Andre's Mother
A Person is a Person is a Person
Even coming from a Catholic background, Terrence McNally, a gay playwright, never felt that being a homosexual was wrong. He quotes, “It seemed very natural to me. I think something as natural as sexual attraction is not to be fought.” He goes on to say that he defined God on his own terms and that the one message he got from being in Catholic school was that we are all created equally in God’s image, therefore, he was going to be okay (Shulman). In 1988, McNally became one of the first writers to confront homosexuality in his short play titled Andre's Mother. Later, in 1997, he wrote "Corpus Christi," which altered the story of Jesus Christ in a gay setting. This created controversy among the conservative, …show more content…
The fact that McNally chose to address Andre and Cal’s relationship was a questionable and unpopular thought at first. Especially since he went into such major detail with it, having Cal speak to Andre’s mother about how important Andre was to him. Since this play was intended for a big audience, it confirms that McNally was trying to spread his perspective on homosexuality. Him being gay, gives him emotional ties to the subject matter that he intends and wishes to extend to the general population of people. Although the play deals with AIDS, a commonly associated disease with gay people, the main theme of the play has nothing to do with AIDS. In fact it has everything to do with the acceptance of a person and the happiness that comes with realizing that the person is not afraid of being who he/she is. Andre’s mother was never give a name throughout the play. McNally purposefully did so to emphasize her feelings toward the death of her son. Andre never told his mother about Cal out of fear that he would not be accepted by her. The end of the play shows that Andre’s mother comes to a realization that being gay doesn’t change anything about a person. This helps McNally’s point that a gay person is still a person, and more importantly, a vulnerable person who doesn’t deserve what they have to go through because they cannot change who they
Even coming from a Catholic background, Terrence McNally, a gay playwright, never felt that being a homosexual was wrong. He quotes, “It seemed very natural to me. I think something as natural as sexual attraction is not to be fought.” He goes on to say that he defined God on his own terms and that the one message he got from being in Catholic school was that we are all created equally in God’s image, therefore, he was going to be okay (Shulman). In 1988, McNally became one of the first writers to confront homosexuality in his short play titled Andre's Mother. Later, in 1997, he wrote "Corpus Christi," which altered the story of Jesus Christ in a gay setting. This created controversy among the conservative, …show more content…
The fact that McNally chose to address Andre and Cal’s relationship was a questionable and unpopular thought at first. Especially since he went into such major detail with it, having Cal speak to Andre’s mother about how important Andre was to him. Since this play was intended for a big audience, it confirms that McNally was trying to spread his perspective on homosexuality. Him being gay, gives him emotional ties to the subject matter that he intends and wishes to extend to the general population of people. Although the play deals with AIDS, a commonly associated disease with gay people, the main theme of the play has nothing to do with AIDS. In fact it has everything to do with the acceptance of a person and the happiness that comes with realizing that the person is not afraid of being who he/she is. Andre’s mother was never give a name throughout the play. McNally purposefully did so to emphasize her feelings toward the death of her son. Andre never told his mother about Cal out of fear that he would not be accepted by her. The end of the play shows that Andre’s mother comes to a realization that being gay doesn’t change anything about a person. This helps McNally’s point that a gay person is still a person, and more importantly, a vulnerable person who doesn’t deserve what they have to go through because they cannot change who they