There are many factors that work together in motivating human beings to act or remain stagnant. Tony Kushner, a gay Jewish playwright, often shows the underlying effects of homosexuality and religion on a character's actions. Kushner's two-part, seven-hour play, Angels in America, places a strong emphasis on the belief systems and ethics that motivate change. His characters experience major life alterations that are induced both by the sociopolitical environment of the Reagan era and by their personal values. Tony Kushner combines opposing politics and belief systems, as well as inevitable changes, in Angels in America that force the characters to evolve in the context of 1980s queer New York. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Angels in America, some characters describe politics as the driving force behind everything in America. Louis Ironson, Prior Walter's Jewish former lover, whose case of AIDS makes him increasingly ill, is one such believer. In one of Louis's polemical dialogues with his friend Belize, he explains his point of view: "There is only politics, and the bait and ruses to maneuver around the inevitable battle of politics" (Kushner, Millennium 96) . Kushner spends most of the play proving this statement wrong by saying that Americanism encompasses much more than just politics; it is an identity and its people and history must be included in it. The show takes place in the context of the 1980s, when two movements defined social change: the AIDS epidemic and the growing openness of homosexuality. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration reigned over the American people. Ronald Reagan, president from 1981 to 1989, was incredibly conservative, religious, and virulently anti-gay. Reagan responded to the question of whether gays had equal rights and were adequately represented by stating that it was an “alternative lifestyle that I don't believe society can tolerate, nor can I” (qtd. in Carpenter). The Reagan administration is notorious for completely ignoring the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s. It was five years into his presidency before Reagan said the word "AIDS" in public. Nearly seven years passed before he gave a speech about the disease that, by then, had killed over 650,000 Americans (The Ganga). In 1982, speaker Larry Speakes held a press conference in which a reporter asked questions about AIDS for the first time. Government officials responded with laughter and joking responses such as, "I don't have it... do you?" (qtd. in Lawson). The Reagan administration's beliefs caused a lack of motivation to act. Some characters in Angels in America are imbued with this same sense of complacency. Roy Cohn is a character in the play, but he was also a real person in the 1980s who also worked in the Reagan administration. Despite being extremely homophobic and knowingly working under a homophobic administration, Cohn was an avowed homosexual and eventually died of AIDS, as he does in the play. Cohn agrees with the belief that one motivational force has influenced everything, in some shape or form: politics. While explaining his plans for Joe, an openly gay and Mormon, to move to Washington and work under Reagan, Cohn says, "This sucks, this is politics, Joe, the game of being alive" (Kushner, Millennium 71) . Cohn believes that every aspect of Americanism can be traced back to political influence; he even equates politics with life itself. Louis later agreesunconsciously with Cohn stating, “There is only politics, and the bait and ruses to maneuver around the inevitable battle of politics” (Kushner, Millennium 96). While political liberalism is a value explored by Kushner, it does not demonstrate calling characters to arms. For example, Louis knows and understands that the Reagan administration is unjust and that the modern world of politics persecutes queer men like him. However, he and Joe both work in a court where Cohn is their boss and they take no action against him. This “compliant political attitude” perpetuates a lack of action among the public, according to critics (Norden 92). Kushner demonstrates how politics can motivate action, but can also cause a lack of it. However, politics clearly plays an important role in the events that unfold in the characters' respective lives, thus representing their importance in changing real, modern life. The characters' insistence on the importance of politics even surpasses that of religion; Louis is one of these characters. He proves his point by saying, “There are no gods here, there are no ghosts and spirits in America, there are no angels in America, no spiritual past” (Kushner, Millennium 96). Kushner attempts to invalidate this claim as well; consistently demonstrates that there are angels in America, literally and figuratively, and that religion is an invisible force driving much of the world's action. By its history, faith is as powerful a motivating force as politics. Two religions, Mormonism and Judaism, both strongly influence the characters' attitudes toward change; Joe and Harper are Mormons and Prior and Louis are Jewish. Both religions provide a system of ethics for their believers. Even if the characters are not devout, they share these value systems and, knowingly or unknowingly, draw on them in times of need. The very first scene of the play is that of a Jewish funeral led by an ancient rabbi, Isador Chemelwit. Immediately we discuss Jewish values. After finding out that Prior has AIDS, Louis asks the rabbi if it would be unfair to leave Prior, hypothetically. The rabbi responds by rejecting his apparently Catholic confession: “Catholics believe in forgiveness. Jews believe in guilt” (Kushner, Millennium 25). There is also a recurring allusion to the biblical story of Jacob. At one point, Joe thinks back to a childhood memory of reading this story: “Jacob fights with the angel… Jacob is young and very strong. The angel is…a beautiful man, with golden hair and wings, of course” (Kushner, Millennium 51-52). For Joe, this parable represents the years he spent struggling with his homosexual identity. Growing up as a Mormon, Joe was constantly taught that homosexuality was a sin. Because of his religion, Joe keeps this part of himself hidden from the outside world. Reflecting on his youth, Joe realizes that he read this parable so often because it was his way of admiring male beauty in an accepted way. Therefore, these images eventually aroused in him the awareness that he was homosexual. The allusion to Jacob foreshadows a later scene in which Prior literally wrestles with the Angel. Prior has to fight this huge winged angel in his hospital room. At one point, the Angel actually calls the Prior “Jonah” (Kushner, Perestroika 173). Jonah, according to the Bible, was a prophet who rejected his religious role and duties. The Prior does the same once he is in council with the Angels; he refuses to use the text they gave him and says defiantly: “I want more life. I can't help myself. I do… I will take my illness with me and. And I will take my death with me too. The earth is theremy home and I want to go home” (Kushner, Perestroika 278-279). Therefore, Prior is destined by the title the angels give him to make the choice to live life as a weak and sick mortal rather than act through the angels and God as a messenger. He turns his back on the offer of immortality and greatness, just as Jonah did. He may therefore be condemned to Jonah's fate, to be punished until he repents before God, but he still chooses to take fate into his own hands. Unknowingly, Prior follows the path his religion has shown him, the path that ironically inspires him to choose himself over religious duty. Although religion is depicted as an important motivator in this game, change often occurs for no clear reason. Kushner's belief that change occurs like a storm that cannot be resisted can be inferred from his works; this vision was inspired by the writings of Walter Benjamin. His essay describes the angel in the painting Angelus Novus caught in the wind of progress that “drives him irresistibly toward the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward” (McNulty 135-136). Kushner uses Benjamin's description of the Angelus Novus as inspiration for his Angel and reinterprets it in Angels in America; Kushner demonstrates that even though people are constantly looking into the past, they are projected into the future simply because of the inevitability of time passing. The title of the third act of Millennium Approaches is “Not yet conscious, future dawn”. This is a direct quote from “The Principle of Hope” by Ernst Bloch. Bloch says that humanity is endowed with "a Not-yet-Conscious, which has never been conscious and has never existed in the past, therefore itself a dawn forward, into the New" (qtd. in Chambers-Letson and Takano 267) . Like Benjamin, Bloch believed that change was an unstoppable force and that the realization of this consciousness depended on change. While much of the change experienced by Kushner's characters appears to be instigated by politics or religion, some of their experiences are not driven by any specific cause; they simply change, as all people do, over time. Kushner argues that no matter how unexpected or painful it may be, change keeps happening. At one point, he comments on this in an interaction between Harper and one of his disappointments. The apparition explains that change can sometimes literally feel like being gutted and disemboweled. But he also says “it's up to you to do the stitching. And then get up. And walk around” (Kushner, Perestroika 200). Although the pain inflicted by change often cannot be stopped, the storm of progress constantly pushes forward, forcing people to move forward. Tony Kushner incorporates politics and religion as forces driving change and action within Angels in America. However, it also explores the idea that change often simply happens, without any clear motivation. Its presence is one of the few constants remaining in modern life. While most of the characters' actions are driven by such forces, many of them are also subtly motivated by self-interest. For example, Louis abandons Prior because he refuses to face his fears of illness and death. So she leaves Joe because she knows she must choose love for Prior over lust for his replacement. Harper leaves Joe because she needs to stop waiting for him to love her back. Therefore, Kushner presents another value; ultimately, the only person's feelings and well-being that matter are their own. Works Cited Carpenter, Dale. "Reagan and gays: a reevaluation." IGF Culture Watch, 10 June 2004,,.