Master Harold and the boys
Man of Magnitude
“How does this passage reveal important aspects of the characters of Hally and Sam?”
In this extract Hally and Sam are discussing their favourite historical characters. This was a clever device to allow the author to reveal their different viewpoints and how they are affected by their social standing in society, which also shows important aspects of the characters of Hally and Sam.
While reading about their choices of the man of magnitude, we learn that one of the important aspects of the character of Sam is that he is an idealist because of his choices of men who were social reformers. He is a person that hopes for equality and freedom, which we can see when he said, “there’s the social reformer we’re waiting for” after reading Napoleon and the principle of equality. The word ‘waiting’ shows how he is still hoping for something to happen, someone to change things from the way they are. It also emphasizes on the long period of time he has spent waiting but still hasn’t given up yet. On the other hand, we can see Hally as a negative character, who has no hope and no intentions for things to change. We can see this when he turned Sam’s hopes down by saying “don’t confuse historical significance with greatness.” He was not willing to believe that Napoleon was a great man and disagrees with Sam that he is a man of some magnitude. This also shows the selfish side of him, not thinking on his friend’s behalf and bursting his bubble of hope. This was also shown when Sam chose Abraham Lincoln as his man of magnitude and Hally replied saying “I might have guessed as much” with a sarcastic tone saying that he saw it coming and it was too obvious for Sam to choose a man who ended slavery. The tone of hearing his choice also suggested that he was disappointed, which shows that he has no sympathy towards his friend, as it is a very sensitive topic to Sam.
Another important aspect we learn of Sam in this particular extract is that he is very wise,
“How does this passage reveal important aspects of the characters of Hally and Sam?”
In this extract Hally and Sam are discussing their favourite historical characters. This was a clever device to allow the author to reveal their different viewpoints and how they are affected by their social standing in society, which also shows important aspects of the characters of Hally and Sam.
While reading about their choices of the man of magnitude, we learn that one of the important aspects of the character of Sam is that he is an idealist because of his choices of men who were social reformers. He is a person that hopes for equality and freedom, which we can see when he said, “there’s the social reformer we’re waiting for” after reading Napoleon and the principle of equality. The word ‘waiting’ shows how he is still hoping for something to happen, someone to change things from the way they are. It also emphasizes on the long period of time he has spent waiting but still hasn’t given up yet. On the other hand, we can see Hally as a negative character, who has no hope and no intentions for things to change. We can see this when he turned Sam’s hopes down by saying “don’t confuse historical significance with greatness.” He was not willing to believe that Napoleon was a great man and disagrees with Sam that he is a man of some magnitude. This also shows the selfish side of him, not thinking on his friend’s behalf and bursting his bubble of hope. This was also shown when Sam chose Abraham Lincoln as his man of magnitude and Hally replied saying “I might have guessed as much” with a sarcastic tone saying that he saw it coming and it was too obvious for Sam to choose a man who ended slavery. The tone of hearing his choice also suggested that he was disappointed, which shows that he has no sympathy towards his friend, as it is a very sensitive topic to Sam.
Another important aspect we learn of Sam in this particular extract is that he is very wise,