Post date: Oct 15, 2009 7:42:56 PM
For Monday 10/19: COMPLETE FIRST draft of KKT essay is due in typed hard copy to be reviewed in class; “COMPLETE” means all body paragraphs, intro and conclusion, all textual support and all page references.
For Tuesday, 10/20: REVISION based on Monday’s work is due; hard copy must be brought to class
For Wednesday, October 21: work on FINAL draft of essay; use the Expectations for 10th Grade Analytical Essay handout to prepare final copy; make sure you have an Acknowledgments page
For Thursday, October 22: FINAL COMPLETE ESSAY is due; also bring in your copy of Master Harold...and the Boys
For Friday, October 23: begin reading MH; you should have finished the reading by Thursday, October 29; COME TO LUNCH IN ROOM 18 TO WATCH FILM;
Monday, October 26: written response to movie is due; response should include “What struck you most?” and your response to the question how does the film enhance/enrich your understanding of the novel and vice versa?
Tuesday, October 27: write list of points of comparison and contrast between film and novel; that is, how are the two similar? how are the two different?
For Thursday, October 29 finish MH; write answers to reading guide questions 2, 3, and 4
Reading Guide for Master Harold...and the Boys
“Master Harold” ...and the boys
The play takes place in 1950, the year in which many laws were passed in South Africa to ensure racial segregation. Some of these laws were: the Population Registration Act, which mandated the classification of each individual's ethnic identity; the Group Areas Act, which designated specific zones where people of color could live and work; the Immorality Act, under which fraternization across racial lines was illegal; intermarriage and sexual contact between the races were banned. All public facilities were segregated: transportation, parks, elevators, restaurants, hotels, theaters, schools and universities, and government offices. Under these laws, 30 million blacks were ruled by 5 million whites. Brute force was used routinely to suppress political opposition and to imprison dissidents.
The play is only 43 pages. It has no breaks or intermissions. The rising tension in the play is best felt and understood if the play is read in one sitting.
Questions: As you read, keep notes on the answers to these questions. Be sure you read the stage directions for a character’s physical movements.
1. How would you characterize Hally as we see him in the beginning of the play?
2. List details in the play which suggest Hally and Sam’s relationship is like father-son.
3. List details in the play which suggest Hally and Sam’s relationship is master-servant. For example, when Hally enters, the stage directions tell us Sam fetches a towel for him to dry his hair.
4. How does the play make us and keep us aware that Hally and Sam’s relationship is within a larger social context of white supremacy? List specific details.
5. How do the two calls Hally receives help us to understand his relationship to his parents?
6. How would the play be different without Willie?
7. What does the detail about Willy’s beating Hilda suggest about the larger world of the play?
8. Explain what Hally means: “It’s just that life felt the right size in there...not too big or too small. Wasn’t so hard to work up a bit of courage. It’s got so bloody complicated since then.”
9. The controlling metaphor of the play is dance: “Like being in a dream about a world in which accidents don’t happen.” Keep track of what the characters say about dance. How does the metaphor support/underscore/enhance the action of the play?
10. Why does Sam not react with violence to Hally’s insult?
11. What does Sam mean when he says to Hally: “If you’re not careful...Master Harold...you’re going to be sitting up there by yourself for a long time to come, and there won’t be a kite in the sky?”
12. How would you characterize Hally as we see him at the end of the play?
13. Is the play’s ending hopeful? Pessimistic? Cynical? How would you describe the state of the characters at the end?
14. What is the significance of the title?
15. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of the play’s focus on just three characters and a single setting?