Identify the symbols of racism in Master Harold and the Boys and

show how they help you understand white privilege in this play.
Master Harold And the Boys by Athol Fugard is clearly a
problem play meant to reflect on the audacity of apartheid race
relations in South Africa in the later half of the 20th century. In it, a
white adolescent (Hally) is forced to reexamine and redefine his ideas
of paternity, race and conflict by two black men (Sam and Willie) whom
Hallys family has hired to tend to their caf. The play contains several
symbols of the systematic racism perpetrated by the South African
government of the time, which help to clearly demonstrate the white
privilege in the play that Fugard was attempting to subvert. These
symbols include the kite, which Hally and Sam fly together, and the
Whites Only bench, from which the kite is flown.
The kite that Hally and Sam fly together symbolizes the
transcendent nature of their relationship, and the comparative
privilege of the white father figure in Hallys life. At several points in
the narrative, it is explicitly stated that there is a pseudo-paternal
relationship between Sam and Hally. The didascalia of one of Hallys
lines definitively states that Hally becomes conscious of the mans
presence in his life. This sentiment, coupled with Hallys lack of a
positive biological fatherly figure in his life clearly establishes the
close, fatherly bond that Sam and Hally share. The kite that Hally and

Sam fly together symbolizes this relationship: as a kite flies high above
national, racial and ideological boundaries, Sam and Hallys close bond
surpasses the geo-politics of a white-black divided nation. However,
this kite also symbolizes the white privilege experienced by Hallys
biological father. Despite being a drunk, neglectful parental figure,
Hallys biological father still occupies a more privileged societal
position than Sam, who is a kind, hard working and nurturing man. In
this scenario, the action of flying the kite is symbolic of Sams
comparative societal position to Hallys father: While Sam
painstakingly constructs, designs and manually flies the kite, the kite is
allowed to fly free by virtue of being a kite, just as Hallys father is
more privileged in society solely based on the white color of his skin.
Clearly, Hally and Sams kite is meant to symbolize both the
inequality and discrimination faced by African-American men in
apartheid South Africa despite their demonstrated superior moral and
sedulous qualities, as well as the transcendent nature of Sam and
Hallys friendship that avoids being defined by dichotomized ideas of
race.
The Whites Only bench that Hally flies the kite from is a clear
symbol of the damaging isolationism of the policy of a racist ideology.
As established previously, Sam and Hally share a close friendship that
transcends the boundaries of race. A defining moment of this

friendship comes during the bonding experienced in constructing and

flying the kite. In this instance, Sam is able to provide Hally a carefree
childhood experience that Hally may not have had otherwise due to his
alcoholic, neglectful father. However, this intimate moment between
pseudo-father figure (Sam) and Hally is drastically shortened because
Sam ties the kite to a Whites Only bench and because of this, must
leave Hally on his own to watch the kite. Hally recognizes that he felt
isolated as Sam left him, and recognizes that he wanted Sam to stay
with him to fly the kite as a child. In doing so, Hally inadvertently
recognizes the seclusion he feels as a result of apartheid policy.
However, Hally does not directly recognize that apartheid policies were
the reason for this feeling of abandonment until Sam directly tells him
that he had to leave Hally as a child because the bench onto which the
kite was tied was a Whites Only bench. Despite the realization that
racist policies cause feelings of isolation, Hally continues to perpetrate
the racist policies that isolate him. When Hally becomes angry with his
fathers return home, he metaphorically creates his own isolating
Whites Only bench by demanding that Willie and Sam call him
Master Harold as a subservient black men of the time. This results in
seemingly the end of Sam and Hallys friendship, as this conflict is not
resolved by plays end. In participating in the prevailing race hierarchy
of the time by demanding African-American subservience, Hally looses
a mentor, friend and a positive father figure, and thus, creates the

same isolationism he experienced as a child sitting alone and flying a

kite on a Whites Only bench. Herein lies the central tragedy of this
play: despite the realization that racist apartheid policies cause
isolation and destruction of meaningful relationships, Hally continues
to maintain the sentiment of these policies because they are so
ideologically entrenched and perpetrated in the society in which he
lives that he cannot escape them himself. Thus, the Whites Only
bench also becomes a symbol of the tragically consumptive, prevalent
nature of racist ideology in this society.
Master Harold and the Boys is clearly a realistic problem play
molded around the issue of racial segregation in apartheid South
Africa. It offers several symbols of this ideology. The kite, flow together
by Sam and Hally, symbolizes the transcendent nature of their
relationship, seemingly immune to the politics of racial division, as well
as the comparative privilege of the white man in the South African
society of the time. The Whites Only bench, on which Hally sits as a
child, symbolizes the systematic racism perpetrated by the
government of this society, and this policys power to indoctrinate the
public into continuing this inequality. This bench also symbolizes the
isolating nature of a policy of apartheid, which is ultimately and most
consequentially manifested in the eventual termination of Sam and
Hallys friendship by plays end.