We have all heard the saying that the rich keep getting richer while the poor
keep getting poorer. This somewhat describes South Africa in the 1950s. During
this time in Africa, the white people kept getting more powerful while the black
population kept getting weaker. South Africa’s apartheid system gave powerful
odds to the whites and created a racist society. In “Master Harold” … and
the boys, a book set around the 1950s and during the apartheid system, the
racist attitudes from the apartheid system and Hally’s parents affected how
Hally treated Sam and Willie, who are black and work for Hally’s mother. These
attitudes over-shadowed the good relationship Sam and Hally had built through
most of Hally’s childhood. “Apartheid was a system that deliberately set out
to humiliate black people, even to the point of relegating them to separate
benches, entails the danger of habitual indifference to the everyday detail that
shape black and white relationship and finally, perverts them.” (Durbach 69).
South Africa passed laws and acts making the black people’s lives degrading
and ensured the white superiority. Four laws were passed in 1950 which included
the Population Registration Act, Group Areas Act, the Amendment to the
Immorality Act, and the suppression of the Communism Act. These laws did several
things including classified people by color, governed areas for living according
to race and controlled ownership of property, prohibited sexual contact across
racial lines, and removed due process of laws for blacks. (Durbach 69).
Apartheid was used in South Africa because the whites, while a minority in the
population, wanted to be in control of the government and society. The way
anything that is smaller in size, and therefore weaker, is able to get power is
through intimidation. The whites made themselves more powerful by making the
blacks feel inferior. The blacks were told they were not good enough and
therefore had to be separated from the whites. The whites belittled and
separated themselves from the blacks so they wouldn’t feel guilty for what
they were doing to them. If you make someone become something other than human
and lower its level, you don’t think you are hurting another person. For
instance owners of pets do not feel guilty when you tie up a dog, or let a pet
sleep outside. Your pet is just an animal therefore they do not mind or expect
much different. Apartheid was more than racial prejudice legislated in South
Africa. It became an everyday belief. Racism became part of everyday living it
was part of schooling, home life, government, and even on public display such as
park benches. It taught society that a seventeen-year old boy was master over
two black men. In the book, Hally is quoted as saying to Sam, “Because that is
exactly what Master Harold wants from now on. Think of it as a little lesson in
respect, Sam, that’s long overdue.” (Fugard 55) As in the book, a white boy
was respected and looked upon as being higher and better than the black men. In
any other traditional society, a child is to show respect to any adult, no
matter what their color or background. The apartheid system lowered the blacks
to a level lower than children, which was very humiliating, especially for an
adult man. The most important influence on a child is its parents. The
parents’ actions, behaviors, and beliefs are passed on to their children. So
many white children from South Africa grew up with parents having racist beliefs
and not knowing anything different. Hally’s parents both had racists beliefs
which influenced his attitude towards Sam and Willie. Hally’s mother owned a
café, which employed Sam and Willie, but she never saw them as anything other
than servants. “My mother is right. She’s always warning me about allowing
you to get too familiar.” (Fugard 53) She took for granted their loyalty and
didn’t appreciate all they did for her business and her son. “All that
concern you in here, Sam, is to try and do what you get paid for -- keep the
place clean and serve the customers. In plain words, just get on with your job .
. . You’re only a servant here, and don’t forget it.” (Fugard 53)
Hally’s father was worse in his racist attitude. His father always wanted
Hally and his mother to take more control over the “boys”. He wants Hally
and his mother to restrict Sam and Willie’s freedom so they will understand
who is in control and to learn to respect them more. Hally tells Sam, “I can
tell you now that somebody who will be glad to hear I’ve finally given it to
you will be my Dad. He is always going on about it as well. ‘You must teach
the boys to show you more respect, my son.’”(Fugard 55) Hally’s father
told him a racist joke that Hally retold to Sam which caused them to have a
dispute. The joke was, “It’s not fair, is it, Hally? What, chum? A
nigger’s arse.”(Fugard, 55) Hally told the joke because of its racist
context hoping to hurt Sam because the color of his skin. Because of Hally’s
upbringing and parent’s influence, he can’t help but have a warped
preconception about blacks that is similar to his parents. Hally has been taught
that he is superior and until he learns differently, he will always think of
Sam, and all blacks, as lower than himself. Hally tells Sam in reference to
Hally’s father, “He’s a white man and that’s good enough for
you.”(Fugard 53) Sam knew Hally through most of Hally’s childhood. Sam soon
became a better father figure to Hally than his own real father. Once, Sam built
Hally a kite to raise his head and dignity. Sam explains to Hally, “If you
really want to know, that’s why I made you that kite. I want you to look up,
be proud of something. Of yourself . . . and you certainly was that when I left
you with it up there on the hill. Oh, ja something else.”(Fugard 58) Sam also
talked and listened to him and taught Hally many lessons. Sam had promised
himself that he would teach Hally that blacks were as human and as good as
whites. He wanted to provide him with a true vision about what society should be
like. He wanted to influence Hally away from the way white South Africans
believed about blacks. At the end of “Master Harold” … and the boys, Sam
says that he has failed to meet his goal to change how Hally would turn out. Sam
states, “That was the promise I made to myself: to try and stop that from
happening.”(Fugard 58) The color of the skin did make a difference to Hally,
and it wasn’t for the better. Sam realized this when Hally told him the joke
and ended up spitting on Sam’s face. Hally failed to take the higher road of
manhood and both he and Sam did not beat the odds. Unfortunately, the apartheid
system, Hally’s parents, and society as a whole had a greater influence on
Hally than the one black man that was like a father to Hally. This ending of the
story made for a very hopeless feeling. If a loyal and loving man can not win
over a boy and change how he views the world, than how is society going to be
able to change any absurd belief? How is change possible? Are we doomed to carry
on the same mistakes? While the book ended with a feeling of - what’s the use?
- it was not conclusive that Hally’s future attitudes would remain the same.
It is up to each reader to judge what lies ahead. I would like to believe that
as Hally matures and because of his good relationship with Sam, he will realize
that his attitudes are not fair and right and learn to be fairer to blacks. If
Sam had not been part of his life, Hally would remain prejudiced. Athol Fugard,
the author of “Master Harold” … and the boys, is the basis for the main
character, Hally. He relates his own life’s experiences and lessons through
Hally. He shows how society can be cruel and ugly to the blacks. The book is
used to show how mistakes occur and if we can learn and evolve from them, we
should never convert back to make them again. If you make the same mistake
again, the lesson was never learned in the first place. Athol Fugard overcame
his odds, and if we can learn through his experiences, we will never have a
hopeless ending.

Bibliography
Allison, Kimberly J., ed. The Harcourt brace Casebook Series in Literature:
“Master Harold” . . . and the boys. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1997. Durbach,
Ettol. “Master Harold’ . . . and the boys: Athol Fugard and the
Psychopathology of Apartheid.” Allison 68-77. Fugard, Athol. ”Master
Harold” . . . and the boys. Allison 20-63