
Legislation passed during the apartheid period created a physical and moral divide between whites and non-whites in South Africa; this divide paralleled the divide that was formed between Sam and Harold by the end of “Master Harold…and the Boys.” “Master Harold…and the Boys” was written by Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard, a white South African. This play was first performed in 1982 during apartheid (Morson, "Leo Tolstoy", 2015). As a viewer in the post-apartheid era, the historical context of this play was extremely relevant. The drama was not created simply for entertainment; it should be recognized that this drama was written to inspire change on an unjust society. 

The title “Master Harold” referred to Hally; Hally was the nickname of the teenage son of the family for whom Willie and Sam worked. Harold was also the name of the play’s author. Considering Fugard was a white man living during apartheid, a clear connection can be made that Fugard chose to speak out against a system that favored him. He could have easily succumbed to being the “Master Harold” in this story. The rest of the title “…and the Boys” artfully reflected the white man’s perceived dominance and superiority over the black man. 

Sam and Willie are two middle aged men who have been friends to Hally his entire life; they have basically served as surrogate fathers to Hally. When he was younger, Hally would hide in Sam’s room from his mother or just come there to play. Sam reminisced and said he “fell” for the little boy.  The affection that Sam had for Hally was rooted in the calling of his name. Sam called him Hally not Master Harold.  This became important later in the play when Hally demanded Sam call him Master Harold. 

 The central setting of this play was the tea room owned by Hally’s parents. The heavy rain kept the customers away and Sam and Willie at work. Hally came to the tea room after school. He had a tough day at school. Then, Hally learned his alcoholic father was going to return from the hospital much sooner than expected.  Basically, Hally was on an emotional edge. He didn’t want his father to come home because he had stolen money from the family and the business on several occasions to support his alcoholism. Even more, he was abusive to the family. Consequently, caring for Hally’s father was a burden physically and psychologically. Later on, Hally was pushed off the edge when he failed to convinced his mother to keep his father in the hospital.  The reality of his father at home again caused Hally to lose his temper. He didn’t treat Sam and Willie with the respect they deserved. He was extremely racist and supercilious in his comments.  The racism and superiority complex Hally developed were a direct result of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 and the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953 (“Apartheid Legislation in South Africa”).

As the story progressed, Sam and Hally attempted to console the distraught Hally with conversation.  There were several rough moments in which Hally was blatantly condescending.  An example of such an instance was when Sam was teasing Willie. Willie tried to hit Sam with a dirty rag.  However, he missed and hit Hally. Hally responded by erupting and demanded that the men acted their age. This was disrespectful because Hally talked to them like they were children and not grown men. Throughout the rest of the play, Hally made it apparent that he believed that Willie and Sam were inferior to him.

Interestingly, in another “intellectual debate” Hally compared himself to Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy. Tolstoy was a very well-known author who died in 1910, several decades before apartheid began in South Africa (Morson, "Leo Tolstoy", 2015). Hally declared Tolstoy was a “social prophet” with “burning, visionary eyes.”  At the same time, Hally claimed these characteristics by trying his best to imitate them.  Then, he made the connection that both he and Tolstoy performed poorly in school.  This comparison Hally made was important because he followed it by telling Sam that Tolstoy willingly freed his servants. Here, Hally conveyed the fact that he was their master and had control over their fates.  In plainer terms, Hally was saying, “I can fire you.”  

The previous statement was an incredibly cruel one due to the Bantu Education Act of 1953.  This act created a separate department for black education in the existing Department of Native Affairs.  The goal of this new department is to create a program that was appropriate towards the “nature and requirements of the black people.” Basically, Blacks were deliberately kept from attaining knowledge that would lead them towards social equality.  In fact, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, the Minister of Native Affairs at the time of the bills enactment, said that the goal was to stop Africans’ ambitions from gaining positions that they would be forbidden from holding.  The results of this bill were dramatized in this play; Sam and Willie were likely stuck being servants. They may possible work for Hally’s family for the remainder of their lives unless they are “fired.” This allowed Hally to treat them any way he pleased during the story.  Sam and Willie had to take the abuse because they had no other options.  The Bantu Education Act of 1953 took away their ability to defend themselves against their employers. When Sam admonished Hally for his comments about his father, Haley reminded Sam that he could not say anything about his father because he and his father were white.

Hally further claimed his societal role towards the end of the play when he demanded that Sam call him “Master Harold” rather than the usual Hally. This event occurred after Hally received a call from his mother.  This call occurred while Sam was describing a “world without collisions.”  This world was the dance competition held in South Africa every year.  Hally seemed to start accepting the idea that this competition was a great cultural event.  Then suddenly, this appreciation was destroyed when Hally’s mother called to confirm that Hally’s father would be returning very soon, in a wheel chair.  After hearing this, he perverted the image of beautiful dancers passing by each other effortlessly by inserting a “cripple” for everyone to trip over.  He asserted that this cripple was ruining everything.  It was clear that the cripple was Hally’s father, but what was important was that Hally was completely in control.  Despite that he was much younger than Sam, he was able to mock and ridicule Sam’s culture because he was white.  Being white allowed him to do what he wanted to the lower class without consequence.  At one point, Hally went as far as to spit on Sam.  Here, Hally treated Sam like dirt.  This was important because dirt was something below one’s feet as they walked.  He was able to walk over Sam like he was nothing. 

This Hally was the direct opposite of the young Hally introduced to us in a memory about a kite.  During this memory, Sam fashioned young Hally a homemade kite to fly.  Hally had an incredible amount of fun despite the kite’s appearance.  This could represent how Hally valued Sam despite him being a black man.  Even though, Hally was having a fabulous time, what he really wanted was for Sam to sit on the bench and fly the kite with him.  However, this was not possible because of the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953.  This act made it illegal for Sam to sit on the bench with Hally no matter how much Hally wanted Sam to do this.  In the end, the moment Sam and Hally had with the kite was meaningless.  Hally spit on these memories when he spit on Sam.  This created a divide between Hally and Sam.  This divide was significant because Hally was representative of the white class while Sam represented the Africans.  