Character Analysis Of Doaker In August Wilson's The Piano Lesson

In the play “The Piano Lesson”, by August Wilson the character Doaker is a 47 year old man who lives in Pittsburgh with his niece, Berniece, and her daughter, Maretha. The main conflict in the first act of the play is whether or not they sell the piano. Berniece is against selling it and Boy Willie wants to sell it. Boy Willie does not understand why Berniece won’t sell the piano, but Doaker knows she never will. On pages 42-45, Doaker explains to Lymon why she would never sell the piano. He is explaining the story of how the piano came into their possession. He tells Lymon how it was originally Mr. Nolanders piano and he traded it for Doaker’s grandmother and father to Mr. Sutter, who wanted it as a gift for his wife. The wife soon missed Berniece and Boy Charles but Mr. Nolander wouldn’t trade them back.

So Mr.

Sutter had Boy Charles father, who was a very talented wood carver, carve a picture of Berniece and Boy Charles for Miss Ophelia (Sutters wife). Instead of carving just a picture of the both of them, he carved his entire family history. Boy Charles, Doakers brother, was always interested in the piano. Doaker says there would only be a couple of months in between each time he mentioned stealing the piano from the Sutters. He believed that as long as Sutter owned the piano, he would own their family as well because of the carvings. Boy Charles was killed getting this piano and that’s why the piano is so important to Berniece. After reading this speech I can tell that although Doaker does not have a very outgoing personality, he is a very observant person. He knows how important the piano is to Berniece and he knows she will never let go of the piano even if she no longer plays it herself. This isn’t the only time throughout the play he has mentioned it, every time Boy Willie mentions selling the piano Doaker sticks up for Berniece by telling Boy Willie she will never sell the old

piano.
To Doaker, the piano is more than just a piano. He believes, just like Boy Charles, that if someone else owns the piano it is basically saying that they own their family as well. All the carvings on the piano mean more the their family than it would to anyone else. No one else would be able to appreciate the piano like their family would. Although he never says it, I believe he doesn’t want Boy Willie to take the piano away either, but he also realizes that the piano belongs to him and Berniece because their father died to retrieve that piano.