Piano Lesson August Wilson Analysis

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To start with the introduction part, the author did a pretty good job of setting up the essay by laying out the issue that August Wilson tends to address in his play The Piano Lesson, the themes Wilson used to achieve his intentions, and the thesis of this essay - in The Piano Lesson, Wilson illustrates the importance of embracing one’s past, generational struggle and trauma in order to inform the present and one’s self-identity in a modernizing world. Moreover, I appreciate how the author started the essay in a way that attracts the reader’s interest by providing us with some useful background information of August Wilson. The only thing that the author left out is a clear plan of development of the essay. I believe it would be beneficial …show more content…

It starts with the sibling feud between Berniece and Boy Willie. The author discussed the premise of the play and the fundamental difference between Berniece’s and Boy Willie’s interpretation of their role in continuing the family legacy. Then, she moved on talking about the notion of enslavement, the gendered portrayal of reactions to legacy and memory, and lieux de mémoire. Eventually, she transmitted it to the second subtopic, which is music in Wilson’s image of African American identity and heritage. I see the author’s effort of creating a clear trajectory from discussion of the sibling feud to discussion of music, but I think the transition is quite too long, which seems to be a bit distractive. In my opinion, the author can integrate the discussion of those important themes into the discussion of the two main subtopics, so the essay can be more structural. To introduce each subtopic in paragraphs, the author effectively used transitional sentences, and each paragraph provides specific arguments, examples, or illustrations supporting the main idea of the

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