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The milieu of this play is set in the mid 195(Yes in a small tearoom in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is centered on the lives of three main characters, a seventeen year old white boy called Hall and his two older African friends Sam and Willie. This play presents in detail the effects of apartheid and the ingrained detestation of a country separated by discrimination. Sam, long a victim of his ethnicity is confined to a life of judgment and unfairness, as were other African people at the time.
He tries to transcend the hatred and anger that has socially trapped him all the years of his life, he befriends Hall and becomes almost a father figure to him, stimulating the boys sense of security that his illogical parents neglect to show him. During the duration of the play Hall’s temperament swings back and forth but his outlook on life remains dull and sullen. Cursing his parents and not caring about school work shows the spectator that he is insecure and has a despondent attitude towards his life.
The only time in the play where he refers to being his happiest is when he was much younger and Sam built a kite for him, this hold significant meaning to him. “This is it, I thought. Like everything else in my life, here comes another fiasco. Then you shouted Go Hall! And I started to run. I don’t know how to describe it Sam. Jag! The miracle happened! I was running waiting for it to crash to the ground, but instead suddenly there was something alive behind me at the end of the string, tugging at it as if it wanted to be free.
I looked back… I still can’t believe my eyes. It was flying I was so proud of (Fudged. 1987 p. 23-24) The kite is a symbolic object of transcendence, to give Hall something to be proud of and to give him the perception of reaching a place beyond his insecurities. To Hall the kite means miracles can come true, it means being alive ND free. One may be confused then when Hall shows his true colors towards the end of the play, eventually being absorbed by the hatred passed down from his racist father.
After a phone call from his mother he snaps out of the memory he was dwelling in and realizes that life is just one misfortune after the next, or so he thinks. Hall’s hamster is when he turns on his closest friends mocking them for wanting to dance and be happy and eventually after a nasty verbal fight with Sam, Hall spits in his face. This is a heart wrenching act for that of Sam and Hall. Sam has now learnt that that even after all the years of fathering Hall, all the lessons and friendship, Hall has truly learnt nothing.
Sam warns Hall to not to carry on this way as it will not help him accomplish a happy life that he is ultimately searching for. Sam says… “If you are not careful Master Harold… Your going to be sitting up there for a long time to come, and there won’ be any kite in the sky. ” p. 47) (Fudged 1987 Another major incident in the play is when Hall demands that Sam “learn some respect” and start calling him Master Harold rather than Hall, at this point Hall moves their friendship altogether and Sam is seen as just another servant.
Sam chooses virtue over violence, he forgives Hall for acting like this and not knowing any better, acting like a man to try set an example for Hall. He tries to change what has happens and extents a hand to Hall),’ as a gesture of reconciliation, saying.. “You don’t have to sit up there by yourself’ (Fudged IPPP. 48) remembering Hall’s feelings of isolation when on the” whites only” bench by himself with the kite. “You know what that bench means now and you can leave it any time you choose. All you have to do is get up and walk away from Fudged 1987 p. 8) The invitation to walk away is an indication off past left behind, leave behind the anger and racism and become a moral adult. However this is not the case, Hall is trapped by the negative attitude adopted by the society he lives in and cannot break free to begin his journey to manhood. Daphne Kuhn from media update (http://www. Mediated. Co. AZ/default. Asps states that “The play has been described as one of the most personal, most powerful and most lyrical works ever written by Fudged, South Africans master dramatist.
The conflict is deeply moving. ” This is evident when eating the play the metaphorical language is powerful to say the least and the use of theatrical art is quite obvious because The simple yet effective set up of a small tea room is suddenly seen as microcosmic, it becomes a small representation of the world they live in, Hall representing the entire white population of South Africa and Sam and Willie representing the black population and their small life problems symbolizing problems of a much larger scale.
As such, it is evident that good does not conquer evil in this play and one learns that the impact on learnt responses and norms of a troubled society can stand fore that of friendship and loyalty in this case. One learns that one must look beyond the color of skin and judge people for who they are and not what they are. Declaration I, Lauren Brews, declare that this assignment is my own original work.