Final Analysis

Angel Analysis
Season 2 Episode 2
“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been”

1)Identity is very fluid in this episode due to the number of people who are one thing passing for another... Choose one character and answer this question: Is that character successful in their attempt to pass as something else? If not, why does the attempt fail?

Thesis:
Angel's attempts to pass as a human and hide his true self is successful in that people may not know that he's a vampire, but unsuccessful because his anti-social lifestyle, mixed with the paranoia's and judgments of his peers make him appear as a strange hermit.

Analysis:
Angel is a monster trying to pass as a human. He is a vampire who has been cursed with a soul, therefore he feels guilty for the wrongs he has done and is now trying to redeem himself by doing good things. In order to do this, he needs to pass as a human. As a vampire he would have trouble with the judgments of the people around him.
I believe that Angel does do a good job as passing as a human, but only to some extent. He doesn't openly do things in public that would give away his true identity like drink blood or transform into a vampire. He drinks his blood from a container in a paper bag, disguising it as alcohol, he smokes cigarettes, and he dresses like he assumes a normal person would in the time period he happens to be in. Although all these things are done to keep his secret safe, he does cause suspicion to arise by being extremely closed off. Sometimes, it seems, it's not your actions that tell the story, but your lack of action.
In the episode he stays in his room, he doesn't communicate with others in a way that most people would. Maybe the people don't see him as an actual monster like the ones in horror movies, but a creepy guy that keeps to himself is a monster in his own way. When the people in the hotel see him, he's very closed off to any socializing and is very driven to stay away from them. He walks fast and tries to stay inconspicuous in his actions, which can be very conspicuous in it's own way.
The writer of this episode seems to have wanted Angel to seem creepy or conspicuous, as he had him living in room #217, which is an allusion to Stephen King's "The Shining". When Angel walks into the hotel with his bag full of objects that will help him destroy other demons, it makes the other people wonder about what he's doing behind closed doors. Why would a creepy, hermit-esque man with no friends that never smiles and stays in his room need an ax and a bag full of horrible objects?
The types of people that he lives around are very social and like to gossip. They talk amongst themselves about everyone and anyone they can, even themselves. One man calls another man “comrade”, in reference to the current events with the communists and the Red Scare. Others point out the secrets of their peers in a similar way. People like that find every reason to talk behind other peoples' backs and in their faces as the opportunity arises. A person who refrains from gossiping with them might be digging his or her own grave in the way that, the people doing the gossiping will start to wonder why he or she isn't joining them. What does that person have to hide? Does that person believe that he's too good for them? All of these questions will cause them to gossip even more. Add this to the paranoia brought on by the paranoia demon in the episode, and that equals monster.
All this being said, does Angel really want to be noticed at all? Some might think that his efforts to be seen as a normal person may be futile, due to the assumptions from others that he's a strange person. Others would say that Angel is doing a great job. But now we need to look at it a different way. Angel seems to not want to be seen at all. He assaults the P.I. that comes to his room because he doesn't want him there, he tries to get Judy to leave, he acts as if he doesn't want anyone to interact with him. But if that's the truth, why doesn't he live out in a cabin somewhere?
I believe that his living situation holds many purposes. Angel is trying to destroy other demons. He's not gonna do a very good job of that if he doesn't live in the city, close to said demons. Angel is trying to gain redemption for his sins so he can be at peace with his life. I share some of the same beliefs that Angel's past self held as a Christian and I know that I would have a hard time doing things that would bring about my forgiveness if I lived in the middle of nowhere. Angel's Irish Catholic past is telling him that he needs to repent. Christian religions, for the most part, believe that faith and works go hand in hand. He can't gain redemption without putting in some effort. Since he can't go into a church as a vampire and sit in a confession booth, he's gotta do this stuff on his own.
Conclusion:
Does Angel do a sufficient job of hiding his alternate self? Yes. He takes all the necessary precautions in order to keep suspicion of his bloodsucking history down. But this doesn't keep people from believing that he's a creepy person. I believe mankind was created with an inherent need to judge everything that moves and, as such, Angel could do anything he wanted to keep his life a secret, and it wouldn't matter. Someone, somewhere, would assume the worst. Along with all of this, I believe that Angel understands that while he doesn't want to be seen as a vampire, he does need to live in a highly populated area in order to complete his work as a demon hunter. So he does everything he can to look like less of a vampire, and more of a person that shouldn't be messed with.