Master Harold

Athol Fugard's 'Master Harold' . . . and the Boys is about Hally, a white young man, and the damage done by apartheid The play takes place on the southeast cost of South Africa, 1950 during the apartheid, in Hally's parents' restaurant. This is where two black servants, Sam and Willie, work for the white family. Sam and Willie have been a part of Hally's upbringing and are close friends. The play is a microcosm for the situation happening in South Africa a parallel time.

As the whole play is a microcosm to a bigger picture, so to incidents through out the play are microcosms for other aspects of the 1950s in South Africa. These incidents have both a personal as well as political relevance for Fugard says “My plays are more than politics, but they are never removed from my homeland . My two subjects, myself and my country are one”. I think what he is trying to say is that he was living the struggle himself, he had the apartheid directly upon him, through out my essay I will discus if I agree with this statement.

In 'Master Harold' . . . and the Boys, one can examine the kite, dance, bench, and disease incidents, these are the symbols of the conflicting forces competing for Hally's future. These can also be seen in a different light one on a more political level.

The kite is an object symbolic of transcendence. Even as a child, Hally had an ingrain sense of defeat, disappointment, and failure; that is why Sam made him the kite. He wanted the little boy to be proud of something, proud of himself. Sam gave to him the phenomena of flying, the ideology of climbing high above his shame. The kite triggered neurotic thoughts but exhilarated the despairing boy. This is it, I thought. Like everything else in my life, here comes another fiasco. Then you shouted Go, Hally! and I started to run. I don't know how to describe it, Sam. Ja! The miracle happened! I was running, waiting for it to crash to the ground, but instead suddenly there was something alive behind me at the end of the string, tugging at it as if it wanted to be free. I looked back . . . I still can't believe my eyes. It was flying. . . I was so proud of us. . . I would have been suicidal if anything had happened to it. The kite conjured up ideas and feelings of believing in miracles, of being alive, and free. We see her “im so proud of us“that the whites took credit for lots of the work black labour did. Sam is alright with this though he leads Hally up the hill onto the bench where he leaves him.

Hally wondered why Sam had left him alone that day. The two of them were up there for a long time; the only bench on the hill read whites only. The bench is the symbol of apartheid, division, hatred, and racism. It is apartheid that Hally hides behind as he uses Sam and Willie as his scapegoat. Hally is filled with so much rage over his father, he is torn between love and hate. When the conflict supernovas, Hally lashes out on his two black friends. He tries to pretend they are not friends by acting strictly like a boss. Carrying on with this little man routine, Hally asks Sam to call him Master Harold. Sam would only do this if they were no longer friends; Hally would be no different from his father. This is the case for, when he spits in Sam's face, Hally becomes Master Harold. Apartheid is victorious in the corruption of another white male as Hally takes his place on the bench of segregation. If you're not careful . . . Master Harold . . . you're going to be sitting up there by yourself for a long time to come, and there won't be a kite in the sky . On a political viewpoint we see that even if a white wanted to go against the norm of the system it was almost impossible due to the environment. Another point is that here we see that the blacks tried to appease the whites anger but enough is enough and then the blacks anger would flair up, would the whites try appease them?

Along with the kite and the bench, the dance is another symbol in Master Harold . . . and the Boys. After one of the phone calls that trigger his explosions, Hally, once again, is calmed by the idealistic voice