Major Themes
Boyhood and Manhood
In "MASTER HAROLD"…and the boys, Fugard turns the notion of traditional adult and child
roles on its head. Hally is in fact only a child but
because of his status as a white person in a racially divided society he is
given the status of "Master", a title that holds a great deal of
authority. Sam and Willie are referred to as "boys" in spite of the
fact that they are both grown men and have had more life experience than Hally. Just as Hally
is elevated to the role of "Master" because of his race, Sam and Willie
are not given the respect of being "men", but rather "boys"
because of theirs.
Teaching
Fugard demonstrates how the fractious and
disruptive effects of apartheid challenge all notions of traditional
relationships. Hally views himself as Sam and
Willie's teacher because he has been given more formal education than they
have. He is interested in social theories and is coming into a greater
awareness of the world. However, Hally
is still in need of learning the ways of the world he lives in, and not just
theoretical ones. When he recounts how Sam helped him built a kite in the park
and then had to leave him, Sam is the one who informs him of the real reason
why he couldn't stay. Hally's childhood memory is
that Sam had to go to work, but because Hally was
sitting on a "Whites Only" bench that day in the park, Sam would not
have been permitted to sit there with him. While the social and political
climate of
The Personal and Political
The conversations Hally, Sam and
Willie have with each other are about the daily events and problems in their
lives. Willie is desperate to win his ballroom dance competition, Hally must complete his homework and
deal with his father's return from the hospital and Sam is concerned that Hally show respect for his father in spite of his failures.
Underneath the personal issues that affect all these characters, the political
climate in which these characters live is apparent. Ballroom dancing serves as
a metaphor for a world in which the disruptions that occur in daily life under
apartheid don't exist. Hally uses his problem with
his parents as an excuse to lash out against Sam and Willie, who are both his
only friends and also the only two people Hally
feels he has any control over. Hally's intensely
personal family issues become a reflection of how he was raised and explain why
he treats Sam in such a demeaning and discriminatory way. When Sam reacts to Hally’s racist joke by dropping his
pants, he is stepping outside the formality and level of reverence society
insists he show to Hally, or any white person. Fugard merges the political with the personal most
poignantly when Hally and
Sam recount their different experiences of the same event.
Hally lacks the life experience to fully
understand why Sam couldn’t stay with him on the park bench that day, while Sam
understands all too well. What Hally
has gained in book knowledge he lacks in knowledge of the world around him.
Another reason Hally perhaps
cannot understand is because he experienced the day in the park from a privileged
position he has been in all his life, a privilege his race has afforded him. Hally has never been barred from any public space; he has never
not got what he wanted from Sam and Willie. Sam’s experience of this happy
memory for Hally is tainted
by his exclusion from it since he was not allowed to stay with Hally. Fugard makes a powerful
statement that every relationship, experience and memory is affected by the
political climate in which it exists.