Question

Which of these examples shows contradictions in the character of Hally in "Master Harold". . . and the Boys?

Answer 1

Hally is friendly with Willie and Sam but then demands they call him Master Harold.

Answer 2

The correct answer should be “Hally is friendly with Willie and Sam but then demands they call him Master Harold”. 

Let’s keep in mind that the play is set in a racist, post-WWII South Africa, in which ruled the ‘white-only’ policy. Harold “Hally” is a 17-year-old teenage boy who lives with a drunken father, who is a veteran, and a mother who does not have the strength to stand up to her husband. Both his parents are racist, and so he’s been taught. But Hally builds a sort of friendship with the two black servants, Willie and Sam, although this friendship id hidden by the distance that had to be kept between master and servant.