The play Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard is set in a small teahouse in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The show begins with Sam and Willie, two black servers at the restaurant cleaning and talking about an upcoming ballroom dancing tournament. Hally, a white teenager whose parents own the restaurant, walks in after returning from school and begins a conversation with Sam and Willie. In the space of only about an hour and a half, Sam, Willie and Hally get a little glimpse of a big problem. Through memories of the past they talk about the differences between blacks and whites from education, to employment, to general segregation and the relationships blacks and whites have with each other. In the play, Sam and Willie play servants who work in a restaurant. owned by Hally's parents. They have low-level jobs and are not paid much. They are ordered to do just about everything, from cleaning floors to serving food. While Hally's parents sit back and reap all the profits, Sam and Willie work hard to barely get paid. Hally and Sam later discuss the Jubilee House, which was a boarding house that Hally's parents owned. Hally describes Jubilee House as the not-best time of her life. Sam and Willie were also servants at Jubilee House and lived in the servants' quarters, which were separate from the guest house. After Hally gets home from school, Sam takes a look at some of his books and asks him questions about what he's studying. he neither understands nor knows. They continue to argue about "Men of Greatness" trying to agree on someone who they both think has made an important contribution to the world. After suggesting several names, Sam and Hally finally agree that Sir Alexander Fleming, the inventor/discoverer of penicillin, is a man of greatness who did something to benefit the world. Sam is very motivated to learn but has never had the opportunity because he is black and the education system for blacks is much poorer than that for whites. For years, when Hally was in school, Sam would peek at his books or ask him questions about what he was learning. Sam is very motivated to learn and since he never had the opportunity to go to school, he had to learn second hand from what Hally was learning.