thing I could really be convinced of regarding his relationship with his mother. Hally's dad is a deadbeat drunk of a father. His mother is either naive to this fact or unwilling to stand up to it. Hally even angrily explodes on the phone with her that there"is a lot of things you don't know about." He then explains to his mom how his dad tries to sneak and steal money from them to support his habit. Hally isn't making impassioned pleas to his mother to see his point. He's angrily yelling at her about how blind she is. That's not a respectful and loving way to address a mother.

HALLY. (To the telephone) . . . (Loudly) I said I hope you know what you've let us in for! It's the end of the peace and quiet we've been having.

Audiences never get to meet Hally's dad or mom. All we really get to see is Hally and Sam's relationship, and it becomes clear to audiences that Sam has been a great surrogate parent for Hally. Unfortunately, by the end of the play, Master Harold has burned that bridge too.

In Fugard's "MASTER HAROLD". . .and the boys, the relationship between Hally and his mother is weak and seemingly distant. The audience never meets Hally's mother as a present character--she is only referenced in the telephone conversations that Hally has with her while she is at the hospital with Hally's father. But when she calls, she asks Hally to look after his father, which Hally does not want to do. Hally says that his mother allows his father to push her around, and he cannot understand why his mother does not stand up to his father. Both Hally and his mother seem to cower in the shadow of the father, and each wants the other to "solve" the problem. They do not seem to see each other as a support in dealing with the father. Hally wants his mother to be strong so that she can protect him from his father, but his mother does not appear to be in a position to do that for Hally.

Let us start with Hally's relationship with his parents. He does not have much of a relationship with his parents.  Hally's relationship with his father is terrible.  That is mainly because Hally's father is a deadbeat and a drunk.  He is wealthy enough to have servants, but being wealthy does not automatically make someone a good parent.  The audience never actually get to see Hally's father.  We learn about him through his conversation with Sam and Willie as well as his phone conversations with his mother.  It's pretty clear to most audiences that Hally most definitely does not want his father home.  

Oh, well, I give up now. Why did you do it, Mom? . . . Well, I just hope you know what you've let us in for . . . [Loudly] I said I hope you know what you've let us in for! It's the end of the peace and quiet we've been having. [Softly.] Where is he?  [Normal voice.] He can't hear us from there. But for goodness sake, Mom, what happened? I told you to be firm with him . . . then you and the nurses should have held him down, taken his crutches away . . . I know only too well he's my father! . . . I'm not being disrespectful, but I'm sick and tired of emptying stinking chamberpots full of phlegm and urine. 

Hally wants his father to stay in the hospital.  His motivation is purely selfish.  He does not care if his father gets better in the hospital.  Hally wants his father there, so his father will not be at home.  There is zero relationship there.  

Hally's relationship with his mother is not that much better.  He might like her more than he likes his father, but he does not respect her that much more.  When it becomes clear to Hally that his mother is bringing his dad home, Hally speaks to his mother in a verbally abusive and disrespectful manner.  

Well, then, don't blame me when I fail my exams at the end of the year . . . Yes! How am I expected to be fresh for school when I spend half the night massaging his gammy leg? 

Sam, and his relationship with Hally, is the antithesis of Hally's relationship with his father.  It is easy to think that Hally and Sam are friends, but I do not think that this is the best description of their relationship.  The age gap is simply too large to think of Sam and Hally as friends; however, they are much more than servant and master.  The relationship is akin to how a father and son relationship should look.  Sam takes Hally out to fly kites, they banter and joke with each other, Sam helps Hally study for school, and the two debate about history and philosophy together.  Unfortunately, their relationship is destroyed forever by the end of the play.  Hally is so enraged that his father is coming home that he takes it out on Sam and Willie.  Hally becomes verbally abusive to Sam and insists that Sam call him "Master Harold."  Sam agrees to do this, but he makes sure that Hally knows that the relationship will be forever changed.  

Ja, well, you've done it . . . Master Harold. Yes, I'll start calling you that from now on. It won't be difficult anymore. You're hurt yourself, Master Harold. I saw it coming. I warned you, but you wouldn't listen. You've just hurt yourself bad. And you're a coward, master Harold. . . You don't know all of what you've just done . . . Master Harold. It's not just that you've made me feel dirtier than I've ever been in my life. . . 

Based on the conversations that Hally has with his mother over the telephone regarding is father's condition, the audience gathers that Hally has a strained, distant relationship with his parents.  It is apparent that Hally's father has a drinking problem, one likely brought on by his inability to properly cope with his physical disability.  Hally's mother does not stand up to his father, and instead she tries to appease Hally's father and to make him comfortable.  Hally appears to be ashamed of his father's lifestyle, and he is angry at his mother for "allowing" this to continue.  Sam recalls times when he took Hally out to play because the father was unable to do these things with Hally.  Sam serves as a father-figure in many ways for Hally--he tries to teach him the life lessons that his father is unable to teach him.  Near the end of the play, Sam reminds Hally of all these times and he makes Hally aware of the realities that he never noticed because he was too small (i.e. Sam not being able to sit on the bench with Hally because it was a "whites only" bench).  Sam wants to teach Hally to be a better man and to resist the injustices of their society.

Hally's at that difficult age where he's still in the process of growing up. As such, he's somewhat immature—constantly looking for ways to troll his teachers, whom he neither likes nor respects. At the same time, Hally's quite a reflective young man for his age and, unlike many people in apartheid-era South Africa, thinks a lot about the nature of race relations in this deeply-prejudiced society.

Far from making him idealistic, however, Hally's reflections make him bitter and cynical about the world. Such feelings are reinforced by Hally's withering contempt for authority figures: whether it's his alcoholic father, his teachers at school, or those in charge of running the country. Hally's cynicism holds him back from fully embracing his innate impulse toward social reform. He's also held back by his unthinking racist attitudes, which undercut any sympathy he may express for the repressed majority.

It's fair to say that Hally's far from being the finished article; he still has a lot of growing up to do. And the various ambiguities of his complex personality make it difficult to predict exactly what sort of man he'll end up as.

Hally has a negative relationship with his father, who is an amputee and relies on Hally to take care of him. Hally says during a phone call with his mother, "I'm not being disrespectful, but I'm sick and tired of emptying stinking chamberpots full of phlegm and [urine]." His father puts a heavy burden on Hally. Hally's father is also an alcoholic, and he steals money that Hally's mother gives him to buy liquor. Hally tells his mother that he's not going to be "the peacemaker" anymore, as he often intervenes between his parents when they are fighting. He tells her, "when the two of you start fighting again, I'm leaving home."

When Hally speaks with his father, he is not confrontational. He welcomes his father home from the hospital and refers to him as "chum," reminding him that there are some comic books for him at home. In Hally's relationship with his father, Hally is clearly the adult, and the father is the troublesome child. Hally is ashamed of his father, but he feels guilty about his shame and takes out his anger towards his father on Sam instead. 

Hope is an interesting concept and/or theme for this play. In general, I don't think this play is all that hopeful of a play; however, there are hopeful moments in the play. One such instance occurs right when Hally enters the scene. The stage directions tell readers that Sam begins doing the quickstep, and that he is a very accomplished dancer. Hally enters and applauds. He is very excited about Sam's actions, and it turns out that Sam has an upcoming competition. Both Sam and Hally seem excited and hopeful about Sam's chances in the competition.

HALLY: Think you stand a chance?

SAM: Let's just say I'm ready to go out there and dance.

HALLY: It looked like it. What about you, Willie?

This is an important, small exchange between Hally and Sam because it shows that Hally is capable of caring for somebody other than himself. By the end of the play, that isn't the case. Hally is so careless about anybody other than himself that he starts throwing around racial comments and demanding to be called Master Harold.

Shortly after the dancing part, readers get a very different kind of hope from Hally. The weather is bad, and he says that means he gets a quiet afternoon.

HALLY: [Gosh], what a lousy bloody day. It's coming down cats and dogs out there. Bad for business, chaps . . . [Conspiratorial whisper.] . . . but it also means we're in for a nice quiet afternoon.

SAM: You can speak loud. Your Mom's not here.

His mom isn't home either, and just for a moment readers believe that he is excited for some time alone at home with no parents. It's just Hally and his boys; however, Hally's hope becomes a bit tainted when readers realize that he is hopeful that his dad won't be coming home for a long time.

HALLY: [With conviction.] No! It can't be. They said he needed at least another three weeks of treatment. Sam's definitely made a mistake.

Hally's hope is that his dad is gone for a long time. This seems like a rather morbid hope, but it turns out that Hally's father is a terrible and abusive father. Hally genuinely hopes for minimal interaction with his father.

Despite Hally's warped relationship with his father, Hally remains an overall happy and upbeat kid around Sam. That changes when it is confirmed that his father will be coming home; however, Hally does show readers that he has a hopeful outlook on the world itself. This is shown to readers as Hally and Sam banter, tease each other, and study. At one point, Sam tells Hally about a physical form of punishment that still occurs. Sam doesn't hold back in his description, and Hally asks him to stop. Sam says it's the truth, and Hally admits that he hopes it won't always be that way.

HALLY: I've heard enough, Sam! . . . It's a bloody awful world when you come to think of it. People can be real cruel.

SAM: That's the way it is, Hally.

HALLY: It doesn't have to be that way. There is something called progress, you know. We don't exactly burn people at the stake anymore.

Sam is skeptical, and he forces Hally to explain a bit more. It's here that Hally openly admits to his hope in social reformers.

HALLY: [A world-weary sigh.] I know, I know! I oscillate between hope and despair for this world as well, Sam. But things will change, you wait and see. One day somebody is going to get up and give history a kick up the backside and get it going again.

SAM: Like who?

HALLY: [After thought.] They're called social reformers. Every age, Sam, has got its social reformer. My history book is full of them.

As with most people with a negative outlook on life, Hally's pessimism derives largely from his childhood experiences. For one thing, he's had the profound misfortune to grow up in a troubled home environment with a bitter alcoholic for a father. From an early age, he's also understood all too well the racist and repressive nature of South African society under apartheid. The world always seems so terribly unfair for most young adults, but Helly has an added reason for his disillusionment.

Helly has an ambiguous relationship to the society in which he lives, which complicates matters even further. On the one hand, he feels natural revulsion at the evils of apartheid. But on the other, he can't change the fact that he is a member of the ruling white elite, and as such enjoys certain privileges that keep him at a distance from those of a different race, however much he may sympathize with their plight. Caught between two worlds, and without much in the way of a stable identity, it's no wonder that Helly has such a negative outlook on life.

In MASTER HAROLD. . .and the Boys, Hally's negative outlook on the world largely has been informed by the poor relationship that he has with his father.  Growing up, Hally felt abandoned by his father whose alcohol abuse negatively colored his home life.  Hally did not have a stable father, so he looked to Sam to provide this stability for him.  And Sam did just that--he acted more like a father to Hally than Hally's own father did.  But Sam and Hally's relationship is complicated because the strict racial stratifications in South Africa prohibit an outwardly close relationship between Sam and Hally.  As a young boy, Hally did not really understand the distance that Sam was required to keep from him, and as Hally ages, he internalizes the feelings of superiority that the racial landscape of privilege affords him.  So Hally is particularly torn by the nature of relationships in his life.  As a result, he has a negative worldview.

The audience's impressions of Hally's father derive primarily from Hally himself, as his father does not have a speaking role in the play. When Hally receives a phone call from his mother, who is tending to Hally's father in the hospital, Hally's stressed response to the prospect of his father's return home tells the audience that Hally's father is a person Hally wishes to avoid.

The audience gathers that Hally's father drinks too much, perhaps as a way to cope with his physical disability as an amputee, and Hally struggles with his father's racist attitudes as well as his alcohol abuse and his bad treatment of Hally's mother. Hally's reaction to his father suggests that he does not enjoy a loving relationship with his father, who is overly distracted by his own problems; this can be a complicated experience for a boy whose father is disabled.

In "Master Harold". . .and the boys, Hally's father--quite frankly--is not a good man.  It is clear that Hally is glad to not have his father at home because when his mother first calls from the hospital, Hally gets very agitated by the mere notion that his father might be coming home.  One would expect that a child is happy that his father is coming home from the hospital, but Hally does not want him around, indicating that the father must be a bit despicable.  As the play continues, Hally reveals that his father is not kind to his mother (it seems that he controls her) and that he discriminates against black people (Hally says that his father does not like natives).  Near the end of the play, Hally tells Sam about the ugly joke that his father always tells him:  "It's not fair, Hally."  Hally's father degrades black people and expects that his son do the same.  So, Hally's father is characterized largely as a despicable man.