Comparing The Piano Lesson And The Negro Speaks Of The Rivers

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

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of revival and awakening in which the African American community produced a new form of cultural identity. After years of oppression and slavery, African Americans struggled to discover their own distinctive culture. It was through the literature and artistry of the Harlem Renaissance that the African American community began to express the suffering and resentment they truly experienced. In addition, the movement allowed them to find a way to escape their hardships. James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” and Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” address the addiction, poverty, and violence that surrounded African Americans and the triumph of life that was captured in their attempt to escape the suffering.

Throughout The Piano Lesson, Bernice is constantly getting into arguments with her brother over a piano that holds carvings of her family history. This piano is a very

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes is said to be one of his earliest and most anthologized poems to be written (Taylor-Thompson). Throughout the poem, Hughes puts extra importance on the river’s role in African American society. Hughes uses repetition, simile, and metaphor to support the poems theme of memory and the past.

The play starts off with Boy Willie and his friend Lymon heading towards north to Pittsburgh. Their intentions are to sell a truck load of watermelons, and most of all to convince Berniece into selling the piano. Boy Willie knows very well that Berniece will not give up the piano, but resumes with his journey to sell the piano. The piano in this play is the heart of the play. It is the main cause for the tension between Boy Willie and Berniece. The piano has brought upon many grieves to the Charles family, and has caused many lives. The piano is a symbol for every life that it has taken. And for those lives, Berniece resists in letting go of the piano. Even though, it is the most important matter in the family. To Berniece, the piano is also a prize possession because of their ancestors, but most of all she refuses to sell it because their mother polished it everyday after their father died. Berniece accuses Boy Willie of not considering what their mother has done. But even after all that their family has gone through to finally claim the piano, Boy Willie wants to sell it anyway. The piano is the only family value that both siblings can hold on to and pass on to next generations. Boy Willie feels

Boy Willie, however, wants to release the past and sell the family piano so he can have a new start in life and forget the painful past. "The Piano Lesson" is both unique to the plight of African-Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition (Gale, 2000, p249). The sibling rivalry, past history versus present time and future, storytelling and gender relationships all cross both unique and universal boundaries. To illustrate, even in today's society there are sibling rivalry that pit brother against sister, brother against brother or sister against sister together to the point of bitter battle. In addition, there are still people in today's society that have difficulties in resolving painful past experiences with the present and future. In regards to gender relationships, there are still a lot of mysteries in the realm of love between two people. Bernice is the African-American way, staying true to her roots and not parting with the heritage. Although she finds this painful, she will not part with her heritage. Her heritage is “tangible in the presence of the piano itself” (Sparknotes, 2014). Therefore, even though the theme of this play surrounds itself around African-Americans, the situation can easily be applied to all races and time periods.

From the dawn of time there has been only one thing that remained constant, change. Specifically, for the African Americans, great changes are in obvious view. In many of Langston Hughes poems they portray a change overtime whether it was he see a change overtime or he wanted a change. From ancient Egypt, to the chains of slavery, to the first African american president there has been changes all throughout history. Both poems “I too”and “the negro speaks of rivers” by Langston Hughes reflect change over time.

Langston Hughes is a famous poet known mostly for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote many inspirational poems that are still read and used for educational purposes. Many of his poems were inspired by his life and his story. One of his many poems entitled “Theme for English B” talks about how his teacher instructed him to write a page about himself and it will be true. In a “Theme for English B”, Hughes uses tone, and characterization to display a relationship between race and writing.

Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist who became known as an author and speaker during the 1960s and 70s, once said, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Indeed, that is exactly what the members of the Harlem Renaissance did. People like Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen wrote political pieces which changed the way people viewed slavery and white supremacy. Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” was a crucial part of the Harlem Renaissance. His book is an important piece of American history because of its role as a voice for the voiceless as well as its credibility and persuasiveness which inspired many other writers of the time to showcase their talents.

Wilson highlights the fact the piano is full of stories that are directly linked to Berniece, which affect her current negative feeling towards it. Also, as a young girl, Berniece had to play the piano for her mom, so she could talk to her dead father. This demonstrates that not only is her family physically depicted on it, but also spiritually connected to it.

Bernice’s devotion to the conservation of her family’s history is questionable-while she fights to retain the piano, she fails to share the family history and the significance of the piano to her daughter, Maretha. Bernice also contradicts herself. She says, “Money can’t buy what that piano cost,” (Wilson 1231) yet she does not touch it or tell her daughter the history of it. She claims to value the piano a great deal but has not touched the piano in a long time. Doaker says that she “hasn’t touched that piano the whole time it 's been up here.” (Wilson 1232) Bernice’s lack of acknowledgement of her family

The Piano Lesson is a Southern Gothic play in which the living, as well as the dead, have a strong connection to the piano. The piano has a tragic origin that dates back generations. The piano was originally obtained by Robert Sutter who traded slaves for the instrument because he could not afford to purchase it outright. The piano was meant to be a gift for his wife, who coincidentally grew weary of the instrument and began to miss her slaves. In an attempt to quell her depression, Robert Sutter commissioned that the slaves' portraits be engraved in the piano; in addition to the slaves that were traded, the woodcarver also included their families and family histories. Because of the ties to slavery between the piano, the Sutters, and the Charles family, Berniece and Boy Charles came to believe that as long as the Sutters owned the piano, they would continue to own the Charles'. Due to this belief, the Charles' become obsessed with obtaining and owning the piano. During the course of trying to get the piano from the Sutters, the Charles' sacrificed much of themselves and caused many deaths.

" In the poem, "In Texas Grass" it shows that the african government built railroads but the people who built them were all forgotten. While I was reading this, there is a stanza that reminds me of Slavery and it says "amongst the weeds till they die & rot away" which means a lot to me because it shows that they did not care who died they just wanted it

Langston Hughes was a writer during the Harlem Renaissance who portrayed the black life as how their community saw it. Hughes’ poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, illustrates how blacks have been important to civilizations’ growth as much as any other race through his use of literary devices such as similes and metaphors, symbolism, and personification. Hughes uses both similes and metaphors in his poem to push the reader to believe that blacks are equally important to any other group. When he says, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers,” a simile compares a soul to the depth of the rivers (Hughes ln 4).

The tone of this poem is quite sad and serious. I think that “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” is meant to be a very powerful quote because it is mentioned a lot in the poem and it shows how more wise he has become because of racial issues. Langston Hughes wrote this poem on the back of a letter that his father had sent him (Shmoop). “This poem is celebrated the voice and the soul of the black community in time of great racial intolerance, injustice, and inequality in America” (Shmoop). ““My soul has grown deep like the rivers”, this stand-alone line prefaces the issues that will be discussed in the following lines and makes the reader see that rivers are not like long probing roos of a true or human veins, but rivers are similar.”