The play is better understood if you have some knowledge of the world of apartheid in South Africa. Under apartheid (a word which means “apartness”) the white race was legally established as superior to the black race.
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.
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. Which details in the play suggest Hally and Sam’s relationship is like a father-son relationship?
3. Which details in the play suggest Hally and Sam’s relationship is master-servant? For example, when Hally enters (25) 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? Be specific about the details.
5. How do the two phone calls Hally receives help us to understand him and his relationship to his parents?
6. How does the character Willy function in the play? How would the play be different without him?
7. What does the detail about Willy’s beating Hilda suggest about the larger world of the play?
8. Explain what Hally mean when he says (41): 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.” Why? How? has it got so complicated. Have you ever had a feeling similar to Hally’s? When? What was the feeling? Write a response.
9. Major question: 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. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the play’s focusing on only three characters and a single setting?