A Good Life

2. A good life means different thing to different people. Consider how good life is represented in at least two works studied.
Different people have many different ways to define good life, starting with their personality, their culture, family, and different factors that through a person´s life will be defined. The play “Master Harold…and the boys” by Athol Fugard, and the short story “TheGold Cadillac” by Mildred D. Taylor, demonstrates how different the meanings of good life are expressed. The main theme of both texts is discrimination towards black people, “The Gold Cadillac” is situated in North America during the time of the civil rights, expressing good life as a world without collisions, meanwhile, “Master Harold… and the boys” is during the apartheid, and shows good life asliberty. The characters in both texts have different meanings for a good life definition, but in the end, a good life for both of them is to live in a world without black discrimination, and finally in peace with each other.
In the play “Master Harold…and the boys”, good life is expressed as a world without collision. This is a one act play which takes place in South Africa. There are threemain characters, one of them is called Hally, who is a white boy with only 17 years, and is the son of the owner of the tea place (where the play is taking place) and there is Willie and Sam, they are about 40 years old, and they are black man who serve in the tea place. These three main characters explore throughout the play what racism and apartheid means. Although the servants are black, Hallytreats them equally, even like his family. The personalities of each character are revealed at the beginning of the play, and the reader gets to know their opinions too, which includes their perspective of a good life. There is a very symbolic act between Willie and Sam, and it is when they are practicing their ball dance on a rainy day. It is from here, that the concept of a world withoutcollisions appears. Sam is talking about making the right steps, of not stepping into other dancing, he doesn’t want anything bad to happen “a world were accidents don’t happen”, and he likes to appreciate dancing in different ways, but Hally has a different opinion, that is just for entertainment, and that “there’s more to life than trotting around a dancing floor”. These two different perspectives ofa ball dancing are not just their opinions on the actual dance, but it is how they have a different way of seeing life. The idea that Sam has of a good life is imaging a world where no one interferes with the other´s happiness, where there is no harm, his dream is that everyone can learn how to dance like champions. Another symbol that it is shown throughout the play is when Sam asks Hally whatwas his best memory, and Hally answered him when Sam taught him how to fly a kite. This is a symbol of hope, where the idea of black and white people working together is right, both looking up in the sky with no shame, just pure dignity. The play ends with a drastically change of mood of Hally, because of a telephone conversation that he had with his mother, and leads him to spit on Sam’s face anddemanding him to refer to him as Master Harold. The kite appears once again, giving Sam a chance to give a second chance to Hally, believing in the unity of black and white people, but Hally, rejects it. Sam’s idea of a good life revolves around a world without collision, and these scene demonstrates that Sam will never stop believing in his dreams, and being able to build an equal and fairplace to live.
In the “The Gold Cadillac” a good life meant liberty, talking about having the same opportunities between black and white people. It is set in North America, were the discrimination towards black people was very notorious and harsh. It is about a black family were the father, Wilbert, recently bought a new 1950 gold Cadillac, because he wanted to make a difference. Wilbert is a...