Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

Everything but the names of the characters are real. It you think that an epidemic like this did not happen, then you are blind. Please know that since the epidemic began 38 million people have died from AIDS or complications from AIDS. But these pieces show more than what the time period was like. What Larry Kramer wants to tell the audience is how the men felt. The men felt abandoned and lonely by the country that they call home. In the pieces that I have written below, those feelings are woven with big themes of the play. Together all of them portray important emotions that everyone needs to be empathetic. In a country that is built on the idea of hope, the gay men who died of AIDS felt hopeless because the United States was not doing anything to make them feel better. It is sad to think that a country built on hope and freedom was not that for a number of years due to homophobia. So I wrote poems, a marriage vow, an angry letter to President Reagan, and a personification of lonely.

The poems are short but I also wanted to incorporate each point of my thesis statement. Politics, homophobia, and human rights each have their own limerick because all of these elements lead to feelings of abandonment and loneliness felt by the characters. I was inspired by their pain to write about what the men had to face in their day to day lives. It took some time write poetry because it has been a while since I have written limericks. It took me a while to get the beat, but it was harder to make sure my message was easy to comprehend through the five lines. I am happy with the way they came out, because I think the poems show the pain these men felt.  

Marriage is a powerful step in a relationship, but the words also mean something because you express how you feel to someone. The final scene is when Ned and Felix get married in the hospital, but Felix dies before they can make it official. I thought what Felix would say to Ned before he died, and I wanted to make a vow that he would say. I wanted to see how the actions Ned had to take from someone who was dying from the disease, and the determination that Ned had to get the government. There is a line about not shying away from what you want. I felt that it was important in this piece to talk about determination in an issue where the government was not determined to help resolve the issue that gay men faced. It was important that Felix recognizes Ned’s efforts to make a change, when the government would not recognize how much the disease affected Americans.

Ned was thinking about picketing the White House as a way to get the attention of the Reagan administration. But Ned is a writer, and I though Ned using the power of the pen would help portray his message. Ned’s character is a very vocal and feisty male who knows what she wants. I wanted Ned to write a letter to Reagan that expresses how he feels about the situation that the government has put gay men in because Washington was not doing anything to help the cause that gay males felt. Writing a letter from Ned’s perspective would definitely show how he feels about the government’s role in the fight against AIDS.

I wanted to personify a part of my golden thread. My golden thread is about the loneliness and abandonment that Ned felt when the disease started to rise. The more serious the disease became, the less the government was involved, and the more alone gay men felt in their fight against AIDS. In the personification Loneliness is Ned and he is leaving the hospital after Love or Felix dies. I was inspired by how the men did everything by themselves and felt alone in their fight to get the government involved in the AIDS plague. I wanted Ned to feel lonely physically with Felix dead, and lonely in spirit to show how gay men were initially in the fight against AIDS by themselves.

One of the most important things I wanted to weave in my pieces was feeling lonely and abandoned. Gay men felt abandoned and lonely when the country they hold dear turned their back on them for causing a disease. Politicians were homophobic about the disease, and as time went on the less willing the government was going to help the gay community. The Normal Heart is a very important play for its stirring of discussion about government politics and homophobia. Larry Kramer lived through the epidemic, lost friends from the disease, and he lives with the disease. Everything in the play is real, except the names. I hope when you read the following four pieces and essay you feel empowered to fight for something you think is wrong, just like men like Ned Week’s did.   

Expository and Works Cited

The Short End of the Stick

The HIV/AIDS epidemic originated in New York and the unknown disease created mass hysteria among homosexuals in New York. Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart exposes the lack of official government response for a disease that affected a small population of Americans: homosexual males and drug users in New York City. Gay New Yorkers were scared because they did not know what the disease was; the only thing they knew was other gays were dying around them and the government was doing nothing. Lawrence K. Altman of the New York Times wrote the first article about this “cancer” in 1981. The ‘80’s should have been spent researching a disease that no one knew about. Altman’s article made the disease public, yet the government’s denial went on for almost a decade. These lawmakers morally disapproved of the lifestyles of gays and drug users who the disease primarily affected. It took the death of Ryan White in 1990 and Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s 1991 early retirement announcement for the government to take action to fight the plague. Through Kramer’s play, human rights, United States politics, and homophobia are prominent factors of how the country dealt with HIV/AIDS and contributed to the death of millions.

Kramer’s Ned Week’s is a loud, vocal speaker who pounces on arguments like an attack dog. As a gay Jew, he equated the government's response to the Holocaust because of their scapegoating of a group of people who lived their lives in ways straight, Christian men did not. What drove this writer to act was the lack of response from the Reagan administration. According to Reagan’s surgeon general, Dr. C Everett Koop, Reagan was left out of the AIDS discussions due to “‘interdepartmental politics” (thinkprogress.org). The administration believed the homosexuals and drug users were getting what they justly deserved. The Reagan administration’s delayed response inhibited researchers from developing drugs, tests, and protocols to treat the disease. If the government had taken the issue seriously from the beginning, then doctors could have saved the lives of thousands, preventing the death of millions.  Ned thought the government was not doing anything to help combat AIDS and saw their slacking as them ignoring the problems that faced gays in New York City.

The U.S. was behind on AIDS research and no one knew how to handle the disease. But Dr. Emma Brookner, Kramer’s determined doctor, was as feisty as Ned to get the country on board to fight the disease. With her research of known cases in New York, Emma tried a medical approach to get the government involved instead of Ned’s confrontational way. According to Emma cases were being reported in Africa where the disease was transmitted heterosexually, and the U.S. was starting to do AIDS research and drug testing in 1986 (AVERT). When the first AIDS drug was developed, it was a small sign of progress. The United States began treating AIDS patients at home and abroad. Some might interpret the Reagan administration’s global efforts as compensation for their lack of initiative to address the issue by helping all countries that have patients with AIDS. This help, however, came too late for some. An issue of human rights was at stake and Emma was conscious of the government’s lack of compassion. The lack of government action led people like her and Ned Weeks to make the public care, because no one within the government was making any sincere efforts to understand the disease until 1986.

All of the characters in The Normal Heart except Dr. Emma Brookner were gay men who were cautious about revealing their sexuality because of homophobic culture. As the disease began to spread, so did homophobia. The idea of scapegoating made Ned and everyone that was still alive around him feel ashamed. The only freedom they were able to express was through sex. Gay men lived in a culture where it was acceptable to be promiscuous. However, in mainstream culture run by straight homophobic males, the gay community becomes an easy target to blame for the epidemic. This scapegoating justifies the homophobia and the denial of human rights.

The Normal Heart is a book about love, politics, and human rights. The events that took place were real and it was highly politicized because of how the disease was transmitted (NCBI). The characters show the issues real men had to face with the government. But one thing they show, which can be overlooked, is how the men felt abandoned and lonely. “The response to AIDS is probably the most striking contemporary example of how intertwined politics, policy, and public health are” (NCBI). It was a complicated time with complicated policies. Kramer recreated a time where people desperately needed the government’s help, but could not receive it because of their sexual orientation. The government abandoned them and gay men had to fight for themselves. It was men and women like Need Weeks and Dr. Emma Brookner who initiated the public awareness and the government finally responded to the public cry. But the response came too late.  

Works Cited

Altman, Lawrence K. “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.” New York Times 3 July 1981: n. pag. Print.

The C. Everett Koop Papers. U.S. National Library of Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2015.

“History of HIV and AIDS in the U.S.A.” avert.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2015. <http://www.avert.org/history-hiv-aids-usa.htm>.

Piot, Peter, PhD, Sarah Russell, MA, and Heidi Larson, PhD. “Good Politics, Bad Politics: The Experience of AIDS.” National Datebase. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 22 May 2015.

Volsky, Igor. “Recalling Ronald Reagan’s LGBT Legacy Ahead of the GOP Presidential Debate.” thinkprogress.org. N.p., 7 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 May 2015. <http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/09/07/313235/recalling-ronald-reagans-lgbt-legacy-ahead-of-the-gop-presidential-debate/>.

The Letter

Dear President Reagan,

When Hitler was taking power in Europe, Jews fled from Poland, Austria, and Germany to look for a better life in the U.S. These men, women, and children who came by boat on the St. Louis were turned away because their religion was not the same as those who hold high office. Most of these Jews would eventually die in Europe during the Holocaust. My name is Ned Weeks and I live with someone who has what you call “gay related immune deficiency”. This disease cripples the body in ways that you nor I have never seen before and you are letting this happen in your own country. Like the Coast Guard who turned away the Jews seeking refuge and hope, you and your administration turned your backs on people who need your help.

For decades blacks have been fighting to get equal rights as whites. For decades women have been fighting to be on the same playing field as men. They have done everything within their power to get the rights that they want. What more could gays do to get the rights that we deserve as a group of people in a country that is about freedom. I find you to be a poor example of how the president should act and how they should handle issues that threaten a group of people in this country. The main job of the executive and legislative branch is to help the issues of those living in the county so our lives are better. Your job is hard, and as a writer not everyone will like what you do. But there is something deplorable about turning your backs on your fellow countrymen because they have a disease that seems to attack people like us. Have you no shame? Do something, anything that could make our situation better because if you don’t soon it will get a lot worse for everyone. The United States is a country that everyone looks up to for its leadership and initiative to help others. How can you lead a country like this when you lack initiative to help your own people. America does not abandon, it helps. Why abandon your people now?

Ned Weeks

Powerful Poetry

It’s all Political

C Everett desired reform,

And Reagan ignored the storm.  

With most money gone,

the surgeon’s hands drawn

The men continued to mourn.

Ryan White

AZT was what White could not get,

his family would plunge into debt.

The public cried foul,

the papers did howl

that the government laws did they set.  

The leper

A leper comes walking my way

I knew from the sores he was gay.

Soon he would leave,

and no one would grieve

Because it should be that way.

Last Words from a Lover

Alexander, I don’t know how I was able to make it this far. I look like a skeleton clinging to life in this damn hospital bed and here you are by my side. I am forever grateful that you didn’t leave me. In this depressing time I have never been so happy that I was able to spend my days with you. You are my other half, you challenge me, and you love me more than a New Yorker loves the Yankee’s. The first time you came to my office at the Times with that awful jacket and asked me to write an article about gays and this disease, I didn’t want to write it. I had a deadline. But seeing you work to fight for the cause is a gift. I know that when you were not taking care of me you were looking for some government official to speak for us. You hated the mayor for not setting up a meeting sooner to help figure out a plan for gay New Yorkers, you were sad with Emma when funding was denied, and you never should have given up picketing the White House. You never shied away from getting what you want, and you never shied away as I have grew worse. I think the worse I got the harder you fought, because you wanted someone other than the CDC to do something. It takes a great man to watch his lover die in front of him, and I am grateful that I could spend my last months looking into that sweet face knowing you did all you could to get the country on our side to find out what this disease is. Know that when I take my last breathe I am proud of what you have done and I love you like no other for doing that. When my heart stops beating, know that you were the first person that I have ever loved more than anything else in the world.

Loneliness

Loneliness walks down the wet street with his head low. He does not want pedestrians to see the tears in his eyes. The rain came down from the sky a mile a minutes and he was shivering underneath his jacket. Loneliness finds a yellow cab empty waiting to pick someone up. He enters and asks to take him home. The drive was quiet, except for NPR coming through the radio. Loneliness hears about the new drug that the FDA approved, and Loneliness could not help but let out a little sob because he knows it came too late. Loneliness did all he could to find someone to help. For years he asked for help, but everyone he asked didn’t want to be involved with people like Loneliness. The response was always the same, “we cannot find the money” or “the man in charge is busy” or something about who Loneliness prefers to be with. All of these thoughts went through Loneliness head. Until he felt a hand on his shoulder and a soft, reassuring voice saying, “ Everything is going to be okay”. But Loneliness turns his head and sees no one next to him. The tears stream down his face, as the cab pulls up to Loneliness apartment he realizes Love will never come back.

Please Know...

I have never cried while reading a piece of literature, but it is hard not to cry in a play that was so real. The reality and hysteria of the situation was real, especially when Kramer wrote about how a loved one's s/o was clinging to life on a plane to Phoenix. That almost made me cry, but what did it for me was the last scene and the afterword. It was hard, really hard. The afterword was Kramer's researched researched of the play and it was very heart felt.
              "Please know that AIDS is a worldwide plague.
              " Please know that no country in the world, including this one, especially this one, has ever called it a plague, or dealt with it as a plague.
              " Please know that there is no cure (123)."

Those three lines made me think about what I should do. But has has to be political. Kramer made sure that the audience knew how much the U.S. was not going to help their cause. The organization in New York reported more cases than the CDC per week, and the government was not going to give any hospital any money to research the plague that was attacking only one group of people. But the one thing that comes up in the play is love. The love between two people and how the disease horrific as it was never affected the love between the two men. The love is what drove Ned Week's to be as tactful as he was trying to get what he wanted.

As Thomas Foster has said since the beginning "It's all Political". The amount of politics in this book is astounding, because this plague was something that was being swept under the rug from the smallest form of government in cities to the biggest form of government of the presidency. It is sad to think that the government would try to ignore something that was affecting people, but the government does not do much to help big groups of people without a big push. It was seen since colonial times when the Patriots rebelled against taxes. It was seen by women in the early 1900's who were doing all they could so they could earn the right to vote. It was seen when blacks lead civil disobedience protests in the South to end segregation. Should I go on?

So I will be examining the elements of human rights and the place of the government in this situation. There were 7 deaths by Tylenol in a span of 3 years, and that got millions of dollars of funding. While thousands of men were being diagnosed and dying from an unknown disease, that was not being researched because the government would not give the hospitals any money. I am curious when it became a serious issue that the government got their act together.