Master Harold and the Boys: Apartheid, Power, and Race

Introduction

Athol Fugard's play Master Harold and the Boys portrays the experiences of Hally, a white teenager, alongside those of Willie and Sam, his Black and much older servants. The play is set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, during the apartheid era — 1950, to be precise. It takes place at the Tea Room of St. George's Park, owned by the seventeen-year-old Hally's parents. The family managed to survive in a culture threatened by prejudice and racism. The play opens with Willie and Sam preparing for a ballroom dancing competition (Rose 1).

This paper examines the implications of white South Africans' apartheid mentality, as well as Fugard's effort to confront the actions that contributed to societal cruelty. The first part of the three-part play — "A World without Collisions" — discusses Sam's idea of ballroom dance as a symbol of utopian society, with an emphasis on Hally's skepticism. The second part, "Crippled Relationships," outlines Hally's troubled relationship with his biological father, together with his relationship with his substitute father figure, Sam. The third and final part, "Men of Magnitude," deals with the historical context of an important discussion between Sam and Hally (Fugard 9). Taken together, Master Harold and the Boys delves into the social and psychological dynamics of power in character relationships during the apartheid era.

The character dynamics in Fugard's play are striking. The character who represents Fugard himself is the only individual who appears capable of liberating himself from apartheid. Harold's (Hally's) racist biological father is caught up in his own corrupt behavior, while Willie and Sam — the Black servants at the tea room — are ensnared by the apartheid system. The only character who still seems free to shape his own life is young Harold (Fugard 9).

Social Dynamics in the Play

The play portrays personal and familial struggles brought about by apartheid. Among other tensions, it dramatizes the story of two Black brothers — one fairer-skinned and one darker — who are expected to accept how their skin tone determines the way others treat them and how they behave toward one another. Master Harold and the Boys also depicts a sister and brother estranged for over a decade. Fugard confronts the mentality of prejudice and racism passed down from one generation to the next, absorbed into white culture without being consciously chosen or acknowledged. Apartheid is directly attacked throughout Fugard's work.

The collaborative efforts that emerged from Winston Ntshona's and John Kani's improvisations on real events brought widespread praise to Fugard's works, as well as a broader international understanding of the effects of apartheid. Fugard's other notable work, The Island, tells the story of fellow prison inmates Winston and John, who co-produce a theatrical version of Antigone for other prisoners, questioning the political motives behind imprisoning and punishing Antigone as well as the men themselves (Jordan 8).

Statements following a detention under the infamous Immorality Act deal with the love affair between a white woman and a Black man during an age when any form of interracial association was forbidden. As apartheid was drawing to a close in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fugard engaged with the new challenges facing post-apartheid South African society. Voicing his disapproval of the ANC's (African National Congress) decision to restrict Black students' access to African schools and education, Fugard depicts a Black and a white student debating the rights and values concerning education in light of recent governmental action (Fugard 9).

Relationships Under Apartheid

The apartheid system dominating 1950s South Africa — the period in which the play is set — lies at the heart of Fugard's message. The Black community's marginalization pervaded every layer of the nation's society; all Black people, including their children, were coerced into being subservient to whites. It is therefore profoundly ironic that a Black individual living under apartheid possessed the inner strength and wisdom to impart life skills to an advantaged white boy who held greater physical and social power. The racist culture sustained by apartheid went virtually unchallenged throughout the 1950s and for the following three decades. By 1982, most free nations around the world recognized apartheid as a grave injustice against humanity. Activist organizations such as Amnesty International labored to eradicate this fundamentally racist system, publicizing the criminal treatment meted out to South Africa's Black majority. Black South Africans bold enough to speak out against government policies were more often than not arrested and imprisoned (Fugard 9).

Apartheid degraded Black people across all spheres of social life, until even everyday social discourse began to reflect the policy, rendering Black people subservient to the authority of white children. In the play's setting, Fugard aligns "White" with "Master" and "Black" with "boy." According to Errol Durbach, this equation eclipses the conventional labor-management or employee-employer relationship, or the contractual arrangement between freely consenting parties (Rose 7).

The play's depiction of a white boy striking a Black adult is, within this context, not surprising. What would have been extraordinary in 1950s South Africa is a Black man striking back. A man's frustration and rage could only be released upon someone even more dispossessed of respect and dignity than himself — a Black woman. In other words, the white boy strikes the Black man, who in turn strikes the Black woman. Oppression spirals downward in a pyramid of degradation, as Fugard illustrates through Willie's abuse of his dance partner, who eventually can no longer endure the mistreatment. Sam's effort to describe the nature of his service in conventional terms is likewise undermined by Hally's invocation of the apartheid racial equation described above (Rose 8).

Conclusion

In spite of the unresolved dispute at the play's ending, and despite the apartheid mindset that denied equality among races, Fugard effectively demonstrates that individuals of diverse cultures can overcome barriers to forge emotional bonds and live in harmony. Master Harold and the Boys portrays the playwright's vision of an ideal world free from racial barriers — a vision shaped in part by his desire to reckon with his own guilt at having been part of the unjust apartheid regime. While racial tensions run throughout the play, Hally and Sam's differences do not openly rupture their relationship until the end, when Hally fully embraces the social attitudes of apartheid and white supremacy.

The paper begins by examining Fugard's figurative use of ballroom dancing to represent an ideal society. While Willie and Sam hope for a perfect world where everything is graceful and orderly — like ballroom dancing — Hally is cynical about such utopia, shaped in part by his experiences with his biological father. Hally loathes his crippled, alcoholic father, and though he treats Sam as an inferior, he simultaneously regards him as a father substitute. Sam cultivates Hally's sense of self-worth by making a kite for him, urging Hally to hold his head up — figuratively as well as literally — while flying it and while facing life. Hally, however, never fully respects Sam, owing to the racial implications imposed by their society.

In the discussion of historically important figures, the playwright draws a parallel between Sam and figures like Christ and Tolstoy (Ben 7). Arguably, Sam represents Fugard's vision of an ideal society. Ballroom dancing is one of the clearest images of the beauty of equality, despite its rigid white conventions. Hally is even shown to title his homework assignment "Ballroom Dancing as a Political Vision" — which is precisely why Fugard has introduced the ballroom dancing theme into the play. Ballroom dance transcends cultural and language barriers; its practitioners overcome international differences more effectively than politicians do (Rich, para. 17). For Sam, ballroom dancing embodies his hope for their society's future. As he sees it, one cannot know what one is striving for without a dream.

Fugard clearly expresses his hope for a society that works in harmony to overcome racial divides and end racism. Though Hally, as a child, was unable to change the system, he grew into Fugard — the white writer who sought to inform the world of the atrocities of apartheid society. By refusing to perpetuate social apartheid in his adulthood, and by confronting his personal guilt through the play, Fugard helped prevent the further propagation of apartheid ideology. The system was ultimately dismantled in 1994. Master Harold and the Boys can be regarded as the playwright's autobiographical approach to imagining a happy ending in a post-apartheid world (Urban 28).

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Rich, Frank. "Stage: 'Master Harold,' Fugard's Drama on Origin of Hate." The New York Times, 5 May 1982. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

Rose, Amanda, Apollo Amoko, and Sidney Homan. "Master Harold and the Boys: Fugard's Autobiographical Approach to a Post-Apartheid Happy Ending." Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

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