{"id":1575,"date":"2025-11-05T19:40:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T00:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2025-11-05T19:40:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T00:40:41","slug":"mormonism-as-optimistic-at-jones-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2025\/11\/05\/mormonism-as-optimistic-at-jones-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Mormonism as Optimistic at Jones Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Act III Scene 4 of Perestroika<\/em>, Joe expresses opinions rooted in his Mormon beliefs which contradict Louis\u2019 view on America. Not only is this ironic because of the Mormon church\u2019s view of homosexuality as a sin, it also presents warmth than expected toward Joe\u2019s background within the church, specifically because the church\u2019s views seem optimistic when contrasting Louis\u2019 pessimistic, hopeless view of America. On page 202, Joe asks Louis, \u201cDo you know why you find the world so unsatisfying?\u201d and answers this question himself, saying \u201cyou never face the sorrow of the world, it\u2019s bitterness,\u201d and continues, \u201cYou have to accept that we\u2019re not here to make the entire earth into a heaven, you have to accept we can\u2019t. And accept as rightfully yours the happiness that comes your way\u201d (203). Louis, rightfully, points out that these ideas are distinctly republican and Mormon. However, the most interesting that Kushner does in this scene is create space for these republican, Mormon ideas to contribute toward Joe\u2019s acceptance of his own identity. Louis\u2019 pessimistic view of America, while understandable, may actually be less helpful to self-acceptance than Joe\u2019s ideas rooted in his Mormon upbringing which allow him to accept the imperfections of the world. Ironically, this means that some aspects of Joe\u2019s Mormon beliefs make him more willing to accept his relationship to Louis. Whereas Louis, who relies almost entirely on his own internalized ideas about acceptance, America, and optimism, struggles more to accept his newfound distance from Prior and can hardly fathom that all of Joe\u2019s characteristics as a gay, Mormon, republican can exist at once. Through this scene, Kushner calls into question Louis\u2019 more stereotypical beliefs about what it means to be a queer man to suggest that there is not necessarily one way to come into or express one\u2019s identity. Joe\u2019s identity as a gay man is complex, but his willingness to except that some things do not have inherent explanations, a trait taken directly from his Mormon upbringing, gives him a leg up in understanding his place in the world over Louis\u2019 panicked philosophical uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Act III Scene 4 of Perestroika, Joe expresses opinions rooted in his Mormon beliefs which contradict Louis\u2019 view on America. Not only is this ironic because of the Mormon church\u2019s view of homosexuality as a sin, it also presents warmth than expected toward Joe\u2019s background within the church, specifically because the church\u2019s views seem … Continue reading Mormonism as Optimistic at Jones Beach<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5706,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","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\/5706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1576,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}