“Master Harold”… and

the Boys
By: Athol Fugard
 Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able
to:
1.) Explain the proper analysis of the text; and
2.) appreciate the thought of the literary piece.
ANALYSIS
Background of the Author
• Athol Harold Lannigan Fugard also known as Athol Fugard
• Born on June 11,1932 in Middelburg, South Africa.
• South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who became
internationally known for his penetrating and pessimistic analysis of
South African society during the apartheid period.
• Some of his plays were No Good Friday and Nongogo (both
published Dimetos and Two early place, 1977). Blood knot (1963)
produced for stage (1961) and television (1967).
ANALYSIS
Background of the literary piece
Master Harold and the boys by Athol Fugard is a protest play about apartheid
system set in South Africa in 1950’s. The apartheid system was the racial
segregation under all-white government of South Africa which dictated that
non-white south Africans where required to live in separate areas from whites
and use separate public facilities, and contact between the two groups would
be limited. It was performed in Yale repertory theater, New York in March,
1982. Because it was banned in South Africa during the apartheid. The play
depicts how institutionalized, racism, bigotry, or hatred can get to those living
under it. It is said to be a semi-autobiographical of Athol Fugard and each
character portrays the stereotypical version of a 1950 citizen part of apartheid.
 ANALYSIS
CHARACTERS
• Willie Malopo - a middle age black man employed by a middle-class white family, owners
of the tea room
• Sam Semelan - a middle age black man, a little bit older and wiser than Willie, employed
by the same family
• Hally - a seventeen year old white boy, high school student, whose parents own the tea
room
• Hilda Samuels – wife of Willie Malopo
• Mother – owner of the tea room and afraid to her husband
• Father – abusive and alcoholic person
ANALYSIS

 Setting
Place: The St. George’s Park Tea Room on a wet and windy port
( on the SE coast of South Africa)
Time: Afternoon
ANALYSIS
Summary of the Literary piece
• Exposition
• The play opens one rainy afternoon in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Inside a St George’s
Park tearoom, two black South African men of middle age Sam and Willie are bantering
while cleaning the floor and practicing steps for an upcoming ballroom dance
competition. Sam helps Willie with his dance moves and advises him about issues he’s
having with his dance partner and girlfriend, Hilda. Willie accuses her of being unfaithful
and complains she hasn’t shown up for practice. Sam points out that perhaps she hasn’t
shown up because Willie beats her. When Hally came home and comes to the tearoom
and begins his homework, which is to write an essay on the most important cultural
event of the year. Sam tells Hally his mother called. She has gone to the hospital to see
Hally's father, an alcoholic with one leg who lost in the war, racist, and a violent.
 ANALYSIS
Summary of the Literary piece
• Rising action
• Hally and Sam discuss schoolwork, thoughts on social reform, and historical figures like
Napoleon, Darwin, Shakespeare, and Jesus. They reminisce about Hally's childhood,
where he visited Sam in his servant's room, playing games and providing escapes from
his miserable life. Hally recalls a time when Sam made him a kite from scraps, which he
initially thought it wouldn't fly. However, it did. Sam evasively explained he had to work.
Hally finds it strange to have a white boy flying a kite with a black man, and sometimes
wishes they were in the same room. Hally's mother informs him that his father wants to
come home, but he resists and convince his mother to make him stay since his mother is
afraid to his father eventually his mother will give in. He confides in Sam, who encourages
him to complete an essay about a cultural event. And because of his anger, Hally orders
Sam to return to work.
ANALYSIS
Summary of the Literary piece
• Climax
• Another call from Hally’s mom interrupts them. She tells Hally she is coming home with his
father. He furiously lays into her, but when she puts his father on, Hally’s tone becomes
cheerful and welcoming. Hally hangs up, then explodes, viciously venting his pent-up
resentments. When Sam says he shouldn’t speak ill of his dad, Hally’s fury targets Sam.
He cruelly lashes out, deciding to treat Sam and Willie as his father does. He begins
ordering them around and belittling them. He tells Sam he must call him Master Harold
from now on. Sam tells him that if says it once, he will never call Hally anything else again,
but Hally insists. He continues tearing apart their relationship with every word, despite Sam
warning him to stop before it’s too late. Hally tells one of his father’s racist jokes, then spits
in Sam’s face. Sam, tempted to hit Hally, backs off when Willie tells him that Hally is just a
little boy.
ANALYSIS
Summary of the Literary piece

• Falling action
• After Hally grows quiet, Sam lets loose. He recounts the time Hally
as a child was called to get his drunken father from a bar, and how
it was Sam who carried the man home on his back and cleaned him
up. Sam laments that all he has tried to do is help Hally grow into a
better man than his father, and fears he has failed. He tells Hally
the reason he couldn’t sit with him on the bench in the park was
because it was for whites only, and that if he isn’t careful, Hally will
still be sitting alone on that bench one day.
ANALYSIS
Summary of the Literary piece
• Denouement
• Ashamed of himself, but not knowing how to fix things and Hally
starts to leave. Sam stop him, and asked if they should build
another kite; but, Hally reminds him that it’s raining, and you can’t
fly a kite in the rain. Hally leaves, and Willie comforts Sam by
playing a song on the jukebox. The two men dance, and Willie tells
Sam he won’t hit Hilda anymore.
ANALYSIS

 Conflict
Man vs. man
 Tone
Pessimistic
 Mood
Light and dark
ANALYSIS

SYMBOLISM
 Kite – source of hope and friendship.
 Dance – The beginning of culture and society.
 Bench – separation and racism.
ANALYSIS

• Issue’s
 Abusive
 Inequality
 Oppression
ANALYSIS

Message

If you won’t forgive someone who hurt you, it will

Theme
“A man with a grudge will never be at peace”
ANALYSIS

Term in the story

Online sources
https://www.gradesaver.com/master-harold-and-the-boys/study-guide/literar
y-elements
https://www.supersummary.com/master-harold-and-the-boys/summary
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/andthenthere/plot-analysis/