I know this is a clich\u00e9 answer, but there are so many claims I could make about this text. But the one I want to focus is the nature of Joe and Louis\u2019s relationship. Even though Louis is obviously the bigger asshole in lots of ways (i.e. leaving Prior when he is literally dying and saying everything to Belize during the democracy monologue in Act 3 Scene 2 (97-100)), I am going to argue that Joe is not that great of a person as well. First of all, it seems like Joe and Harper got married just because they had to and not because they initially loved each other. The nickname \u2018buddy\u2019 kind of alludes to this because it makes it seem like they are more friends than lovers or partners (18). Secondly, Joe is not forcing Harper to get help for her Valium; he honestly seems to shut down about it i.e. when they are arguing and he asks how many pills she has taken: \u201cI won\u2019t talk to you when you-\u201d (36). This is not dissimilar to Louis shutting down Prior\u2019s sickness.<\/p>\n
Even though these passages above do offer insight on Joe, the main scene that solidified this claim for me was Act 3 Scene 4 in Perestroika. They are talking on the beach in Brooklyn and Louis is trying to grapple with the severity of their actions together: cheating, abandoning their partners, exploring sexuality etc. But Joe just wants to initiate sex with Louis when he is attempting a mature conversation (202). Even more so, Joe is just plainly ignoring his identity as a Republican and a Mormon (203). In my opinion, Joe\u2019s thought process consists of the reasoning of since he is in a sexual relationship with Louis, his entire past cannot have an impact because it is entirely separate. The fact that Louis acknowledges that in this scene and Joe doesn\u2019t is pretty telling.<\/p>\n
Even though this statement was kind of tangential, I want to make it clear that I do have more sympathy for Joe than I do for Lewis. No one should have to deal with the internal conflict that comes with this brand of self-discovery. However, Joe needs to do serious internal work in order to come with terms with his religious affiliation, his relationship with his wife and not distract from his problems with sex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know this is a clich\u00e9 answer, but there are so many claims I could make about this text. But the one I want to focus is the nature of Joe and Louis\u2019s relationship. Even though Louis is obviously the bigger asshole in lots of ways (i.e. leaving Prior when he is literally dying and … Continue reading AITAH: Yes, you both are: Joe and Louis’s unhealthy coping mechanisms in Angels of America<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5406,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1546,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}