Master Harold And The Boys Sparknotes

The play "Master Harold"....and the boys by Athol Fugard is set in a Tea Room in Port Elizabeth, Africa during the period of apartheid. It tells the story of two black men Sam and Willie, and a white teenage boy named Hally. Willie and Sam are preparing for an upcoming ballroom dance competition. Hally finds out his father is coming home from the hospital and is disappointed, due to his troubled home life. After finding this out, Hally takes his anger out on Sam and Willie and starts to treat them as slaves rather than friends making a racist joke and spitting in Sam’s face. Sam fights back and teaches Hally a lesson. The story ends with a hope of reconciliation, but Hally leaves the men for home. A recurring theme in the story is dissatisfaction. No matter how hard you try to cheer someone up, their emotions do not always change.

Hally finds out that his abusive alcoholic father is the hospital and is very cheerful because of this. However, he finds out that his father is coming home and he dreads his return. When Hally’s father is home, Hally has a magnitude of responsibilities to deal with. He has to take care of his disabled dad, and even has to manage his mother. His father’s return brings out the worst in Hally and things start to go downhill. Hally says that “Life is just a plain bloody mess, that's all. And people are fools”. In this quote he shows that he is not content with his life. He has gotten through tough times with both Willie and Sam, but not this time as they appear to be heading in different