Analysis Of The Piano Lesson

1156 Words3 Pages

The Great Migration and The Piano Lesson
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is taking place in Pittsburg because many Blacks travelled North to escape poverty and racial judgment in the South. This rapid mass movement in history is known as The Great migration. The migration meant African Americans are leaving behind what had always been their economic and social base in America, and having to find a new one. The main characters in this play are Berniece and Boy Willie who are siblings fighting over a piano that they value in different ways. Berniece wants to have it for sentimental reasons, while Boy Willie wants it so he can sell it and buy land. The piano teaches many lessons about the effects of separation, migration, and the reunion of …show more content…

In the Piano Lesson the main symbol is the piano in Berniece’s home. The piano has a lot of meaning behind it and has been through a lot. This piano has made it all the way from the South to the North, which wasn’t easy. Berniece brought the piano miles from where it was because it meant so much to her. The carvings on this piano are magnificent they represent all of her ancestors. The blood and sweat that were put into making this piano means so much more than just something you play is amazing: “ Willie Boy carved all this. He got a picture of his mama… Mamma Esther… and his daddy, Boy Charles. He got all kinds of things that happened with our family” (1183). Instead of carving what Sutter asked he made the whole piano about the history of his family. After the carving was done, the piano became a monument to his family’s …show more content…

Doaker states, “ it was the story of our whole family and as long as Sutter had it … he had us” (1167). As long as Sutter had the piano, they felt he owned the whole family. What her family did to take that piano was something that could cost them their lives but that didn’t stop them. All Boy Charles, Doaker, and Wining Boy wanted was to get the piano back to the place it belonged and that was staying in their family. This piano wasn’t a regular piano, it has so much meaning for example the carvings on this piano are pictures of their ancestors and each picture has a story behind it that’s why Berniece is holding onto it so tight and doesn’t want it to be sold off. The history behind this piano is something that can’t be replaced you must treasure it

Show More
Related

  • Berniece, Boy Willie And Doaker: An Analysis

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    The piano represents itself as something different for everyone. For Berniece, it exists as an artifact to speak with her ancestors. For Boy Willie, it acts as a piece of property he can sell to get more money, no matter how much it means to the family. And to Doaker, it stands as just a piano that has a good and bad effect on the family, until the end where the ghost of Sutter leaves them for

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Boy Willie In The Piano Lesson

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    Surprisingly, this novel ends with Boy Willie and Lymon going back to Mississippi without selling the piano. Finally, Boy Willie closes by telling Berniece that if she doesn’t keep playing on the piano, he and Sutter would both be back. In saying this, Boy Willie means that if they don’t keep their inheritance close to their heart, unfavorable events could begin happening once

    Read More

  • Comparative Analysis of Berniece and Boy Willie

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Piano Lesson written by August Wilson is a work that struggles to suggest how best African Americans can handle their heritage and how they can best put their history to use. This problem is important to the development of theme throughout the work and is fueled by the two key players of the drama: Berniece and Boy Willie. These siblings, who begin with opposing views on what to do with a precious family heirloom, although both protagonists in the drama, serve akin to foils of one another. Their similarities and differences help the audience to understand each individual more fully and to comprehend the theme that one must find balance between deserting and preserving the past in order to pursue the future, that both too greatly honoring or too greatly guarding the past can ruin opportunities in the present and the future.

    Read More

  • Analysis of A Lesson Before Dying

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    Grant Wiggins is the narrator of the novel. He was born in the plantation just outside of Bayonne, Louisiana. He lived there until he went away to college, and when he went back home, he was detached from the people in the town because of his education and different religious beliefs. He is easily angered and often very selfish. This is seen in the way that he acts towards Vivian. He consistently does not give her the attention or respect that she deserves. He refers to her children as simply, “the babies,” and only cares about the names of his and Vivian’s future children. Grant goes from shallow and selfish at the beginning of the story, to caring and loving at the end.

    Read More

  • Piano Lesson

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, his desire conflicts with the racial situation during the time of the play. The play is set during a time when blacks were primarily slaves and considered property. They also didn't own any property. His belief that he is of equal standing with a white man could probably be traced to his lineage with the piano. The piano had symbolized his ancestors since the piano has been around during his grandfather's ...

    Read More

  • Women In The Piano Lesson

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout history women assumed subordination is a constant theme; although in the 1930s and 1920s America this changed. The Twenties brought on woman’s suffrage while the Thirties saw and encouraged a more progressive in women. August Wilson writer of The Piano Lesson supported women’s press towards equality and expressed this in the play. The Piano Lesson follows the Charles family and their heirloom, a piano with carvings of their once enslaved family. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to purchase land where the Charles family labored as slaves for the family of a man named Sutter, who has died. Bernice, Boy Willie’s sister refuses to let him sell it. Sutter’s ghost, the main antagonist terrorizes the family as his spirit wants the piano

    Read More

  • Quotes From The Piano Lesson

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this play, The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, readers can see Berniece struggle to accept the piano’s prime significance and traumatic past which it represents. In Berniece’s case, she ultimately struggles to accept what the piano represents, her family's ties to it and the stories behind the piano itself, it’s in her home, but she can barely look at it and has not touched it since her mother has passed. Her daughter plays it, but does not know the piano’s significance to her family, with their ancestral past. Bernice does not want to let the piano go but, she doesn’t fully embrace it either, which causes her to not fully move on with her life. Berniece still has not fully forgiven Boy Willie, or gotten over the fact that Crawley is gone,

    Read More

  • The Piano Lesson

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, Berniece and Boy Willie are siblings who both want the piano that belongs to their family. Berniece wants to keep the piano because it holds their family history and it reminds her of the hard work her mother put into the piano. However, Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to buy land from Sutter’s brother because to him the land, like the piano, are both a part of his family’s history and both represent being free from Sutter. Both siblings fight over who has more rights to the piano and deserves it. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Berniece struggles with being able to embrace her past and acknowledge its importance. Which reveals that instead of hiding the past we should embrace it and let it help

    Read More

  • Symbolism in August Wilson's Piano Lesson

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Piano Lesson each central character learns a lesson. August Wilson uses plenty of symbolism throughout his play, the strongest symbol being the piano itself, representing the family's history, their long struggle, and their burden of their race. Throughout the play, the conflict revolves around the piano, and Berniece and Boy Willie's contrasting views about its significance and about what should be done with it. Berniece is ashamed and cannot let go of the past, or the piano, and Boy Willie wants to move his life forward, and use the piano to do so. Wilson portrays the 'lesson' of the piano as accepting and respecting one's past and moving on with one's life gracefully, through Berniece and Boy Willies contrasting actions and the play's climactic resolution.

    Read More

  • Analysis: The Piano Lesson by August Wilson

    1745 Words  | 4 Pages

    August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, tells a story of a family haunted by the pain of their past and their struggle to find peace to move forward. The story begins with character Boy Willie coming up from the south visiting his sister Bernice. Boy Willie introduces the idea of selling the family’s heirloom, a piano, to raise enough money to buy the land on which his ancestors were enslaved. However, both Boy Willie and his sister Berniece own half a half of the piano and she refuses to let Boy Willie sell it. Through the use of symbolism, Wilson uses his characters, the piano and the family’s situation to provide his intended audience with the lesson of exorcising our past in order to move forward in our lives. Our past will always be a part of our lives, but it does not limit or determine where we can go, what we can do, or who we can become.

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationship in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    As the story unfolds, Tan suggests that the piano symbolizes different things. For Ni Kan, it is the unwanted pressure her mother inflicts upon. She argues, “Why don’t you like me the way I am? I’m not a genius! I can’t play the piano” (751). However, her mother sees it as a way for her daughter to become the best. Ultimately, the young girl decides to rebel against her mother’s wishes. During her piano lessons with Mr. Chong, her piano teacher, she learns easy ways to get out of practicing. Ni Kan discovers “that Old Chong’s eyes were too slow to keep up with the wrong notes [she] was playing” (751). As a result, Ni Kan performs miserably in a talent show where her parents and friends from the Joy Luck Club attend. Feeling the disapproval and shame from her mother, she decides to stop practicing the piano.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Racism In The Piano Lesson

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” This was a dream of a young man, who was a victim of racism, and that man was known as Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout history stereotyping and bigotry (intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself) has been rampant. During the Great Depression the racial segregation was evident within the African-American community because of their dark complexion. Racism towards African-American consists mostly of slavery. A text that illustrates such discrimination is August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson”. “The Piano Lesson” is a play that is set in the year 1963 in Pittsburgh. The play is about a brother and sister who have two different thoughts about a piano. Boy Willie (brother) wants to sell the piano for land and Berniece (sister) on the other hand wants to keep the piano since it hold their history of slavery. Throughout the text of “The Piano Lesson” Wilson portrays racist stereotypes through various symbols, characters and conflicts that were built in the play.

    Read More

  • Free College Essays - The Piano Lesson

    538 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you ever have one of those days when you remember your parents taking away all of your baseball cards or all of your comic books because you got a bad grade in one of your classes?  You feel a little depressed and your priced possession has been stolen.  This event is the same as August Wilson’s, The Piano Lesson.  The story is about a sibling rivalry, Boy Willie Charles against Berniece Charles, regarding an antique, family inherited piano.  Boy Willie wants to sell the piano in order to buy the same Mississippi land that his family had worked as slaves.  However, Berniece, who has the piano, declines Boy Willie’s request to sell the piano because it is a reminder of the history that is their family heritage.  She believes that the piano is more consequential than “hard cash” Boy Willie wants.  Based on this idea, one might consider that Berniece is more ethical than Boy Willie.

    Read More

  • The Piano Lesson Play Analysis

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play, The Piano Lesson, music played an important role. The piano in the play represented the African American history and culture. The ghost of Sutter represented the pain and trauma that had been endured throughout the generations in the Charles family. Berniece did not play the piano because she associated it with pain and the bad things that happened to her family members. She did not want to accept the things that had happened in her family’s past. She thought that she could deny everything and act like it never happened. She believed if she continued to run from everything and everybody that the pain would go away. Berniece was burdened and haunted by the ghost of Sutter until she gave in and played the piano after all of those years. After playing the piano, Berniece was no longer burdened or haunted by the past. She was free from all of the denial. She escaped the pain through the music and reflecting on the carvings on the piano, which represented her heritage. Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie, told her “Berniece, if you and Maretha don’t keep playing on that piano… ain’t no telling… me and Sutter both liable to be back” (Wilson 108). By saying that, he meant that if she did not allow her daughter to continue playing the piano and learning about her culture that she would end up going through the same things that Berniece had gone through. Music has a huge impact on the African American culture in several ways and many things about the past can be learned through it.

    Read More

  • Transformative Power Of Classical Music Analysis

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    He used the simplest and most realistic example of how it sounds when a child plays piano at the age of seven and then how the impulses reduced and he started playing better each year with continuous practice and then how

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Piano Lesson

Open Document