Wednesday, February 4, 2009
BOYS TO MEN
One of the most telling comparisons that the character of Hally makes in “Master Harold” …and the boys is that a young boy with a disabled father being much like a white young boy with a black man. Interwoven in this seemingly simple statement are decades of racism in South Africa and the political genes it has sewn into the soul of Master Harold. It is 1950 in the play. The political system of apartheid was created in 1948 in South Africa to separate those who were white from those who were “coloured” (mixed race) or black. The system disintegrated in the early 1990s. Prior to the formal establishment of apartheid, systematic and systemic racism already existed in South Africa, which is evident in what Hally says about his past at the Jubilee Boarding House with Sam and Willie. Hally’s comments touch upon the searing core of this play: the relationship between Hally and Sam who is, for all intents and purposes, his father. Buried underneath that and indeed compelling that parental bond is Hally’s (non-) relationship with his biological father, alcoholic and disabled. The damage from that relationship informs the way that Hally treats Sam from the history of the play to the actions within the play, in particular Hally’s act of spitting in Sam’s face as one would spit at a dog, as Willie notes. Through these various behaviors we learn a great deal about Hally and Sam, but also about Willie and the disability of Hally’s youth.
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As far as interesting relationships go, this play is a winner. In my reading, I didn't like Hally much of the time because of the patronizing and superior way in which he interacted with the two other men. This is one of the relationships in the play (master/ servant). Then you have the descriptions of the old days in the Jubilee Boarding House in which the three characters are comrades and boredom buddies. You also have a distinct relationship because Hally is white and Sam and Willie are black. But certainly the most interesting relationship present is the father/son one between Hally and Sam.
ReplyDeleteThis relationship wasn't apparent to me at first because Hally does not treat Sam as a father for most of the play. He treats him like a student, an idiot, a servant, but not father. I think the heart of this relationship is revealed when Sam admits that he made the kite because he saw how much Hally's real dad was hurting the boy. This is a supremely fatherly act, and once you're put in the mindset that Sam is a fatherfigure, you can see that their little lessons together have been for Hally's benefit as well as Sam's. Sam is working as a father even if Hally doesn't recognize it, which accounts for Hally's poor treatment of Sam.
I have mixed feelings about the climax. First, it made the whole play feel like exposition up to that point - like pleasant, aimless conversation that just gave you a sense of the characters. I didn't admire the huge monologues explaining all the pent-up emotions the characters had been holding in their whole lives, and I didn't like how Hally turned into a little tyrant. And of course, the lovely cliched line "I don't know anything anymore." I was, however, filled with a sense of hope. Although some lines were crossed and some ugl moments endured during Sam and Hally's confrontation, I liked that Sam held out a lifeline for Hally to escape his hatred of his father and his confused feelings about Sam. "You know what the [whites only] bench means now, and you can leave it any time you choose." He's basically offering to be Hally's father if the boy can deal with the racism embedded within him.
I wish I knew more about Willie. He kind of represents what the white people of the time and place thought was the worst of black people - rough with his women, somewhat ignorant, compliant. Sam is a much more noble character who shows a magnificent display of self-control by not smacking the daylights out of Hally after he is spit on. I wish I knew more about where both of these men came from - their way of life before they came to Hally's family, what racism they had faced, why Sam went to jail. The dancing sub-plot was just something for the two men to share and talk about together, but it could have been a lot more powerful and meaningful if I had known more about their lives and what dancing meant to them, etc.
Hally struck me as patronizing, arrogant, and naive. I really didn't like him for most of the play, and I suppose the playwright wanted my to forgive him because of his terrible relationship with his father. I'm trying to cut him some slack, but overall he comes off as pretty selfish.
"I am Sam"
ReplyDelete- I found myself drawn of course to Sam. And although Danny Gover played Willie I could see him playing Sam as well, if he were old enough in 1982. Why did I like Sam? Because he seemed to be the wittiest, he was always cracking jokes in seemingly inappropriate situations, especially during the ballroom dance practice scenes. But he was also the voice of reason throughout the play. Maybe less toward the end.
Once you start digging and rereading some of the dialogue you see all sorts of symbolism to the time. For example: When the boys are leafing through textbooks. How language is constructed and can be used against the masses, both black and white. How education and patience seem to be virtues saved for those of certain skin colors. How Sam spells out the word "scalers" -- and what this word means as far defining someone or something that can't be otherwise quantified or described.
I absolutely loved and appreciated the name-dropping that happened on page 25. It shows the historical knowledge of both Sam and Hally and it showed more who Hally tended to study.
I DEFINITELY found Hally arrogant and unfortunately informed. He is attempting to be a worldly citizen but because he has few positive role models he is taking his first impression of situation, and, having all the power in his relationships, continues to interpret it his way. Nobody can beat Hally except his father, it seems, and Hally wants to make sure it stays this way. And while he acknowledges that most switchings with a ruler don't hurt, there is a particular scene where the boys discuss switchings with a cane and how they have it lucky (comparatively).
This play had a sort of "Catcher in the Rye" feel when Hally was describing his "fartface" professors. (Prentice, incidentally, and I swear, was one of the authors or publishers of my math textbooks as a child)
OH! And one of my favorite parts: the kite. What it says about hope for all kinds of people and the cynicism and skepticism that certain groups (Hally) have against such a powerful symbol. And the hope is disguised as a sort of ugly duckling in the play; in the kite story, it is the kite made of stockings and old rotting wood. It seems that Sam is a dreamer and a visionary and a realist all in one; unfortunately, though Hally's father has been absent for a long time, he seems to have taken on his characteristics in his absence, instead of Sam's.
"You're only a servant in here, and don't forget it... and as far as my father is concerned, all you need to remember is that he is your boss" - Hally to Sam
Such dreadful treatment by Hally, and yet this is the way power works at this time historically, or is somehow accepted. It seems Hally may never learn, but there is always hope. As long as he chalks off Sam's fleeting pain and continues to remind him he can't feel anything because he was never a slave, as long as he continues to see the world through his cynical view, I think Hally was destined to miss all of the chances Fugard gave him to change.
I enjoyed this play. I think it touched upon interesting relationships, such as between Sam and Willie and between Sam and Hally. Also, I felt that the characters were believable. I have known people like Hally who have great respect for intellectualism and respect Charles Darwin. The fact that he was an atheist makes sense. I thought it was peculiar that he had no interest in girls. He was passionate about seeing the works of great men in society, although I am not sure if he truly wished to emulate their model. He had a desire to become famous though. In many respects there are elements to Hally that remind me of my own youth, albeit with some key differences. I also liked the setting, after school at their family shop.
ReplyDeleteI could see the father/son relationship between Sam and Hally fairly early in the play, maybe from the description of the Jubilee Boarding House. The act of making a kite for Hally seemed like very genuine love on the part of Sam, although I was not expecting the color segregated bench. I could also see that Sam was trying to educate Hally as much as Hally was trying to educate Sam. They were mutual teachers. Hally taught Sam about his scholastic education while Sam was trying to teach Hally about life. He was trying to show Hally that there are ways to make a good life, despite Hally's pessimism. I felt that this was tied together well with the revelation that Sam was trying to help Hally overcome his shame on behalf of his father. Although Hally fell into the state that Sam was trying to help him avoid, it seemed that by the very end Hally might have finally learned something from Sam. That is, if he really didn't ruin the relationship that they had together. In the end, it was clear to see that Hally was still a boy, despite his intellectualism.
The other major relationship was between Sam and Willie. Willie seemed to represent a more typical, uneducated person. He was not too close to "Master Harold", nor was he particularly moral as seen from his treatment of his dance partner. But, this brought up one of the main themes of the play. I had never thought of dancing as a model of world peace, but this play made a convincing argument. A dream world without crashing or conflict. Although this dream seemed to die in a sense, there was still hope as the play ended in dancing. The song was also appropriate to the events of the play. As a last note, I found it very entertaining to see that Danny Glover was in this play.
Master Harold... and the Boys is a play with a very central theme of race, as is often the case in works taking place in apartheid South Africa. In class we mentioned the Disney movie The Color of Friendship, but Master Harold got me thinking about another performance that was worth mentioning. Last year, Pieter-Dirk Uys came to the Village Gate for a Visions and Voices event. He is a white South African man who performed a very political, satirical, impression-heavy show, called "Elections and Erections, in drag. I feel bad for anyone who missed it because it was amazing, even if a little bit longer than I would have liked. Anyway, in his show, he said something that I think is very relevant to Master Harold. Apparently, in South Africa, one's race must be designated by the government and, if one wishes to change his racial status, that is also a process that must go through the government. What?! CHANGE his racial status? Exactly. Mr. Uys explained that it is possible, with some red tape involved, to change one's legal racial status. He then listed the number of changes that had been made in the last year. I can't remember the exact numbers (wow, I WISH my memory were that good), but I do remember changes of nearly every possible racial combination, ranging from "black to colored," to "colored to Chinese." So really, "race" is just an arbitrary term, isn't it? Well, I think that's the point.
ReplyDeleteSo, I asked myself, why let it be such a central factor in the relationships between Hally, Willie, and Sam? Race, in Master Harold, seemed to take precedent over any other factor (like age, familial relationship, etc) in terms of how much respect the characters gave each other. While that seems like a baffling truth to me, it must indicate something good to be said for the play because it not only got me thinking, it got me angry at the injustice of it all.
But all that aside, I found Master Harold to be a very interesting play in terms of character study. I think three-character plays are hard because inevitably one or two of the characters become the focus and the last is never as well developed. Hmm, kind of like in primary school when Mom taught me that play-dates with three people always leave someone feeling left out... but what I discovered through this play is more than just that Mom is always right. I felt that Sam was very well-developed and Hally was not too far behind him. Willie, though, seemed to be lacking in dimension. I really wanted more from him. I felt that I had a lot of unanswered questions about his character or, if it was a conscious choice by the playwright to leave his character undeveloped, then I had a lot of unanswered questions for the playwright.
One thing I really liked about Master Harold and the Boys was the sense of urgency and entrapment. Tying into that, I liked the juxtaposition of the character's dialogue to advance the scene with the action of them dancing to keep the scene steady, as if the rhythm of the dance was keeping them from advancing too quickly or making strides that would be unrealistic in South Africa during that time. I also liked the childish, animalistic action of the spitting. Actually, like is definitely the wrong word because the thought of being spit on thoroughly repulses me, but such a grotesque action is really the only thing that would feel appropriate in context, so I thought it was a brave choice.
My final thought (for tonight) has to do with the autobiographical aspect of the play. Now, I've never attempted to write an autobiographical piece because I think it would be too easy to paint myself in the perfect light and make the other characters the villains just because, even if I don't mean to be, I'm going to be biased towards my own point of view. Not so with Master Harold. I think it was very brave of Mr. Fugard to write a play in which he does not come across as the hero at all and to admit, right from the start, that it is based on a real life incident.
Yeah, I also visualized Danny Glover playing Sam. Hally is an ungrateful and ignorant. He can't see what the hell is in front of him. He admires all the intellectual teachings and great men, and yet he can't even confront the racism or his drunk, crippled ass father that plagues his relationships with Sam. The reality is that Sam is Hally's father emotionally. He carried Hally's father on his own back in such an embarrassing time were Hally we most shamed. Sam watched over Hally, even watching over him from himself. Sam didn't want Hally to live the shame of his biological father. Hally again prides himself on being intellectual, but he can't even analyze the racial boundaries of his day or even question them at their influences such as why Sam left him because of the "Whites Only" bench. Sam has the most emotional intelligence than Hally ever does and he is a far more enduring character because his takes his "white" son spitting in his face as a "black" father, even when his intellect fails him and rage over his father. I feel this symbolizes that even though Hally is willing to be intellectual and to be great, he spits on the past and on the oppressed and is not great enough to rise above his racial (Master Harold) way of thinking. Even more so, Sam forgives Hally for what he's done, even though he's tempted to kick his ass and the potential of Willie helping too. Sam honestly could have kicked his ass, but he decided not to be like Hally. Rather he forgave him by offering his hand in another round for Hally to bond with him in making another kite. I can't say much for Willie, but he's more of a character who is reactive rather than proactive in his interactions within this play. The power to forgive was the gift that Sam gave to Hally that defines Same. He was there for he and at the end of the play, Sam still is. Forgiveness for Sam is a sign that he can go past the boundaries of race and still love Hally and releases his anger against Hally for spitting his face. I wish I can say the same for Hally. For him he first has to forgive his biological father before he can move on and truly grow.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I personally find Hally to be somewhat sympathetic. When children are raised to believe that they are better than others or that some of the people around them aren't really "people," are "inferior" etc., I think it encourages meanness. That is to say, I think that children often feel powerless esp. in regard to the relationships they might have with parents/authority figures and I think it is natural to take out that frustration on those who they themselves have power over. Given this dynamic, I think that Hally's behavior is pretty standard. In fact, I think he's relatively nice considering that he has been told since the time he was little that he is superior. It's only when Hally feels wounded ie: when he confides in Sam and feels like Sam rejects him, that he reacts with vitriol. Athol Fugard might have felt like he was "making up" for a past wrong by writing this play, but I have a feeling it is only with time and distance that the "wrongness" became so apparent. In the context of place and time, his behavior probably seemed normal.
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