Master Harold And The Boys Character Analysis

A tale can be told in several different ways. Many people are aware of the astonishing feat of the 1980 USA Olympic Men’s Hockey team, who were huge underdogs in their bid to win the gold medal against the powerhouse USSR. The movie “Miracle”, directed by Gavin O’Connor, is the dramatic journey taken by this team, from the anxiety-filled tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to the exhilarating game against the USSR in Lake Placid, New York. The book, “The Boys of Winter” written by Wayne Coffey, is based on the same events, but takes a less emotional, more factual approach to the subject. The purpose of this essay is to compare these two resources, and to discuss how they differ in tone, style, and theme.

Now between Harold and his father, his father dominates him easily. Because of this Harold may want to feel like he?s somehow in control of something, and that?s why he treats Willie and Sam the way he does. I think Harold loves Willie and Sam, like Harolds father loves his wife, but because Harolds father is in control, Harold wants to feel somehow in control too.

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.

In the beginning of the story, the first sign of symbolism is the play that the son, little Guy, is reciting his lines for. The play has significance because it serves purpose to the boy because every moment in the story he is worried about not forgetting his lines. His parents, Guy and Lili, see the play as a sign of hope for little Guy. This is because they want him to be able to live a better life then the struggling one they have now. You can see this when Guy mentions in the story that since it is taking him so long to retrieve a job at the sugar mill he thinks it would be best if he enlists his son early for the same job. This statement caused the mother to quickly reply, “I don’t want him on that list for a young boy to be on any list like that might influence his destiny…” (241). This shows how she is willing to keep helping her son to get better with his lines to influence him never to give up on dreams. Also, since the play is about a hero who helped slaves gain independence in Haiti, it makes the parents prouder of little Guy to be a part of such a historical play.

Lord of the Flies is a novel written in 1954 by William Golding. A plane carrying a group of British citizens trying to escape the nuclear war gets shot down and lands on a deserted tropical island. The only survivors are children ranging from the age of six to twelve-year-olds. The younger children are nick named “littluns” and the older children are nick named “biguns”. At first, they celebrate their freedom from the war but then they begin to realize there aren't any adults to supervise them, they don't have food, they don't have shelter, and they are stranded on a deserted tropical island. One of the characters Piggy is classified as smart but is fat chubby and has asthma so he isn't capable of much things. “ “My auntie told me not to

Simons dead body moved out toward the open sea” (Golding 154). In The Lord of the Flies, Golding refers to the boys as Beelzebub, a powerful demon in the bible that was very dangerous and feared almost like a powerful savage. In one of the big plots of the story is when Jack and his hunting crew goes and murders Simon and when you are a child you are raised to not murder anyone in this world; therefore the boys lose their human nature and murder Simon. The real problem the boys experience on the island is that they succumb human nature; therefore their solutions of authority structure by a dictatorship versus the conch and ultimately they fail.

He takes this anger out on Sam, even though Sam is trying to help Hally. Hally yells at Sam, insults Sam and makes racist comments about Sam. Hally would not behave in this manner if he were not raised in a racist society. Hally hurts Sam through racism and insults, and in doing so he shows that society is cruel and harsh to those who are different.

Tom is unable to forget what his father has done and his memory of the details of the photograph and the postcard highlights his feelings of displeasure towards his father. As the play develops, we see Mr. Wingfield being a contributing factor to Tom’s departure from the Wingfield household. In fact, Tom cites his father as both an example and excuse for his departure. In scene 6, Tom explains to Jim “I’m like my father. The bastard son of a bastard!”

In every production, Mr Arthur Birling is presented as a key and significant character. He represents the older generation. He shows how they don’t seem to change throughout the play, or learn from their mistakes, which certainly differs for the younger generation in the family.

Contrast between Sam and Hally's Father in Athol Fugard's "Master Harold" . . . and the Boys

In Athol Fugard’s play “Master Harold”… and the Boys dance becomes a metaphor for how society can work harmoniously together, yet there are conflicts that prevent it from happening. Specifically, ballroom dance becomes a metaphor to show the conflict between a cooperative society and the disappointment associated with life and our inability to force change. This is expressed by Sam teaching Willie the mastery of dance and also educating Hally on the significance of the championships, and ultimately through the final dance performance.

Family relationships always have a way of playing a key role for the duration of most literary pieces. According to Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of a Salesman, the interaction of Willy and his sons, Happy and Biff, shows that family ties usually are connected either physically or emotionally in some way or another. Willy Loman is just like every father in a father/son bond, yet all he wants is to be a part of his son’s life. Even though Biff and Happy admire and have so much love for their father when they are younger, later down the road when they are older suddenly they realize he had failed to prepare them for the real society in life.

The book "Master Harold"...and the Boys, is a play written by Athol Fugard. It is about a boy, Hally, dealing with his abusive alcoholic father and his relationship with Sam, who is more of a father figure than his dad. The film adaptation of Athol Fugard’s play directed by Lonny Price is an impactful piece of art and it truly compliments the play. In the scene of how we meet Hally who becomes concerned when he hears his dad is coming home from the hospital, we could see the director did such a great job at interpreting the play into a movie. What's significant about this scene is that it draws two major emotions - joy and anger- residing in the mind of Hally and it enhances the

“Master Harold”... and the boys, is a powerful play written by Athol Fugard that allows us to analyze the complex relationship between a black man and a young white boy within the context of racism in South Africa in the 1950’s. This play is characterized by metaphors used by the author to illustrate the struggle of people dealing with racism. One of the most important themes of this play is racism, focusing on the injustice in South Africa when the apartheid system was in place. Racial segregation and separation in this time in history demonstrates to us how this system allowed unequal rights for whites and blacks. There is evidence that the relationship between Hally,

Hally’s favorite memory as a young boy is flying a kite with Sam in the park. Flying the kite symbolizes overcoming racial barriers between black and white people. Sam makes the kite for Hally to help him overcome his sense of shame because of his father’s drunkenness. The kite is made from “tomato-box wood and brown paper, flour and water for glue. Two of [his] mother’s old stocking for a tail and pieces of string.” (Fugard 29) At first Hally is suspicious and “had no hopes for it […] In fact [he] was shit scared [they] were going to make fools of [themselves].” (Fugard 29) Taking the step to be a white person who disagrees with racism takes a lot of determination and guts. In order for Hally to treat Sam as an equal he has to rise above the shame. The kite represents black and white people working together and being equal. They are flying the kite together, and while doing this they are on the same level. It is also significant that the kite flies beautifully