How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
HALLY. Like that time I barged in and caught you and Cynthia…at it. Remember? God, was I embarrassed! I didn't know what was going on at first.
SAM. Ja, that taught you a lesson.
HALLY. And about a lot more than knocking on doors, I'll have you know, and I don't mean geography either. (726-731)
Education doesn't have to be all books and calculators. There's also a real-life component that can teach much more than all the books in the world. Hally got his own private sex ed class when he walked in on Sam and Cynthia, another hint that maybe Sam has something to teach him about life after all.
Quote #8
SAM. All right, Hally, all right. What you got for homework?
HALLY. Bulls***, as usual. (Opens an exercise book and reads) "Write five hundred words describing an annual event of cultural or historical significance." [. . .] You know what he wants don't you? One of their useless old ceremonies. [. . .] And it's called religious hysteria. (Intense irritation) (1039-1054)
The assignment doesn't sound all bad to us, but then we love to write about gift exchanges and sporting matches. Hally's beef with the homework is that his teacher has a very narrow view of what can be considered significant. South African schools in 1950 were required to teach apartheid law to their students, so teachers wouldn't be very likely to spend time on black culture.
Quote #9
HALLY. (Sigh of defeat) Oh, well, so much for trying to give you a decent education. I've obviously achieved nothing. (1189-1191)
Did you hear that drip-drip-dripping sound? Yeah, that's the irony slathered all over Hally's statement, sliding off it and into your ears. He, an adolescent, is talking to a grown man as though he were his child, disappointed in the way he has turned out even after years of training. Oh, Hally. We're the disappointed ones.