Millennium Approaches 1.9

Summary

Al Pacino as Roy Cohn

The scene opens with Roy and Henry, his doctor, in Henry's office. Dr. Henry informs Roy that his lesions, throat problem, and swollen glands are all related to Kaposi's sarcomas, meaning that Roy has AIDS. Roy accuses Henry of implying that he is either a drug addict, which must not be the case since there are no "tracks," or a homosexual, since the syndrome mostly afflicts them. Roy then threatens Henry by saying that if Henry does call him a homosexual, he will "destroy" Henry's medical career (50).

Henry does not directly call Roy homosexual but instead says that Roy has slept with many men. Roy then goes off on a rant, saying that Henry is too "hung up on words, on labels" (51). Roy admits to having sex with men, but still insists that he is not homosexual since he has "clout." He then says that he does not have AIDS, he has liver cancer, since "AIDS is what homosexuals have" (52). Henry then says that he cannot get Roy any medication since the new drug AZT has a two-year waiting list.

Notes

• Kaposi's sarcoma (49) - a cancer of the connective or supportive tissue. Caused by a herpesvirus infection in which cancerous cells form solid lesions in the connective tissue, KS was one of the first signs of the existence of the 1980s AIDS epidemic.

• lesions (49) - abnormal body tissue caused, in the case of Roy Cohn, by Kaposi's sarcoma.

• lymphadenopathy (49) - the swelling of one or more lymph node.

• oral candidiasis (49) - also called "oral thrush", an infection of yeast fungus in the mucous membranes of the mouth. Symptoms include white, cream coloured, or yellow spots in the mouth, and it is often found in people with HIV and AIDS.

• Hemophiliac (49) - someone with the hereditary genetic illness, Hemophilia, which impairs the body's ability to control bleeding.

• "the NIH in Bethesda" (52) - the National Institutes of Health, the main agency of the United States government responsible for medical research. The institutes are located in Bethesda, a town in Maryland.

• AZT (52) - azidothymidine, the first antiretroviral drug approved for treatment of HIV.

• Liver Cancer (52)- the most common form is Heptoma which affects the tissue surrounding the liver and can be associated with Hepatitis B.

Commentary

This is one of my favorite scenes in the play. It has so much feeling and emotion. This is where you really get a feeling for who Roy Cohn is. In the scenes before this we learn that he is a powerful man that does a lot, but here is where Kushner lets you know how he feels about American Ideas. I think what Roy says in this scene sank in more than anything else in the book, because there is no interpreting or wondering what Kushner is trying to say. Roy is the personification of Americas attitude toward homosexuality. When Roy says, “Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only; where does an individual so identified sit in the food chain, the pecking order? Not ideology, or sexual taste, something much simpler: clout... homosexuals are men who know nobody and nobody knows. Who have zero clout.(51) ” Those few words are the best way that I have ever heard those American felling stated. Now don’t get me wrong, not all Americans, but a lot of us do feel that way, don’t we have bigger things to worry about?

Maybe Roy is treatening to Henry in this scene because he doesn't want to go public with his homosexuality. Roy states that "Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through City Council"(51). He basically says that he doesn't fit in the category of homosexual because he has power and can make anyone do anything with just a simple phone call.

Study Questions

1. What illness is Roy diagnosed with?
2. How does Roy threaten Dr. Henry?
3. For what else has Dr. Henry treated Roy?
4. How does Roy define the term "homosexual"?
5. Why does Roy not consider himself a homosexual?
6. Who does Roy claim he could get on the phone in under five minutes?
7. What does Roy call his illness?
8. What is the name of the new wait-listed drug that could treat Roy?

External Resources

• Kushner Radio Interview

Works Cited

• Kushner, Tony. Angels in America. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1995.

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In Vitro Act 2 Scene 1