Master Harold … and the Boys | Fugard's Characters

Button's article addresses the symbolism of Fugard's characters looking up and down—both visually and metaphorically through language— within the play. He uses several examples to illustrate the characters various states of optimism and pessimism.

Many writers have noted the conflict between idealism and reality in Athol Fugard's Master Harold... and the Boys. Dennis Walder, for example, describes a "gap between the ... harsh, even violent reality" that the play's characters endure, and the "ideal world imagined by Sam" with his "idea of dancing as a paradigm of universal harmony" [Athol Fugard, Macmillan, 1984]. Others have noted a second, closely related conflict: that between self-esteem and self-loathing Frank Rich observes, "Fugard's point is simple enough: before we can practice compassion ... we must...

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