy in Act 3, Scene 5.
7. What revelation of Roy's past shocks Joe in Act 3, Scene 6?
8. Where is Roy the last time we see him in the play?
9. Why is Hannah lost in Act 3, Scene 4?
10. Why is Joe Pitt confused by Louis' invitation to come home with him?
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
Tony Kushner sets Angels in America during the high-water mark of the Reagan era, when the pursuit of individual success was a central focus in America. Write an essay about Kushner's depiction of the destructiveness of self-interest focusing on three characters:
Part 1) How is the character of Roy Cohn the antithesis of the communitarian worldview? What does he attempt to espouse to the two men he befriends: Joe and Belize? Cite specific statements he makes during the play.
Part 2) How is Joe Pitt a worthy disciple to Roy Cohn's worldview? How does his coming out to Louis and Harper prove to be intensely self-interested? What prevents him from fully enjoying his happiness?
Part 3) To what extent does Joe attempt to win Louis over to the idea that self-interested is the best a person can be? How does Louis react to this, and what happens to the relationship as a result?
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?
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This section contains 1,093 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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