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“Master Harold” and the Boys… by Athol Fugard

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“Master Harold” and the Boys… by Athol Fugard

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Morally ambiguous characters – characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or  purely good – are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a  pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her  moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

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In “Master Harold” and the Boys…, a play written by Athol Fugard, Hally is not purely evil or purely good as he makes extremely racist remarks to damage Sam and Willie, but is also uninformed about the severity of racism in the society he lives in. This pushes the main idea of the work that people are the product of their environment.

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Hally is 17 and wasn’t taught much about the racism in society. Under an apartheid system, schools primarily taught white children and never acknowledged the oppression for black people. As a result, Hally isn’t educated on the matter and says ignorant things without knowing.

Hally’s parents address Sam and Willie as servants and treat them with little respect, which influences Hally into thinking that he can do the same, especially when he is angry at Sam trying to reason with him. This makes his character complex in the sense that he isn’t necessarily bad, as he’s ignorant and influenced by his environment, but he also isn’t good, as he is oppressing his friends and needs to be taught better.

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Prompt:
Morally ambiguous characters – characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or  purely good – are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a  pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her  moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

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In Frankenstein, a novel written by Mary Shelley, the creature is a complex character that garners sympathy from the audience with his suffering, while also projecting his pain onto Victor, the main protagonist, and using it as a drive to make sure his creator is never happy. This makes it hard to label him as purely good or purely evil, and pushes the main idea of the novel that evil is taught, as the monster wasn’t inherently a bad person, but rather grew up this way from the way others treated him.

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The monster initially cared for his creator, Victor, showing that he had feelings, but later felt spiteful and took it upon himself to make Victor unhappy by killing his family.

Furthermore, at the end of the work, despite doing all that he did, the creature feels pain at Victor’s loss as he always cared for him, showing that his actions were as a reaction to his abandonment rather than his own desire and creates confusion as to where he truly stood between good and evil.

While watching and learning from the DeLaceys, the creature cared deeply about these people, as shown by the fact that he was in pain from their rejection, but then as a result, he burns down the cottage and runs away.

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Prompt: One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” But Emily Dickinson wrote

Much madness is divinest Sense—

To a discerning Eye—

Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.” Select a novel or play in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

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In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Victor in his struggles with guilt and regret towards the creation of the Creature falls into a state of madness exhibited through motifs of illness and obsession which highlights the central theme of taking responsibility for your actions

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Paragraph 1: Illness

Whenever something causes him to become exceptionally guilty, he becomes ill. The illness allows him to temporarily escape from any responsibility he has and also to talk about his guilt, soothing his conscience.

Evidence: When Victor fell ill after the Creature comes to life and he falls ill

Support: His irrational response to the creation of the monster shows Victors immediate regret (irrational behavior), he was ill for two months and shows the extent of his guilt.

As his guilt reveals itself as illness, his friends and family perceived it as madness.

Evidence: Victor and his family take a journey to the French Alps in order to recover from the tough loss of both William and Justine, which Victor completely blames himself for, and grieves through the entire chapter.

Support:  Once again Victor falls ill as a result of his guilt, a guilt that eats him alive as no one around him knows what he has caused. Thus from the outside perspective he is viewed as ill.

Paragraph 2: Obsession

The novel begins with Victors obsession/ determination  to create the creature, paying no mind the what his creation my cause - crossing the line of insanity

Evidence:  Victor spent two years in Ingolstadt completely devoted to the creation of the monster and not once thinking of anything else

-  Support: The lack of attention to anything else, ignoring his family and friends, inevitably led to the death of some of his family. His obsession came be deemed as insanity

- Evidence: The night of his wedding, Victor prepares for an attack from the monster, but upon hearing Elizabeth scream, he realizes that the monster never meant to attack him, and his wife dies, followed by his father a few days later. Victor confesses to others the person behind the murders, but he is not believed, and swears he will destroy the monster.

- Support:  Victor began to be at a consistent alertness and paranoia after the Monster said he would regret not making him a partner. His obsession consumed him so much that everything he did was in anticipation of the monster's response.

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Prompt: Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the  author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize  the plot.

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Thesis: The Color Purple by Alice Walker contains topics such as sexuality and segregation through the point of view of a black woman in the early 1900’s. A depressing tone and motifs are utilized to touch on the hardships that people of color went through in the past, ultimately to explore social issues that groups of people had to face in history.

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For my first reason, I would touch on the depressing tone throughout the book. The Color Purple is full of sensitive and depressing topics (like rape, abuse, etc.) Bringing up the depressing tone within the novel helps the reader get a better understanding of how the social issues we learn about in class were real events that negatively affected many people's lives. For evidence, I would bring up the story of Squeak (Harpo’s significant other) getting raped for trying to request for Sofia (Harpo’s ex wife) to be taken out of jail and turned into a maid because she was put in jail for standing up for herself against the Mayor’s, wife Miss Millie, being racist towards her. Because Squeak is biracial, she was raped by a white family member who had a leaerhsip position within the justuice system that imprisoned Sofia. She did not deserve this treatment, but because she is black, she was brutally raped. This depressing tone is used to touch on these horrible social issues black people faced and still face today.

For my second reason, I would touch on motifs in the novel. The Color Purple is organized in letters, where the protagonist is writing letters to God. I noticed that the motifs in this book are these letters. The letters helped Celie express herself and a way to grieve due to the negative things that would happen to her like getting raped and being abused in many ways. I would use the letters she writes to God as a way to touch on the hardships that people of color went through in the past because it was a coping mechanism for Celie to feel better.