The play The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, describes the life of an African American family in Pittsburgh throughout the 1930s. Two siblings, Bernice and Boy Willie continuously fight about what to do with a piano that has been in their family for a long time. The piano has a connection between Berniece’s family and their ancestors. Despite this spiritual bond, the play also describes an average African American life in the 1930s. It explains simple activities such as occupations to the more serious events like Parchman Farm. Although legacy is a repeated idea in The Piano Lesson, August Wilson’s descriptive details of typical African American life and struggles found both in the northern and southern states during the 1930’s play a pivotal role in this work of literature. Events and jobs of the characters in The Piano Lesson set a basic idea of African American life in Pittsburgh. Doaker Whining Boy’s brother …show more content…
For example, the occupations they have are still low pay, and have a common similarity- they are jobs that serve others. Wilson also stresses the importance of money throughout the play. Boy Willie is on a mission to get enough money to buy Sutter’s land, which is why he is so motivated to sell the piano. Avery also has to request a loan from the bank so he has enough money to buy a separate building for his church. Whining Boy, a self-acclaimed musician always asks to borrow money from his family members, even though he makes a big deal about the money he has. Wilson describes the present inequality of races through Berniece’s comment to Maretha. She says “‘Don’t be going down there showing your color’”(27). Berniece was afraid if Maretha acts out in any way, there would be serious repercussions. Despite their freedom from slavery, Wilson accurately represents the struggles Northern African Americans faced throughout the
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
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.
Then, in the play, Wilson looks at the unpleasant expense and widespread meanings of the violent urban environment in which numerous African Americans existed th...
The conflict in this story can be seen when the main character fights with the two men who have come onto the stage to get the bingo wheel controller away from him. This conflict is not only symbolic of his life, but also the struggle of African Americans, during the 1930’s and 1940’s, to gain control of their lives when they...
One of the main characters that is mentioned in the play The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is a woman named Berniece Charles. She has been a widow for three years and she has a daughter named Maretha Charles. Berniece works on her own to take care of her small family in the town of Pittsburgh. The main discussion in the play is the argument over the families’ piano with her brother, Boy Willie Charles. Berniece shows readers her different attitudes throughout the play about how her family piano makes her feel in a negative way, how it makes her feel in a positive way, and what the piano really means to her on a personal level.
Alan Nadel argues that the object of the fence in August Wilson’s play, “Fences” symbolizes a great struggle between the literal and figurative definitions of humanity and blackness. The author summarizes the play and uses the character Troy to explain the characterization of black abilities, such as Troy’s baseball talents, as “metaphoric,” which does not enable Troy to play in the white leagues as the period is set during segregation (Nadel 92). The author is trying to use the characters from the play as examples of black people during the segregation years to show how people of that time considered black people not as literal entities and more like figurative caricatures. Stating that these individuals were considered to be in a kind of limbo between human and object. Nadel’s thesis is easy to spot, and is actually pointed out directly on page 88 of the text. It reads that August Wilson’s play actually investigates the position of black persons as the metaphorical “fence” between humanity and property, arguing that the effects of this situation interacts within the “context of white [America]” so that a wider range of people are able to view the internal struggles of the black community.
A Lesson Before Dying is set in rural Louisiana in the 1940’s. The setting is ripe for the racism displayed in the novel. Ernest J. Gaines weaves an intricate web of human connections, using the character growth of Grant Wiggins and Jefferson to subtly expose the effect people have on one another (Poston A1). Each and every character along the way shows some inkling of being a racist. However, Paul is an exception. He treats everyone as if he or she is equal to him whether the person is black or white. In A Lesson Before Dying, author Ernest J. Gaines displays the different levels of racism during the 1940’s through his use of characterization.
In order to avenge his father’s death, he decides to convince his sister (Berniece) to sell the piano, which has marks of their family history drawn on it, and buy the land of the plantation owner for himself. As Boy Willie states, “Sutter’s brother selling the land. He say he gonna sell it to me… I got one part of it. Sell them watermelons and get me another part. Get Berniece to sell the piano and I’ll have the third part” (9). Boy Willie does not hesitate to gather the items needed in order to buy the land, which demonstrates his view of the items, including the piano, as vehicles towards attaining his ultimate goal of ownership over tangible objects. One of the items, watermelons, once stood for a symbol of freedom in the community during the time of slavery. The watermelon stereotype became associated with free blacks, who have the ability to own land almost as easily as the white man. Wilson possibly uses this fruit as a symbol of Boy Willie’s quest for freedom from his family’s bonds of slavery and start as an equal. He also tries to
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
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
When first reading August Wilson's The Piano Lesson it is very easy to zero in on the topic of racism. However I believe that is not the only major theme that exists in this text. I do believe that the issue of sex and gender roles is an underlying issue that is just as important to the play as the race issue is.
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.
In the play Boy Willie wants to sell the piano in order to buy the land the family was once slaves on. Boy Willie claims that “If my daddy had seen where he could have traded that piano in for some land of his own, it wouldn’t be sitting up here now. He spent his whole life farming on somebody else’s land. I ain’t gonna do that.” (Act 1, Scene 2). Boy Willie is looking at his family past as slaves and wants to buy the land in order to show that he’s creating a better future by selling the piano. On the other hand, his sister Berniece wants to keep the piano to keep the piano to remember the memories of her family in order to create her better future. Beatrice in Act 1, Scene 2 states, “Money can’t buy what that piano cost. You can’t sell your soul for money. It won’t go with the buyer. It’ll shrivel and shrink to know that you ain’t taken on to it. But it won’t go with the buyer”. Beatrice in this quote is stating how money won’t replace the memories that piano has. Beatrice uses the piano as a reminded of what her family went through and uses that to stay strong while being a single
The shackles of the white man chained African American’s social potential to the ground. As a result of the vast amount of social obstacles in the South, African Americans were socially inferior to white people and unable to make social progress. following the American Civil War, America has entered reconstruction and former African American slaves have been freed. The play The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, takes place during this time period. The Piano Lesson depicts the hardships that African Americans had to endure during the Jim Crow Era. Characters in the play, such as Lymon, experience some of the different types social struggles that most African Americans were faced with. Throughout August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson, African Americans have
The Piano Man’s Daughter is narrated by the protagonist, Charlie Killworth, and is about Charlie tracing back his mentally ill mother, Lily Killworth’s faded memory to find out who his father is. As Charlie continues his journey of finding his father, truths that have been hidden and ignored for multiple generations begin to get revealed. Through the story of Charlie’s family, Findley explores the importance of learning from mistakes of the past and how essential it is to pass that knowledge onto the next generation to improve the cycle of life.