Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika Abandonment Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)

Quote #1

Harper: When your heart breaks, you should die. But there's still the rest of you. There's your breasts, and your genitals, and they're amazingly stupid, like babies or faithful dogs, they don't get it, they just want him. Want him. (1.2.8)

Harper is still reeling from Joe abandoning her in Millennium Approaches. In this poignant bit of dialogue she talks about how her body still wants Joe even though her mind knows he's gone.

Quote #2

Harper: Bastard. You fell out of love with me.
Joe (Meaning it): That isn't true, Harper.
Harper (Breaking): THEN COME BACK! (1.2.23-25)

Harper is in total misery over the fact the Joe left her. In this scene, he's not actually there in reality. As we discuss in "Versions of Reality," this is either Harper imagining her husband or one of Kushner's reality-bending moments where a character's consciousness can be somewhere outside his actual body. Either way it shows the total trauma that Joe's abandonment of Harper has caused.

Quote #3

Angel: The King of the Universe:
HE Left...
Prior: Abandoned.
Angel: And did not return. (2.2.83-84)

Louis and Joe aren't the only ones capable of abandonment. According to the angel, God himself is biggest abandoner of all time. He took off a while ago, leaving both his angels and human beings in the dust.