From Hallie to Master Harold: The Transformation - Assignment Example

Instruction: Task: From Hallie to Master Harold: The Transformation. Literary analyses are important in enabling us understand the different elements that make up works of literature. This means that by evaluating these works of literature, we are able to draw certain conclusions that help in understanding the major themes advanced by the authors. Additionally, these analyses can be used to compare and contrast similarities and differences that exist between the society presented in the work of literature and the current society that we live in. This makes it possible for us to ensure that the subject focused on in the work of art can be used as a point of reference for implementing or referencing the ideas gotten from the work of literature into real life. Moreover, this also ensures that we are able to evaluate the implementation of the lessons gained from any story, novel or book such that virtues are implemented in its entirety while vices are effectively eliminated. Therefore, Athol Fugards’ play Master Harold and the boys can be a point of reference for an active evaluation in consideration of its usefulness at portraying the transformation of a boy in an oppressive society. There are various intrigues that go on in the play, thus characterizing it as being effective for evaluation particularly in consideration of its connection to the apartheid era. Therefore, Hal or Hallie in Master Harold and the boys was basically guided by different forces that he had no control over, and these forces eventually led to his transformation. In analysing the transformation of Hal to Master Harold, we have to take note of the reflections that point towards a rather passionate relationship that Hallie had been enjoying with the two black workers, Sam and Willie. The workers had generally gotten used to working for the family, and their relationship with Hallie showed that they had worked there for quite a long time. It is revealed that Hallie even taught Sam and Willie the basics of what he learnt at school, and in return Sam assisted Hallie on how to fly a kite. From this onset, it is quite evident that the relationship that they hold among each other is beyond the pre-existing racial prejudice that defined the society at that period. In fact, Hallie spent most of his younger years with Sam and Willie even more than the time he spent with his parents and other boys of his own age (Fugard 14). This augments the fact that the relationship that they enjoyed over the years had been structured on mutual trust and respect for each other. In addition, this background information serves to show the monstrosity of Hallie’s transformation in light of the trust that they had over the years that they had been with each other. The relatively cordial relationship between Sam, Willie, and Hallie is partially the reason behind the fact that Sam and Willie are able to enjoy their time and happily practice dance moves despite being treated and viewed as inferiors in the larger society. As much as the aspects of racial discrimination are more pronounced than before, the two black workers seem to be generally happy and at ease with their being. Of particular significance is the fact that they still act and carry themselves around in the presence of Hallie in the very same way they would if Hallie was one of their ‘kind’. As much as they are concerned, Hallie is the least of the white folk to be commanding and authoritative to them. This aspect also serves the purpose of stressing the relatively outrageous way that Hallie’s transformation appeared to the two black men, especially Sam. Additionally, there are certain conditions and occurrences in Hallie’s life that modify and affect the way that he relates with Sam and Willie. For a start, he is still a teenager, and this in itself brings its own challenges in light of identifying oneself at that stage. Moreover, and of much more significant impact on his behaviour is his lack of fatherly support. For the most part of his life, Hallie’s father has been a drunk who has not played any fatherly role in his family. This has made Hallie susceptible to erratic behaviour during which he is incapable of controlling his feelings, and, during such instances, he vents out his frustrations on the servants. At the same time, he is quite confused since he does not know the exact type of relationship that he has with Sam. While the society is structured to portray Sam as a lowly servant in his life, Sam has proved to be much more than that, and has undertaken most of the fatherly roles in Hallie’s life. At the same time, Hallie is the sole person who has given Sam some level of elementary education, meaning that he is essentially Sam’s teacher. This mixed up relationship has confused him, since he has to deal with relating with the blacks, particularly Sam, on levels of different magnitude and authority. Therefore, this also forms the basis for the outburst that culminates in Hallie succumbing to his father’s wont of racial injustice and discrimination of Sam. Hallie basically has no control over his own life. He is indeterminate such that he fluctuates between different thoughts that are not of a resolute nature. At certain points he talks of the society having progressed, stating: “There is something called progress, you know. We don’t exactly burn people at the stake anymore. (Fugard 15)” This comes up at the time that they are discussing social reform and the element of dignity in the society. Despite the fact that he acknowledges the slight progress in the society, he seems to turn a blind eye on the injustices that exist in the society as characterized by racial prejudice. Additionally, Hallie states that he oscillates between hope and despair for the world, but is optimistic that things will change. This acceptance just shows that even Hallie himself is not aware of exactly what is going on in his existence. As such, this highlights the fact that Hallie does not really identify with himself, and is not really sure of the elements of social reform and dignity for human life. Moreover, this erratic nature is what defines the way that he is confused about the view that he has of both Sam and Willie. Additionally, this lack of stance and mixed relationship with the black servants is what makes Hallie erupt and unleash unforeseen outpours on Sam. Therefore, this in itself is what goes on in defining Hallie’s transformation. Moreover, Sam’s relationship with Hallie gives him the impression that he can almost take up the role of a father. As much as he is intelligent enough to still know that his place is being a servant, Hallie’s contemptuous talk about his father brings out the defensive nature in Sam such that he decides to warn Hallie against being loathly of his parents. In Sam’s mind, he is of the idea that he is still within the limits of the relationship that they have had with Hallie. This is why he is at ease and goes along the line of reprimanding Hallie. However, Hallie is apprehensive when the issue at hand is about his father. This coupled with the fact that he does not have full control of himself lead to him losing his cool and this subsequently leads to his transformation. In Hallie’s transformation into Master Harold, Sam brings out some level of maturity that is reminiscent of the way that Jefferson’s journal in A Lesson before dying revealed. In both works of literature, the society is structured in such a way that blacks are looked down upon, but their intellectual abilities and reasoning maturity is revealed in times of great difficulty. Jefferson in A Lesson before Dying is convicted of a murder that he did not commit, and he is destined to die. He is so despised that he questions his very existence as a human being. However, upon his slight coaching on the need to have dignity and appreciate who he is, he turns out to be quite intelligent and with a relatively advanced reasoning capacity for his level of education (Gaines 196). This relates to the situation that Sam finds himself in during Hallie’s transformation. He is generally viewed as a servant, a position that he has accepted and is willing to live by. This position is expected to come with limited level of reasoning and understanding. However, the way that he handles the situation when Hallie transforms depicts a different individual from the stereotyping that is expected of him. He notes that Hallie is just a boy who is going through a lot of issues as occasioned by the lack of proper parental care. As such, he tries to warn Hallie of the long–term consequences of taking up the racist approach that is otherwise the norm for the other white persons such as Hallie’s father. This shows that Sam is careful and does not want to destroy the father-son kind of relationship that already exists between them. This shows that he is being extremely logical and analytical in his approach of the sudden transformation. By outlining to Hallie the consequences of taking the master-servant type of relationship, he exonerates himself of any blame or invalidates any subsequent justification of the transformation on Hallie’s inability to control his emotions. In short, he creates conditions that make it possible for Hallie to make an informed decision regarding his transformation. Additionally, the struggles depicted in the play reflect numerous elements of social injustices as exemplified in When the Emperor was Divine. Juliet Otsuka’s book depicts the period during which the Japanese-Americans are rounded up and taken into incarceration camps due to the ongoing political instabilities between the two countries (Otsuka 56). The major family in the book is faced with similar situation as is the case with Sam and Willie. They have to put up with an oppressive society due to the stereotyping that they have been condemned with. It has gone to the extent that they have gotten accustomed to being treated as inferiors. This is much like the case of Sam and Willie, as they have generally accepted their place in the society as servants to the white man, and have to yield to the most outright actions that demean their dignity, like Hallie’s demands that he be called in such a manner to insinuate that he is far superior to both Sam and Willie, yet Sam has constantly demonstrated that he is much more than a servant to Hallie in light of their relationship before Hallie’s transformation. Furthermore, we can draw inferences from The Plague, in which a town is suddenly afflicted by an outbreak such that it has to be cut out from the rest of the society until the epidemic is controlled. In this book, we are presented by Bernard Rieux, who is one of the individuals who finds themselves locked up in the city. This element of being locked up means that his movement and freedom has been curtailed. Nonetheless, he takes up this position and works it round to ensure that he helps the town in curbing the outbreak. The relation that we can draw between Bernard Rieux and Sam’s behaviour is that they are both able to take advantage of a difficult situation and turn it around thereby illustrating their industrious and genius side. In both of these situations, a typical person would generally be expected to act in a manner that would not be viewed as heroic. The fact that we can differentiate the behaviour of both Bernard Rieux and Sam, and a typical individual in the conditions that they were shows that they acted beyond the expectations. In Sam’s case, this was as a result of the discriminatory laws created by the Apartheid government. On the other hand, Bernard Rieux condition resulted from the outbreak of a deadly disease, and the apparent lack of cooperation from the authorities, meaning that he had to defy the norms and act beyond expectations (Camus 99). Regarding the apartheid issue and the play, Fugard reportedly faced difficulties presenting the racially contrasting characters in an environment actively engulfed in apartheid. Fugard had to be artistic to coordinate black actors under apartheid. Law within the white manifested area compelled the men to acquire legal status. The compulsion in the laws enacted binding and institutionalizing racial discrimination is an evidence of the legality of brutality in apartheid (Allen 7). The laws sanctioned whites’ only jobs and exempted the blacks from undertaking certain jobs. As such, Fugard had to seek and complete the legal formalities in order to incorporate the white characters in his play. The whites regarded the blacks as sources of cheap labour who could only work on their farms. We can relate Master Harold’s play and the play that presents Ouper, an old man lamenting to his grandchild that he needed to transform his current living style to a segregation free life. Ouper is a retired South African teacher living in a self-imposed exile in South California. Fugard uses this case to depict the apartheid full atmosphere that existed in South Africa. The old man wishes for the apartheid free life where the whites and blacks acted together. Fugard uses the self-exile instance to show the end that apartheid condemned the blacks who were the main victims. Self-exile that Ouper undergone was an indication of the intolerable nature of the political atmosphere that was present in South Africa. The apartheid regime brought open dejection of the blacks who had no right to intermarry with the whites. Intermarriage between the blacks and the whites was an offence harshly punishable in the case of violation according to the apartheid codes. In addition, the blacks had no rights of expressing their political views, and this prompted Fugard to use play in relaying his views. In Sizwe Banzi’s dead essay, Fugard echoes the plight of the black workers, as they kept a strong opposition against apartheid. The black workers had their pay packets not reflecting a corresponding increase to the growth of the institutions contracting their labor. That is an illustration of the degree or extent of animosity the whites exerted on the blacks through apartheid. It is in the same context that Fugard introduces and illustrates slavery (Bhorat and Ravi 5). The blacks offered cheap labor, working on the white’s farms without pay. In the play, Ouper addresses his grandson Boba stating that the grandson once played with his shadow without incorporating the new turn of occurrences in the apartheid era. The shadow here symbolizes the blacks. In this instance, Ouper blames apartheid and the amended new acts that outlaw togetherness and advocates segregation and parallelism. The apartheid outlawed intermarriages between the whites and blacks. Fugard is against this act and wishes for the traditional form where the two races acted in unison. The apartheid system as portrayed in the play dictated the choice of leadership. People voted based on the racial segregation that existed in South Africa. The system of election was an indication of lack of a possibility in eliminated the segregation rules that the apartheid regime had. In an attempt to suggest a recommendation to end this, Ouper encourages the grandson to remain innocent. The encouragement focuses to prove a fundamental step towards blocking the extension of apartheid into subsequent generations. Therefore, we can note that the transformation of Hallie or Hal to Master Harold is underplayed by various conditions and activities that were of a very significant nature. Hallie was an adolescent boy who lacked proper parental control, and this means that he was susceptible to content erratic behaviour. Additionally, the aforementioned relationship between Hallie and the blacks confused him further. Moreover, the apartheid system brought a rather difficult and complex relationship between blacks and whites that shared more than a master-slave type of relationship like the case between Sam and Hallie. The oppression also played a part in impacting on the change that Hallie subsequently adopted. Therefore, by relating all these conditions to the different secondary works as highlighted, Master Harold’s transformation can easily be viewed as a function of different conditions as presented by the political system in place. Works Cited. Otsuka, Juliet. When The Emperor was Divine. London, LDN: Penguin Books Limited, 2012. Print. Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2012. Print. Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying: A novel. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Allen, John. Apartheid South Africa: An Insiders View of the Origin and Effects of Separate Development. New York, NY: iUniverse, Inc, 2005. Print. Bhorat, Haroon, and Ravi, Kanbur. Poverty and Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press, 2006. Print. Fugard, Athol. Master Harold and the Boys. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2009. Print. Read More