Master Harold... And the Boys Lesson Plan

What is ironic about Hally’s distaste for South African police procedure?

It is ironic that Hally disapproves of the tactics of the South African police when these are the people charged with enforcing apartheid, a system Hally is complicit in. Although he finds the police procedure barbaric, Hally does not condemn the system that allows the police to use such punishments on black bodies. To use a cliché, Hally wants to have his cake and eat it too, meaning on one hand he criticizes aspects of apartheid but on the other he says nothing explicitly against it. Nuanced student answers will point out that Hally’s age may make him myopic with regards to seeing the deeper...