57 Characters Sam Sam is a black South African waiter working in St. George’s Park Tea Room who befriends Hally. Recognizing the pain and embarassment Hally’s father has caused young Hally, Sam has spent a great deal of time with him in an attempt to strengthen the boy’s faith in himself, and to separate Hally’s father’s faults from Hally’s own sense of identity.  Sam functions simultaneously as Hally’s friend,father, servant, teacher and student.  While Hally might be conflicted over his regard for Sam as a friend, father figure and servant, Sam is always aware of his actual status in society as a servant.  He cares deeply for Hally but knows that he does not take the place of his actual family.  This knowledge comes out of the racial discrimination of the time, but also out of Sam’s respect for family in spite of Hally’s parents’ imperfections.  However, when Hally disrespects his bond with Sam by adopting the racism of his father, Sam is not immune to feelings of betrayal.  While they both try to reconcile at the end, it is ultimately Sam’s age and experience with society’s racism that exceeds Hally’s understanding of why they can’t return to the way things were. Willie Willie, a black South African waiter at St. George’s Park Tea Room, spends much of his time practicing for an upcoming ballroom dance competition. In “MASTER HAROLD”...and the boys, dancing serves as a metaphor for a perfect society unavailable to any of the three characters in the play--a world in which people cannot hurt or abuse one another. Ironically, Willieuses his girlfriend’s inability to keep time while dancing as an excuse to beat her.  The seriousness with which he approaches his study of danceandinstruction to his girlfriend signifies several things. Willie’s desire to win the competition reflects a need for ownership that he has been denied while in service of  Hally’s family.  The way he abuses his girlfriend Hilda reflects a cycle of abuse that the social and political climate has helped perpetuate.  Willie himself has been abused and he then takes out his own frustrations on Hilda. Willie also serves as a witness to the way Hally treats Sam at the end of the play.  Because their relationship shifts so dramatically, Willie’s presence serves as a reminder to them both that they can never go back to the way they were. Hally Hallyis a seventeen-year old white South African boy growing up in Port Elizabeth, SouthAfrica.  He spends his afternoons in his mother’s cafe, the St.George’s ParkTea Room, conversing withwaiters Sam and Willie. He has spent a great part of his youth with these men. Hally, whohaslacked a positive fatherly presence in his life, has looked to Sam to fill some of that role.  At the same time, Hally has had more education than the two men and performs the role of teacher when spending time with them. Hally’s attitude has likely been shaped by the South African society in which he lives, where black people are considered inferior to white people.   Because Hally relates to Sam and Willie in conflicting ways as both friend and employer, son and teacher, his behavior towards them is often erratic.  Hally struggles with his parents’ lack of involvement in his life and is also a poor student.  Desperate to regain a sense of control over his feelings toward his own father, Hally often lashes out at Sam and Willie. Hisdiscussions of what he learns in school help him maintain a sense of confidence in himself when hecan teach Samand Willie something that they don’t know.