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Internal Conflicts in Master Harold... and the Boys by Athol Fugards

Decent Essays

Most people cannot see reality as it truly is from their eyes. In Athol Fugard’s Master Harold… and the Boys, he shows the apartheid between blacks and whites in South Africa. While some of these white people wanted to end apartheid, other people who lived with apartheid for their whole lives do not see the wrongs with it. These people want change, but do not know that they are the issue which is known as a psychological barrier. In the play, Athol Fugard uses Willie who struggles with a psychological barrier, how Wille’s psychological barrier motivates his actions and how Willie’s barrier is altered by the end of the play to prove how Willie is affected negatively by apartheid.
Willie is a very dynamic character in Master Harold… and the …show more content…

Also, he likes to beat Hilda a great amount because of his insecureness. “Sam: ‘You hit her too much. One day she’s going to leave you for good’. Willie: ‘So? She makes me the hell-in too much’” (Fugard, Page 7). Willie feels powerless with Harold controlling him so he chooses to gain some power by beating Hilda. His beatings of Hilda gives him power in that he controls Hilda like how Harold controls him.
Even though Willie’s psychological barrier motivates most of his actions, his psychological barrier was altered by the end of the play. Willie’s psychological barrier was cracked by Sam at the end of the play. “Willie: ‘Me? Spit at me like I was a dog?’ (A thought that had not occurred to him before)” (Fugard, Page 57). Sam asked Willie how he would feel if he was spat on by Harold. Willie’s psychological barrier started to rip in half. He started to see what really was going on between him and Harold. He started to see how Harold had been taking advantage of him and the control of Harold on him. Willie let loose and became rebellious. He did not want to be under Harold’s control anymore. Along with stopping Harold’s control on him, he realized what he should do next with Hilda. “‘You right. I think about it and you right. Tonight I find Hilda and say sorry. And make promise I won’t beat her no more’” (Fugard, Page 60). Since he broke out of Harold’s control, he does not need to beat Hilda anymore. The only reason why he beat Hilda was

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