ndonment and valium-dependant Harper and manages at the same time to dive Joe completely out of the picture.By the second part of the play, Hannah is working at a Mormons visitor center in New York and simultaneously taking care of Harper. Joe meanwhile is beginning his first relationship with a man, Louis. Both Joe and Hannah are opening up; Joe living out his homosexual tendencies and Hannah being exposed to absurd circumstances such as the meeting of prior. Prior in many ways becomes Hannah's first real recognition of homosexuality. Prior, who is surviving with A. I. D. S visits the Mormon center, where he falls severely ill and ends up being saved by Hannah. This seems to be Hannah's first experience with a gay man and for not being very accepting of the lifestyle, she handles the situation maturely and responsibly. Hannah, in accepting Prior, seems to almost be accepting her own son. She explains to Prior that it isn't necessarily Joe's homosexuality that she cant accept and allow but rather the stupidity of two men in any "configuration, that gets to her.Joe and Hannah never get a chance in the play to talk about their problems and save their parent-child bondage, but through the conflict; birth grow. Kushner uses a Mormon man being Gay to illustrate the idea that people cannot determine their sexual fate by discussing two extremes. In coupling the strict religion of Mormonism with homosexuality, Kushner purposefully sets up a great conflict. The dynamic between mother and son isn't the only interesting consequence, however. The conflict also illustrates Hannah's growth. By the end of the play, the religious Hannah has saved a gays man life and has made out with a female angel; reaching orgasm. The conflict begins to focus less on Joe and Hannah and more on the acceptance of homosexuality in the constantly changing world. Even though Joe and Hannah do not end up living happily in a traditional family setting, both evolve from the...
