Today Ill be talking about Master Harold and the boys and how the theme of apartheid is presented

throughout the play. Throughout the play, the theme of apartheid has been brought up numerous of times. Fugard shows this by setting up the power dynamics in the relationships between the characters, with Hally being the master while Sam and Willie being referred to the boys. The title itself is hierarchy creating as the ellipse followed by and the boys further emphasizes the insignificance of Sam and Wille. Fugard is trying to convey the message that the blacks were considered unimportant and as an afterthought. Despite the main theme being apartheid, Fugard uses this to link to other themes that are also present in the play, such as relationships and escapism. This was important because through this, Fugard successfully achieves his purpose, which was to make people think about the issue and challenging them to walk away from it. Relationships is one of the key themes in the throughout the play that helped fully establish the theme apartheid. As Hally is dejected and depressed from a very early age as a result of his alcoholic father, he grew to become close with Sam and Willie, However, even though he sees them as friends, as he has already been psychologically and culturally conditioned to behave in a way that white people are more superior to black people, he still demands them to call him Master. This is shown when Hally tells Sam, Why dont you also start calling me Master Harold, like Willie. Through this, we can see that at such a young age, he has already been influenced by the society and his father on how to look at the world. The dialogues in the play suggest that Hally, Sam and Willie have a very casual relationship despite the huge age between Hally and the two servants. Hally and Sam have a father and son relationship where Hally educates Sam knowledge from textbooks while Sam teaches him essential life lesson. The conflict between Hally and his father is what opens the door for Sam to act as a father figure to Hally as he wants him to grow up and become better than his father. Therefore, Samn made a kite for Hally so that he could finally look up to, be proud of something, and himself The symbolism of the flying kite is used to emphasize harmony and an end to apartheid. To Hally, the kite only served to signify happiness and pride as it finally gave him something to look up to from being depressed and ashamed of his tyrannical father as he would sometimes ask Sam to please help him go fetch his Dad after he was drunk on the floor at an hotel bar. The whites only bench also acts as a symbol of apartheid, which Hally hides behind and uses it in his defense against Samn and Willie. After being spat on, Sam said with hope, You dont have to sit up there by yourself. You know what that bench means now, and you can leave it anytime you choose. All youve got to do is stand up and walk away from it. Hally then had to choose between continuing to follow societys steps and walking away from racism. Sam then asked, Should we try again? Fly another kite. Where Hally responded, Its still raining. You cant fly kites on rainy days. This suggests that Sam is willing to give their relationship another chance, however, Hally was not ready to accept this challenge yet, nor was he ready to go against the society. The concept of walking away may seem simple, however to actually do it, is challenging.