The Piano Lesson By August Wilson: An Analysis

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

The piano, created by Bartolomeo Christofori in 1709, has impacted our society by becoming a popular instrument and a popular medium for musicians to create musical masterpieces. Also called the pianoforte, the piano is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments that can range in sound from as low as a gust of wind, to as high as the shrill sound of a bird. It has evolved over time and become an amazing instrument. The piano was accepted very well in history and it has generated many changes in the music industry. The piano was also used a lot in society and has had many applications grow from it. Without it, many classical masterpieces as well as modern songs wouldn’t have been possible.

The definition of persuasion is the action or fact of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something, In the play, The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, persuasion is used by Boy Willie throughout the whole play using Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.

Hans Christian Anderson one said that where words fail, music speaks. Nowhere is this truer than in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. The Piano Lesson tells the story of family that struggles in the side and what do with a family heirloom that takes the form of an ornately carved upright piano. Bernice wishes to keep the piano but her brother, Boy Willie, wishes to sell the piano for land because according to him Bernice is not doing anything but letting it sit there and rot because no one is playing it. Yet despite what Boy Willie says the piano actually gets quite a bit of use in the play. Along with playing the piano the characters can also be seen singing in the play. The songs the characters sing and perform does a good job of relating the characters thoughts and actions to a more musical medium. From songs such as Maretha's beginners piece on the piano to Wining Boy's more experienced yet melancholic tune the music of The Piano Lesson tells us about the character's pasts and presents.

Billie Jo’s hands became burnt and it killed her to even try to play piano. “I cleaned off the keys but when I played, a tortured sound came from the piano, like someone was shrieking.” (pg. 63-64) The mother's face got burnt so bad that sometimes it was hard for the father and Billie Jo to even recognize her anymore. This caused the father to have depression and he started to use drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism. Sometimes he even left Billie Jo home alone to take care of the mother while he was out drinking. Then Billie Jo’s mother died giving birth to her baby brother and Billie Jo couldn’t stand being in the same room as the piano that her mom played. “Now I can’t hardly stay in the same room with one, especially Ma’s.” (pg. 87) Then Billie Jo decides to go back and play on a different piano then the one that is at her own house. She was so happy to hear a piano again after dealing with the loss of her mom and the loss of her baby brother. “The relief I felt to hear the sound of music after the sound of the piano at home.” (pg. 64) These are the ways that Billie Jo was separated from playing the piano in the middle of the

Can a treasured object of the past serve as a teacher for the future? Once people share the historical significance of it, an object can symbolize the overcoming of hardships of those lives in which it becomes a part. Therefore, it may indeed “instruct” future generations to glean wisdom from the past. August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson centers on the trials and triumphs of a family affected by the enslaving of their ancestors and by current racial prejudice. An embellished piano, which bears the carved images of their enslaved ancestors accounts for the conflict that the Charles’ face. The Charles’ siblings inherit the piano from their mother, widowed upon the murder of her

One of the writers defending the rights of the Blacks is August Wilson. His works included a series of ten plays called “the Pittsburg Cycle” for which he received two Pulitzer prizes. One of his works which criticized the maltreatment of the Blacks is The Piano Lesson. The play is located in Pittsburgh in 1937, the hometown of Wilson. The setting is of extreme importance as many people desired travelling up north to escape discrimination and racism in the south hoping to find a steady job in some factories in Pittsburgh.

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 Player Piano, everything is controlled by machines and computers and depends on productivity. The managers and engineers only create new programs for more productive production. Even the rates of production and consumption are calculated by a computer (EPICAC), which is seated in the large Carlsbad cavern system. The EPICAC computer even determines the people's careers and in this way their whole lives. It gives intelligence tests to everyone, and on the basis of their results it sorts people into two categories - suitable for university entering exams and suitable for 'work'. The university studies allow their graduates to become managers, engineers, writers or public relation workers. You may become a writer only if

Winner of multiple awards such as the Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, August Wilson is known most for his forceful cultural plays. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wilson was born to a white father that later abandoned his family, and a black mother. Wilson dropped out of school in the ninth grade after being accused of plagiarism. Wilson after went to public libraries and read various books; this was an initiation for Wilson and his successful future. When Wilson first started writing he didn’t think he was able to write his own works because of such great writers before him. “Quote black literature criticism”. However

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.

The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is a complex play emphasizing on the African-American family life. The main conflict in the play is between the main characters Bernice and her brother Boy Willie. The siblings are arguing over a piano that represents their family heritage. The diverse reaction between the siblings exhibits how dissimilar male and female reacted toward the history of their family and on a broader aspect their nation.

She looked just like that. And he put a picture of my daddy when he wasn't nothing but a little boy the way he remembered him." (44) The piano is a symbol of the family because it is literally covered with this history. Doaker states that Boy Charles "say it was the story of our whole family and as long as Sutter had it . . . he had us" (45) Under normal circumstances, a piano would not be something valuable enough to risk your life in order to steal. However, it is clear that Boy Charles viewed it as an important family heirloom, a symbol of their family history. By stealing the piano, he hopes to end the control that Sutter has over them.

Piano plays big role in piano lesson. The piano is more than just a symbol of slavery though it’s also representing the strength of the Charles family. “I am not thinking about Berniece’s” berniece’s used to remember as her family because her family died because of the piano, but boy Willie does not care. “Doaker then tells the story of the piano 's history too because doaker wants boy Willie to understand the importance of piano.” Importance of piano start Generations earlier, Sutter, their family 's slave-owner, broke up a family by selling a mother and child to pay for the piano which he bought for his wife as an anniversary present. The wife was happy with the piano but missed having the slaves, so Sutter had that family 's husband/father (who was a carpenter and too valuable to

In The Piano Lesson each central character learns a lesson. August Wilson uses plenty of symbolism throughout his play, the strongest symbol being the piano itself, representing the family's history, their long struggle, and their burden of their race. Throughout the play, the conflict revolves around the piano, and Berniece and Boy Willie's contrasting views about its significance and about what should be done with it. Berniece is ashamed and cannot let go of the past, or the piano, and Boy Willie wants to move his life forward, and use the piano to do so. Wilson portrays the 'lesson' of the piano as accepting and respecting one's past and moving on with one's life gracefully, through Berniece and Boy Willies contrasting actions and the