Analysis Of The Piano Lesson By August Wilson

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

At the young age of seven, Duke’s musical career was beginning to show its head, his parents placed him into piano lessons. He did not too much care for music at the time and would have rather played sports. He later found out that he did not desire to play the piano, often missing most of his lessons, but later on he would come to realize he loved the instrument.  He did not know how to read music or write it

They intend to educate the reader about current situations, although Chopins piece wasa little subliminal, and took some deep thought at times, she was still writing about the everyday life of the housewife. Alexie wrote about the hard times of being a Native American growing up on a reservation, the struggles people have. Take Thomas for example, he was a traditional story teller, even though most people would say his story’s made no sense he believed that the elements told him things. Other reservation members thought of him as a whack job because he wasn’t into the drinking and other bad habits they were into.

In the middle of Bernice Charles's parlor it sits, unmoved and wooden. How it came to be there is a story which her uncle Doaker tells well. Her father Willie Boy used to work as a slave under the ownership of Mr. Sutter. He was an amazing wood crafter and continued to bring cash in for his "superior". But Willie Boy didn't always belong to Sutter, instead he used to belong to a certain Nolander, whose wife owned the very piano that he was traded to Mr. Sutter for. When Mrs. Nolander wanted to buy him back as her slave, the new owner refused. Instead he allowed Willie Boy to take his talents into their house and carve a picture into the wood of their piano. He was only supposed to carve himself and Mama Bernice, but instead continued to carve pictures of his whole family that he stored in his memory. After the piano was finished Boy Charles, Willie Boy's father, felt that he should take the piano because he would "say it was the story of [their] whole family and as long as Sutter had it…he had [them]"(Wilson 45). On the fourth of July in 1911, it was done. But sadly, Boy Charles was killed, hiding in a box car afterwards. After his death, Bernice's mother broke down and brought in a woman to teach Bernice how to play. She said that when Bernice played she could hear her father talk to her, and so Bernice continued to play, until her mother's death. Now she won't touch the piano, yet refuses to

In act 2 scene 2 in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, Avery and Berniece meet and are discussing the house Avery is going to rent from Mr. Cohen. Then Avery tells Berniece that he wants to marry her, she then brings the ghost that her and Maretha saw. A major conflict of this scene is when Avery asked Berniece to settle down with him, she continues to tell him that she has too much to worry about she can not settle down with him. Another is when she tells Avery that her and Maretha have seen the ghost of Sutter. The stage for the plot of my scene is the rising action. In this scene there is an argument between two characters Avery and Berniece. They argue why Berniece does not want to get married, why she does not want to play the piano for

Berniece is a very complex character because on the surface she seems respectable, strong and level headed but as the play develops we see that most of her decisions aren’t based on fact or logic but rather emotion. Her character is very nostalgic and sentimental which may cloud her judgement. For example, she still blames Willie after 3 years for her husband’s death even though on page 53 Boy Willie tells her exactly what happened confirming that Crawley knew what he was getting himself into. “Crawley pulled out his gun and started shooting. If Crawley didn’t have that gun he’d still be alive today (Wilson 53). Berniece still misses Crawley and has refused to re-marry Avery. She is a woman in mourning just like Mama Ola. Her mother spent the rest of her life mourning and playing the piano. Berniece will continually use her memory of her mother and father against her brother, thus appearing as an emotional character. Berneice respects the piano and wants to leave her family members carved onto the piano a chance at rest. She leaves the piano

Have you ever been punished by your parents for misbehaving in school and not doing your homework? And as a punishment they used to take away your most valuable possessions such as toys; cars, videos games, electronics etc. That makes you feel a little angry and upset at the same since your priced possession has been taken away. This is similar to stories The Piano Lesson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson and lastly, Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The Piano Lesson took place in 1936 Pittsburgh while Joe Turner’s Come and Gone took place the summer of 1911 in Pittsburgh. In both of these stories Wilson uses religious concepts and ghosts to demonstrate several of the difficulties that African in American had to deal with even after the slavery. The Piano Lesson is about a sibling conflict. The two main characters are Berniece, and Boy Willie both of them have positive believes that are dramatically opposed. Boy Willie wants to sell an antique, family inherited piano in order to buy a Mississippi land where his family had worked as slaves. However, on the other hand, Berniece, who has the piano refuses Boy Willie’s request to sell the piano because it is a reminder of their heritage and

She finally appreciates her daughter for who she is and what she has become. For June’s thirtieth birthday, her mother offers her the piano that lead to so many fights between the two for years. After June states how she can’t play anymore, her mother says “You pick up fast… You have natural talent. You can be genius if you want” (340) June disagrees and her mother says the dreaded words she has heard throughout her life, “You just not trying.”

However, a piano like the one in the play is priceless. It holds memories, emotions, and the heritage of a family. That is something that should never be forgotten and cannot be sold. In a similar situation, I would do behave as Berniece does by standing firm in what I believe. The Piano Lesson resonates with me as I am starting to see the importance the past.

In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Wilson explores a wide range of themes including family and tradition, wealth, and in particular, the piano that is central to the plot of the play. The piano, a family heirloom, is an object that puts the siblings Berniece and Boy Willie at odds with one another. Berniece, dedicated to family and tradition, wants to keep the piano due to all it symbolizes, while Boy Willie wants to sell the piano in order to get the remaining money he needs to buy land from the Sutter family, the family that owned members of the Charles family. The differing opinions of Boy Willie and Berniece (and the rest of the Charles family), lead to intense arguments between the family, and while these arguments do not always pertain

At first, this process is difficult for Berniece because of the deep emotional bonds with her mother, Mama Ola, who “polished this piano with her tears for seventeen years. For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled. Then she rubbed the blood in... mixed it up with the rest of the blood on it”. This shows that Mama Ola mattered greatly to Berniece and that the piano acts as a painful reminder for her. At the end of the play, she puts her own ghosts to rest. As Avery blesses the house, Berneice realises that she must finally play. She as does so, she chants “I want you to help me” over and over. She also explicitly names Mama Bernice (who is Bernice’s great great grandmother), Mama Esther, and Papa Boy Charles in between cries for help. All three were slaves to Sutter. Mama Bernice is especially important as she was sold for the piano. By calling out for help, she is accepting the tragedies in her own

The theater opens, and the train sounds as August Wilson releases his fourth of ten plays The Piano Lesson, begins. August Wilson writes this play in order to find the legacy of the piano by using the connections of domestic drama to explore questions of personal and cultural inheritance (Elam 362). This play becomes the talk of the town, and in 1990 Wilson wins a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In August Wilson’s play, The Piano Lesson, the Reader Response Theory is apparent because the main action is not centered around music, but instead the play’s focus in based on the history of an African American family during the early 1900’s through anecdotes, irony, and symbolism.

August Wilson’s, The Piano Lesson, takes on a perspective of how a group of family members (and a couple close friends) deal with real family issues and life experiences due to their African American heritage. He focuses mainly on the two siblings, Berniece and Boy Willie, who are arguing over a sentimental piano that holds the family history by pieces that were carved in by the grandfather. In this piece of work the writer has accomplished his intention of telling the story of this family, the play was witty, funny, and had its serious moments. I can easily relate to this play and see how the siblings both feel about this treasured piano. Berniece wanted the piano because of the sentimental value and history and Boy Willie wanted to sell

The main conflict of the play is the 137 year old piano, which holds the key to the family history. A history which is physically represented in the piano itself both by the spirit believed to be held within and in the many sophisticated carvings.

As a music student who grew up in Asian culture, the piano was one of the most common instruments to start one's musical life. It is still hard to find the reason how this western instrument became so popular in Asian culture, but all my friends have experiences to learning piano when they were young. In contrast with the instruments such as alto saxophone or piccolo, there is no doubt that the sounds/music of piano is familiar for people and piano itself as well. There are numerous repertories for the pianist in the world, and the pianists have limitless references for their performance. Because of this reason, people tend to think that ‘Piano is not difficult to play well' or ‘Piano is simple. You can just play!'. I also thought in the same way when I was very young. However, I realized the potential complexity of the sounds that piano could make through the music at the first time when I heard this piece: Chopin's Ballade no.1 in G minor, op.23. This piece is the story of my musical life. For this assignment, I will focus on the first half part of this piece to explain how it becomes meaningful for me.