Racism In 'Master Harold And The Boys'

In Master Harold and the Boys, racism is a clear factor throughout the play. Boet Sam and his friend Willie are two middle aged colored men who are friends with a 17 year old white boy named Hally. Hally’s mother is the two men’s boss but she is out at the time. The two men could be considered Hally’s family rather than friends, but the condescending tone is still present. This 17 year old boy still bosses these men around who are twice his age, “Act your bloody age! Cut out the nonsense now and get on with your work and you too, Sam. Stop fooling around,”(13). These men have to deal with taking orders from a 17 year old because of the color of their skin. Hally does not have a good relationship with his father. He finds out that the gimp man is now coming home from the hospital which puts him in an instant bad mood. He proceeds to treat Sam and Willie even worse than before. He
When Sam and Hally are remembering their favorite memory of flying that ugly kite, Hally states, “I mean, seriously, what the hell does a black man know about flying a kite? I’ll be honest with you, Sam, I had no hopes for it.” (29). Even during their best, most fond memory, Hally continues to patronize these men who are nearly 3 times his age. They continue to argue about religion and monumental people in the world. Sam makes a smart, but snarky comment and Hally responds with “Don’t try to be clever sam. It doesn’t suit you.” (35) clearly insulting his intelligence and saying he should not try to act smarter than a colored man should. Hally is a troubled teenage child in apartheid, South Africa. His father is an abusive drunk whom he is forced to take care of. So Hally, when hearing that he is coming home, has nobody to take his anger out on other than the two colored men that work for his mother. Knowing they can not retaliate, Hally feels invulnerable towards them, even if that will ruin their