Analysis of Athol Fugards Master Harold . . . and the...

Analysis of Athol Fugards Master Harold . . . and the Boys Its a bloody awful world when you come to think of it. People can be real bastards. (Hally, pp. 15)Master Harold... and the boys by Athol Fugard, is an informative text about the relationship between Hally, a 17 year old white boy, and Sam and Willie, two black men. As Hally falls victim to the attitudes of white supremacy and racial intolerances accompanying the Apartheid policy of the 1950s, their lifelong friendship is destroyed. This bloody awful world referred to in the above quote is perpetuated by ignorance and the passiveness of its participants. One way to change these intolerances is through the delivery of a liberal education, the purpose of which is to†¦show more content†¦What is life? (Hally, pp. 40) Thus the injustice of such prejudice is highlighted as the white Hally is revealed to be the black Sams intellectual inferior. Racial segregation, which forms the basis of the Apartheid policy, perpetuates the notion of white supremacy and is an issue which effecti vely prevents the South African society from becoming a world without collisions. This is explicitly reflected in the flying of the kite, a metaphor that conveys how the obstacle of segregation can be overcome to form racial harmony. Initially the kites successful flight implies to the reader that this barrier has been overcome. However the fact that Sam is unable to join Hally on the whites only bench in latter stages of the text indicates how the policies of Apartheid can split friendships in half. A similar example of racial segregation is witnessed when Hally and Sam are reminiscing their days in the Jubilee Boarding House: I got another rowing for hanging around the servants quarters. (Hally, pp. 25) Hence the play is An intrepid social reformer will bot be daunted by the magnitude of the task he has undertaken. (pp. 17)The above quote uttered by Hally, from Athol Fugards Master Harold ... and the boys, addresses the importance of social reform . One vital area in which this ca n be achieved is through the teaching of a broad based educational curriculum, where