Power As Hally example essay topic

The two plays, "MASTER HAROLD.".. and the boys, and Oleanna show us quite a bit about the impact of power on an individual's behavior. In other words they show how when an individual gains power or discovers that he or she has power over other people it can result in conflict. The conflict can be a result of the person who has discovered that they have power as Hally did in "MASTER HAROLD.".. and the boys. Or the conflict can be the result of someone who sees that another person has power and is jealous of that person the way that Carol was towards John in Oleanna. The thing that makes these two characters have two different kinds of power is in the way in which it was acquired. Hally seemed to think that he had some how acquired the power to be the master of Sam and Willie.

I do not put all of the blame on Hally because it was mostly due to his upbringing. He was born to a household that taught him to think that whites were better than blacks simply because of the color of their skin. An example of this is when Hally tells Sam about the joke that his dad tells". "It's not fair, is it, Hally?" Then I have to ask: "What, chum?" And then he says: "A nigger's arse.".. and we both have a good laugh". (1436). Hally's dad is obviously racist so unfortunately he was sort of brainwashed all through his childhood.

When Sam begins to get out of control Hally tries to use some of that power that he thinks he has over him. Fortunately Sam has spent a lot of time with Hally during his childhood so they have some good memories of each other. For example when they flew the kite together when Hally was just a little boy. Hally sat on the bench in the park but Sam had to leave because it was a white's only bench.

Hally did not realize this at the time because he was too young to understand it. When Sam and Hally were fighting Sam made him realize the fact that they used to be such pals even though their skin was different colors. They were equal in the eyes of young Hally. Sam was almost like a father figure to him. Power was not an issue between the two of them.

Hally probably thought that Sam was more powerful only because he was bigger than he was. John earned his power over Carol. He worked hard to get his education and to get to where he was. Carol is basically at the same place that John started out when he was her age. Carol is very jealous of the power that John has and seems to be willing to do anything to take it away.

In the beginning of the play I noticed that John really enjoys the power that he has. He was always talking about complex concepts and using big words that intimidated Carol because she did not know what they meant. I think he knew that he was doing this to her so in a way he kind of triggered her response to his power. I do not think John ever thought that he had power over anybody because he was a man or because he was white. He knew that his power came from the things that he had accomplished in the past. Carol suddenly did gain a lot of power in the play when she began to accuse John of treating her inappropriately in his office.

The truth was that she disagreed with him and felt so strongly that he was wrong that she was willing to ruin his career and eventually more than that after pretty much driving him insane with her accusations and emphasis on political correctness. She was able to take the things that had actually happened, which were intended to help her, and make them sound like bad things. Such as when he put his hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her she turned that into some kind of sexual advance. He offered to give her an A in his course and give her special tutoring sessions in his office to help her better understand the material and she made that sound like he was asking for sexual favors in exchange for an A in the course. Most of all when he made the mistake of grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her down into the chair she accused him of attempting to rape her. What made all of these things worse was that she actually believed that they were true.

I think that she spoke with her group after her first meeting with John and they made her realize the power that she had. This power was not earned. It was made up in her mind and by others because she was jealous of John's power. In order for a person to have power it has to be earned. Power is not just simply being better than someone else. You cannot have power over somebody just because your skin is a different color or because you think that your gender is better than his or hers.

You have to work at it. Anybody can have power if they are willing to work at it.