Millennium Approaches 1.6: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:45, 24 April 2006

Summary

Louis is crying in a restroom in the building of the Brooklyn Federal Court of Appeals, where he works as a word processor, when Joe, a chief clerk for Justice Wilson, enters. Joe starts to ask if everything is fine, finds out that a friend of Louis is sick and tries to comfort him. Louis then makes a comment about Joe calling him a gay republican. When Joe denies being gay, Louis takes advantage and teases him. After a short chat Louis introduces himself and leaves having kissed Joe on a cheek.

Notes

Macho - is a Spanish word that means "male", which refers mostly to animals; or "manly", someone with prominently exhibited masculine characteristics.

Commentary

The scene 6 of the first act introduces the first discussion about politics in the “Fantasia on National Themes” through a clash between two characters from the opposite wings of a political spectrum – liberal Louis and conservative Joe.

Joe is a closeted homosexual who is “coming out” and struggling with that as he becomes more and more aware of his being gay (Jacobus 1635). Louis, who is also a gay, notices that oddity in Joe the very moment the latter enters the room because, unlike his three other colleagues, he did not open the door saw Louis crying and fled (35). On contrary, even though he does not know Louis’ name, he remains there to check if the guy in the men’s room is OK. This decision reveals the inner part of him, the almost-as-sensitive-as-women part of him that is untypical among men.

When Louis notices a small distraction in Joe after he calls Joe “A Gay Republican” (35), he starts to tease him:

    Louis: Republican? Not Republican? Or…
    […]
    Louis: Oh. Sorry. It’s just…
    […]
    Louis: Well, sometimes you can tell from the way a person sounds that… I mean you sound like a…

If Joe was not gay, he would be insulted by the way Louis talks to and probably beat Louis up or at least get out. But Joe does not become angry and stays calm throughout the entire conversation.

Kushner planned the play to be “a pointed attack on conservative values” (Jacobus 1636) and “A Gay Republican” is an irony aimed at those values because the republican administration of President Reagan opposed homosexuals. Yet Joe is a Republican, he voted for Reagan twice (35), and is gay.

Study Questions

Why is Louis crying?
What did three other Joe's colleagues do when they came into the restroom?
What does Joe give Louis?
How many times did Joe vote on Reagan?

Works Cited

Jacobus, Lee A. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford, 1997.

Millennium Approaches Act 1 Scene 7

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 ==Summary==
-Joe, Roy and Martin are in a restaurant in Manhattan. Martin tells them how things are going in Washington, how the Republicans are going to gain full control of the Supreme Court, then the White House and finally the Senate and the whole Congress. After the talk changes to comradeship, Roy and Martin renew their question if Joe accepts the job and agrees to go to Washington. When Joe starts to hesitate, Roy pulls out a letter from the New York State Bar Association with a notice that Roy is going to be tried and disbar. He tells Joe that he needs somebody in the Justice Department to prevent his disbarment and that Joe is the best person for that job. Joe reacts to the plan saying it is unethical and he cannot do it. Only after Roy burst out with anger shouting that he is going to be a lawyer until he dies does Joe promises to think more about this proposal.
+Louis is crying in a restroom in the building of the Brooklyn Federal [http://www.fedcir.gov/ Court of Appeals], where he works as a word processor, when Joe, a chief clerk for Justice Wilson, enters. Joe starts to ask if everything is fine, finds out that a friend of Louis is sick and tries to comfort him. Louis then makes a comment about Joe calling him a gay republican. When Joe denies being gay, Louis takes advantage and teases him. After a short chat Louis introduces himself and leaves having kissed Joe on a cheek.
 ==Notes==
-*[http://www.heritage.org/About/Staff/EdwinMeese.cfm Meese, Edwin III] – U.S. attorney general under the Reagan’s administration.
+*Macho - is a Spanish word that means "male", which refers mostly to animals; or "manly", someone with prominently exhibited masculine characteristics.
-*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshevik Bolsheviks] – political group led by [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/lenin_vladimir.shtml Vladimir Lenin] which seized power in Russia in 1917 after a revolution and started the Soviet Union.
+==Commentary==
+The scene 6 of the first act introduces the first discussion about politics in the “Fantasia on National Themes” through a clash between two characters from the opposite wings of a political spectrum – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal liberal] Louis and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism conservative] Joe.
-*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/marx_karl.shtml Marx, Karl] – nineteenth-century thinker and philosopher who became the father of communism after his writings and ideologies became the foundations of many political systems in Europe in the 20th century.
+Joe is a closeted homosexual who is “coming out” and struggling with that as he becomes more and more aware of his being gay (Jacobus 1635). Louis, who is also a gay, notices that oddity in Joe the very moment the latter enters the room because, unlike his three other colleagues, he did not open the door saw Louis crying and fled (35). On contrary, even though he does not know Louis’ name, he remains there to check if the guy in the men’s room is OK. This decision reveals the inner part of him, the almost-as-sensitive-as-women part of him that is untypical among men.
-*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Engels Engels, Friedrich] – German political philosopher and partner of [[Marx]], with whom he created the foundations for communism.
+When Louis notices a small distraction in Joe after he calls Joe “A Gay Republican” (35), he starts to tease him:
-*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky Trotsky, Leon] – key figure in the post-revolution Russia.
+    Louis: [http://www.rnc.org/ Republican]? Not Republican? Or…
+    […]
+    Louis: Oh. Sorry. It’s just…
+    […]
+    Louis: Well, sometimes you can tell from the way a person sounds that… I mean you sound like a…
-*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stalin_joseph.shtml Stalin, Joseph] – powerful and murderous dictator of the Soviet Union after the death of Lenin.
+If Joe was not gay, he would be insulted by the way Louis talks to and probably beat Louis up or at least get out. But Joe does not become angry and stays calm throughout the entire conversation.
-==Commentary==
+Kushner planned the play to be “a pointed attack on conservative values” (Jacobus 1636) and “A Gay Republican” is an irony aimed at those values because the republican administration of President Reagan opposed homosexuals. Yet Joe is a Republican, he voted for [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html Reagan] twice (35), and is gay.
 ==Study Questions==
-#Who is Mr. Martin Heller and where does he work?
+#Why is Louis crying?
-#What does Roy ask him to do in the restaurant in front of Joe?
+#What did three other Joe's colleagues do when they came into the restroom?
-#Why does New York State Bar Association want to disbar Roy?
+#What does Joe give Louis?
-#How is Joe expected to help Roy once he starts working in the Justice Department?
+#How many times did Joe vote on Reagan?
-#What does Roy say he wants to do until the last day of his life?
-==External Resources==
-[http://www.nysba.org/ New York State Bar Association]
 ==Works Cited==
+Jacobus, Lee A. ''The Bedford Introduction to Drama''. 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford, 1997.
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