Master Harold And The Boys Essay

In Master Harold and the Boys, Fugard develops the relationship between a white boy and a black man to criticize the racial segregation that the apartheid brings to society. In Fugard's resolution, he expresses the need for "progress" (15) in the "bloody awful world" (15) corrupted with racism. He concludes his play demonstrating the negative impact of racism in society, yet he leaves his conclusion open for the possibility for a better outcome. Through Fugard’s use of stage directions and lighting, Fugard characterizes the damage done to Sam’s and Hally’s relationship through the racial barriers of the apartheid, and he establishes an optimistic tone for social reform.
In the play, Fugard’s use of stage directions to characterize the damage of Sam's and Hally's relationship through racial barriers conveys his criticism of racial segregation. When Fugard characterizes Hally's actions as "retreating" and "helpless" (59), he shows Hally's defeated attitude after learning about the racial barriers between him

By initially lighting the scene with a “gray twilight” (60), Fugard establishes the realism and melancholy in the scene. However, he shifts the lighting to a beautiful yet unrealistic “spectrum of soft, romantic colors” (60). Through romantic colors, Fugard parallels his resolution to the symbolism of dance in the play. The unrealistic lighting sets the scene for “a dream about a world in which accidents [do not] happen” (45). In addition, the lighting of the scene makes the scene “beautiful” (40) like dance. Through this, Fugard draws attention away from the sad reality and makes the reader focus on the beauty and optimism of the “dream” because that is what Fugard “want[s] life to be like” (46). Thus, he ends the scene with romantic colors to give hope for a “love story” between races with a “happy ending”