Master Harold and the Boys
Topic: Discuss the significance of the “Kite flying” episode in ‘Master Harold... And the boys’. During the course of the essay, pay attention to the way in which Fugard uses dramatical techniques to convey how personal relationships are negotiated.
In this essay I will be discussing the symbolic meaning of significant situations in the play “Master Harold . . . and the boys” by Athol Fugard. Furthermore I will be discussing the dramatic techniques used by Fugard to substantiate the metaphorical meaning in this play.
The milieu of this play is set in the mid 1950’s in a small tearoom in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is centered on the lives of three main characters, a seventeen year old white boy called Hally and his two older African friends Sam and Willie. This play presents in detail the effects of apartheid and the ingrained detestation of a country separated by discrimination. Sam, long a victim of his ethnicity is confined to a life of judgment and unfairness, as were other African people at the time. He tries to transcend the hatred and anger that has socially trapped him all the years of his life, he befriends Hally and becomes almost a father figure to him, stimulating the boys sense of security that his biological parents neglect to show him. During the duration of the play Hallys temperament swings back and forth but his outlook on life remains dull and sullen. Cursing his parents and not caring about school work shows the spectator that he is insecure and has a despondent attitude towards his life. The only time in the play where he refers to being his happiest is when he was much younger and Sam built a kite for him, this hold significant meaning to him.
“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
In this essay I will be discussing the symbolic meaning of significant situations in the play “Master Harold . . . and the boys” by Athol Fugard. Furthermore I will be discussing the dramatic techniques used by Fugard to substantiate the metaphorical meaning in this play.
The milieu of this play is set in the mid 1950’s in a small tearoom in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is centered on the lives of three main characters, a seventeen year old white boy called Hally and his two older African friends Sam and Willie. This play presents in detail the effects of apartheid and the ingrained detestation of a country separated by discrimination. Sam, long a victim of his ethnicity is confined to a life of judgment and unfairness, as were other African people at the time. He tries to transcend the hatred and anger that has socially trapped him all the years of his life, he befriends Hally and becomes almost a father figure to him, stimulating the boys sense of security that his biological parents neglect to show him. During the duration of the play Hallys temperament swings back and forth but his outlook on life remains dull and sullen. Cursing his parents and not caring about school work shows the spectator that he is insecure and has a despondent attitude towards his life. The only time in the play where he refers to being his happiest is when he was much younger and Sam built a kite for him, this hold significant meaning to him.
“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