Master Harold and the Boys

Master Harold and the Boys | Detailed Summary

"Master Harold... and the Boys" is
a one-act play which takes place in the St. George's Tea Room in Port
Elizabeth, South Africa. The three characters, Master Harold (also known
as Hally), Sam and Willie explore the concepts of racism and apartheid
on a rainy afternoon in 1950.
The
restaurant is empty on such a dreary afternoon and Willie, a waiter, is
tidying up while a second waiter, Sam, sits and reads comic books at a
table set for a meal. Sam and Willie are black men in their mid-forties
and have been employed at the St. George's Tea Room for many years.
Willie
is anxious because he and his girlfriend are entered in a dance
competition to be held in a few weeks and Willie is still uncomfortable
with some of the dance steps. Willie is also unsure of his girlfriend's
participation because Willie reveals that he has recently beaten her
again and she has left. Sam tries to tell Willie what he is doing wrong
with both his dance steps and his personal life.
Master
Harold, also known as Hally, is the seventeen-year-old white son of the
woman who owns the tearoom and has come in from a day at school ready
for his lunch. Sam informs Hally that his mother has gone to the
hospital where Hally's father is a patient. Sam thinks that Hally's
father is to be released today, an idea to which Hally reacts quite
negatively.
Hally
shares with Sam and Willie that he has been punished with six spankings
at school for drawing an irreverent picture of a teacher. Sam explains
the humiliating and painful process of caning used as punishment in the
judicial system, at which Hally is shocked. Hally bristles at the
injustice of the world in general and claims that someday someone will
change all the systems that keep inequities and punishment in place.
Hally
and Sam discuss the possibility of social reform and the conversation
expands to include their personal choices for those people who have made
the most significant contributions to mankind. Sam and Hally agree on
one final choice and Hally congratulates himself on successfully
educating Sam over the years.
Sam
and Hally have had a close relationship for many years beginning during
Sam's employment at the Jubilee Boarding House, which Hally's mother
owned. Hally would seek out Sam and Willie when the activity and
conflict in the boarding house was too much for the young Hally. As
Hally describes his memories of Sam and Willie's room, the two men
recreate the room with the available tables and chairs as stand-ins for
the furniture. The three characters fondly reminisce about the days and
evenings of reading, learning and games played in the small room.
Then
Hally urges Sam to remember the best day they ever spent together and
Sam cannot recall at first. Hally continues to remind Sam of the
homemade kite he had made for Hally and how Sam taught the boy to fly it
in spite of his fears that it would crash and he would be responsible
for its failure. Sam's encouragement on the day of the kite flying
sparked something in Hally which forged a bond with the two from that
point on.
Hally
comments on the unusual sight that he and Sam must have been that day; a
black man and a small white boy flying a kite. Hally's father is a
cripple and Hally muses that being seen with his father in that
situation would have been just as strange. As Hally voices his longings
for a normal life, he is interrupted by a phone call from his mother
telling Hally that his father will be coming home from the hospital
today.
Hally
launches into a frantic attempt to prevent his father's return and
Hally reminds his mother of how difficult life is with his father at
home. Hally pleads with his mother to inquire with the doctors to keep
him as a patient for a longer period of time.
Hally's
irritation extends to Sam and Willie, whom Hally orders to complete
their tasks. Hally admits that he does not want his father at home and
that life is a complicated mess. To Hally, it seems that just when
things are going along just fine, something happens to complicate
matters for the worse. Hally calls this the principle of perpetual
disappointment.
Sam
tries to divert Hally into doing his homework and the boy tries to
settle down but is too agitated to concentrate. Sam tries to help Willie
with his ballroom dancing steps and the noise is too much for Hally,
who cracks Willie on the rear end with a ruler. The two men return to
their chores as Hally reprimands them for inappropriate behavior in a
place of business.
Sam
contends that dancing is a harmless pleasure which does no harm to
anyone and tries to get Hally to dance with him. Hally resists, as
dancing is a simple-minded enterprise with no real goal. Making people
happy is a good thing, according to Sam and that is exactly what dancing
does. To Sam, dancing is also a thing of beauty and he encourages Hally
to attend the dance competition to understand what he means.
Sam
wants Hally to attend the upcoming dance competition to experience the
music and the energy so that Hally can know the beauty and the power of
the championship. Hally is still skeptical, so Sam and Willie attempt to
set the scene in the tea room by explaining the elegance of the ladies
and the formality of the occasion. Hally wonders what the impact is when
someone bumps into someone else, to which Sam replies that there are no
collisions on this dance floor. According to Sam, dancing in the
competition is like being in a world where accidents do not happen.
At
last, Hally is caught up in Sam's energy and admits that the ballroom
scenario sounds beautiful. Sam continues by saying that the dance is
beautiful because it is what people would like the world to be and for
one evening no one bumps into each other like they do in everyday life.
According to Sam, people bump into people, countries bump into other
countries, rich men bump into poor men and the list goes on.
This
practice of bumping into each other has been going on for too long and
Sam wonders when people will be able to dance like champions. Obviously,
people share Sam's vision because the dance competitions are always
sold out and they are standing room only. The dance competition allows
people to view a microcosm of the way they want the world to be.
Hally
contends that that is probably not enough to change the world but
according to Sam, the competition is a beginning. Sam compares Gandhi
and the Pope with people who are able to get the dance steps right, in
other words bringing the people of the world together without bumping
into anybody.
Hally
is energized now and he considers writing a school paper on the topic
of the dance competition as a metaphor for global politics. The
telephone interrupts Hally, who speaks to his mother and it becomes
clear that Hally's father is being released from the hospital today.
Hally has a verbal outburst about the negative implications of his
father's return to home which includes many medical and personal hygiene
issues to which Hally must attend for his father.
Managing
to rally momentarily, Hally speaks to his father in a conciliatory tone
in an attempt to convince his father of a welcome return. Hally's dark
mood cannot be lifted by Sam and Willie and all the visionary talk from a
short while ago is now lost. Hally orders the two men to finish their
work as he prepares to pack up his belongings and go home.
Unable
to resist one last comment, Hally tells Sam that the dream of a better
world is flawed because most people are bad dancers and Sam has also
neglected to consider cripples in his metaphor. According to Hally, the
reality of life is that nobody knows the dance steps, the music is
nonexistent and the cripples bump into everyone else.
Sam
chastises Hally for speaking derogatorily about his own father and
demands that Hally retract his words and apologize but Hally refuses. In
response, Sam refuses to listen to any more of Hally's negativity and
Hally yells at Sam to mind his own business and to stay focused on the
work he was hired to do.
In
retaliation for Sam's comments, Hally tells Sam to call him Master
Harold instead of Hally just like Willie does. Sam declares that if
Hally forces the issue, he will never call Hally by his informal name
again. Hally persists in taunting Sam in an attempt to put him in his
place as a black man and an employee of the tearoom.
Sam
tries to explain to Hally the implications of what the boy's behavior
has had on their relationship. Sam has always tried to help Hally
because the boy's father is a cripple and always dependent. It was
always important to Sam to show Hally how to grow up to be a real man
and now Hally has insulted Sam's spirit which is a tremendous wound.
Sam
reminds Hally of the night when Hally's mother was not at home when
someone from the bar called because Hally's father was drunk and needed
help to get home. Hally had come to Sam in the night and Sam carried the
crippled man on his back while Hally walked beside him on the way home
from the bar that night. Sam can still feel Hally's pain from that night
all those years ago and eventually so does Hally and the boy admits
that he really does love his father.
Sam
is able to identify the complex emotional issues surrounding Hally's
feelings for his father and tells the boy that he must not be ashamed of
his father and Hally must not feel guilty or responsible for the way
things are in his home life. Sam reminds Hally of the kite he had built
and tells the boy that the reason for it was so that Hally could look up
and be proud of something and proud of himself.
Hally
is indignant at Sam's speech but Sam tries to reach the boy one more
time and offers to build another kite because it seems as if they both
need it. Hally leaves and Willie tries to convince Sam that tomorrow
will be a better day and the two men play a song on the jukebox and sway
to the music of Sarah Vaughn

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