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Perestroika: Act 4, Scene 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Angels in America, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Homosexuality in the AIDS Era
Prophets and Prophecies
Progressivism, Conservatism, and Change
Fantasy, Escape, and Tragedy
The Clash between People and Principles
Summary
Analysis
The scene opens on a harbor. Harper walks along the harbor, barefoot and dressed in a frail-looking blouse. Joe enters the scene. He asks Harper, gently, where her shoes have gone. Harper answers that she’s thrown them in the river. She says that Judgment Day is coming soon, and when God’s judgment comes, everyone will be insane, not just her.
Harper’s words at the end of this section echo those of the homeless person Hannah met in Part One of the play. Harper continues to look forward to a “second coming,” though she sees this coming as destructive more than anything—and both she and the homeless woman associate “judgment day” with a kind of mass insanity.
Themes
Joe tells Harper that he’s come back for her. Harper doesn’t answer. Then she says, “Let’s go.”
This scene points to a broader uncertainty at this stage of the play—we don’t where any of these characters are headed.
Themes
