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... [continues]

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