Trauma In Angels In America

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When one is faced with a traumatic experience a range of emotions may arise including; depression, numbness, anger and, denial. Though most will agree that these feelings are very difficult to go through, you will also find that they will eventually bring you to a place of contentment. Comfort and affliction are two very different reactions but both are prevalent when dealing with emotional disturbances. Both Emily Dickinson and Tony Kushner embodies how the relationship between affliction and comfort changes overtime as well as underlining the benefits of surviving trauma. When reading literature similar to these, which include dark themes and difficult situations, it may benefit the audience in handling their own vices. This may be because …show more content…

In order to give the reader a sense of the strong emotions that overcome a person in times of great pain, she personifies what is happening on the …show more content…

Perestroika is a term used to describe reformation when you are changing and improving for the greater good. This is perhaps why Kushner chose to name the second act of his play Perestroika, because the characters embody the meaning of the word in their transformations. Throughout the play it is evident that Harper is absolutely miserable and like many others, turns to her addiction in order to mask the feelings of pain and resentment of her unhappy marriage. Her story does have a happy ending in which she expressed the journey through her affliction in her final scene, “In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we’ve left behind, and dreaming ahead (Kushner 285).” This shows that Harper realizes that life has its downfalls, but in order to be happy we must remind ourselves of the good that is left to come. When we go through something traumatic we change a great deal whether we realize it or not. The emotional pain that is experienced is the feelings of going through the motions and allowing ourselves to be the person we are ultimately meant to be. As the Mormon mother explains to Harper in her

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