The Piano Lesson is a play that was written by August Wilson. The story is used in a collection of plays by Wilson to show the struggles of African Americans throughout the twentieth century The story takes place in 1937 Pittsburgh with an African American family that battle within themselves on whether or not to keep a family heirloom, a carved piano. Wilson hits hot points of the past and today with his view on civil rights and the power of death. In The Piano Lesson is a tool that allows the reader to see that August Wilson wants to address that death should not be feared, all races should be held to the same standard, and that woman should be allowed to express themselves without the oppression of men. If one let’s death control their …show more content…
He is in a literal battle with a member of the dead and he survives. Had he not overcome death previously Willie would have suffered the consequences. He is able to live another day because of the fact that he is not afraid to die. Racial tensions still have a large impact on modern society that need to be changed so that all are considered equal. Wilson starts by pointing out the racial inadequacies in society using the scene where Lymon and Boy Willie go to collect their wood, “Me [Lymon] and Boy Willie got away but the sheriff got us. Say we was stealing wood. They shot me in my stomach” (Wilson 37). The police assume because the men are black that they are stealing the wood. Discrimination, in the end, is the long build up of misunderstandings between people who at first glance seem to be unsimilar. This is shown by the incident with the wood. The police believe that Boy Willie and Lymon are stealing the wood, even though they were given permission to take some of the wood for themselves. By assuming that they are thieves, they draw a line between blacks and whites. They then spread this assumption to others who conclude the same thing which further strengthens the division. This leads to entire populations hating other populations from one misunderstanding. Hatred carries influence, and hatred is a powerful tool that Wilson shows that the whites dominate. For example, “And he go and fix it with the law that them is his berries.
Where his mother and he lived, it was a white area where racial hostility was encouraged. Brick were thrown at their windows and soon they were forced out of the area. Before Wilson dropped out of high school he attended to three different high schools. At each school, he was driven away by threats and abuse. Maxon on the other hand faced discrimination at work.
The Piano Lesson takes place in the 1930’s US, a time of racial segregation, setting an atmosphere for the struggle for racial equality, while “separate but equal” looms over the country. The First reference to racial equality is revenge on the White man. Boy Willie first shows up at Doaker’s house, and after conversing a bit states: “...
An antagonist is a character or group of characters that oppose the protagonist or causes the drama in the literary work (Literary Devices). “The Piano Lesson” was written by August Wilson in 1990. “The Piano Lesson” is about Boy Willie trying to sell the piano that his sister, Berniece, kept that belonged to their mother. Berniece refuses to let Boy Willie sell the piano because of the message behind it. Boy Willie causes all this drama so that he can sell the piano and use the money to buy land. The antagonist in the play “The Piano Lesson” is Boy Willie, even though he is not an evil character.
Many people have come across a time in their life where any action or event from the past comes back to haunt them in their present life. This past event either affects their future actions in a negative or positive way. A play in which a character must contend with an aspect from the past is, The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Bernice Charles, struggles with embracing her family’s history of enslavement and oppression. She does this by deciding to keep the family’s heirloom, the piano, but yet denies its presence. She also decides to move up north from the south and away from her family’s history with her Uncle Doaker and daughter Maretha, again proving that she wants nothing to do with her past. Later on in the play, Bernice and her brother Boy Willie encounter Mr.Sutter 's ghost. Bernice decides to go against her idea of never touching the piano and plays it for the first time since the death of her parents. With the support of their ancestors they successfully fight back the ghost and Bernice realizes it 's a mistake to avoid or run away from her past. The actions taken by Bernice at the end of the play reveal that despite their past anyone is capable of embracing and moving on from their past in a way that will help them benefit their future actions positively.
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
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
In The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, Berniece struggles with her personal connection with the piano. Her families past reveal her relationship with the piano. The piano meant a lot of things to a lot of different people over the years. The piano is a complex and multilayers symbol; its meanings are both personal and political. For example, Berniece was affected by the piano positively and negatively. She had a sentimental connection with it and never wanted to get rid of it. But the piano had a lot of history behind it and it also carries a lot of meaning to it. Berniece stopped playing the piano for a while because of all the spirits inside of it and how they started to haunt other people. Berniece saw Boy Willie getting attacked by Sutter’s ghost and that made her realize she needs to let go of the past and play the piano again. But what was ironic is that she tried her best to forget the family history that came with the piano, she can never let go of her families past no matter what she does. This reveals that people should come to good terms with their past and learn to overcome it.
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.
Wilson introduces racial stereotypes in the first couple lines of the play. Troy’s story initially seems to be about a black man stealing a watermelon, instead the man was trying to hide the watermelon he brought to hide it from the white people around. Immediately after Troy and Bono talk about the discrimination they face while they work. Troy complains that the black workers never get to drive the garbage truck and they are always stuck doing the heavy lifting. Later in the conversation when Rose enters, Wilson introduces the theme of sexism.
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
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
In the story, the narrator, Laurel comes face to face with the complex nature of race relations, which lead to her understanding of the human nature. In the course of their tour, there is high tension and fears due to racism culminated by the plot by the brownies to revenge against a perceived slight. The tension decreases when the troops come face to face with their misconception. Through the experiences of the characters, Parker illustrates the extent to which racism is rampant in our society. He shows how the society reinforces and perpetuates this vice. Through Laurel’s first person narrative, Parker is able to bring out the dehumanizing effects that come because of racism. Her deep insights expose racial prejudice as the main cause of human suffering. Laurel does not know much about the
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is not only a captivating play, but it also encompasses a deeper truth. The play tells the story of how a piano holds a family’s past, and because of it, creates conflict. Berniece, a pivotal character in the work begins as a person who puts all of her feelings and history behind her, but in the end learns to embrace her past to move onto the future. August Wilson uses the growth of the character Berniece throughout the play to convey his central message of, you cannot move forward until you accept the past, otherwise it will burden you.
The single most weighted factor that edges Willie to his demise is his inability to make a living and achieve his “American Dream”. After being a salesman for many years, Willy just can’t cope with the fact that he hasn’t been successful at all. He believes that he is a terrific salesman. His imaginative thinking won’t let him accept the fact that he has become a failure instead of a wealthy businessman. Willy believes that to be well liked is the means to being
Lindner states, “...as I says, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities. Our association is prepared, through the collective effort of our people, to buy the house from you at the financial gain to your family” (Hansberry 1590). The community that the Younger family are going to move in (Clybourne Park), did not want them to be part of their white neighborhood. Additionally, Racism is everywhere they go, also including in the new neighborhood they are deciding to move in. Also, “Integrating Dubois’ ideas of racism in to Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, this study reveals the belief that Blacks must severely demand their rights against racial oppressions in order to transcend and eliminate racism” (Nowrouzi). African American’s did not have the same rights as other human beings in the United States. They have to fight for what they wanted, so they could succeed. Furthermore, “This study argues that racism makes African Americans end up in unequal economic and social condition. Therefore, not being first hand citizens, Africans Americans’ effort, services and race are disdained” (Nowrouzi). Because African American’s were treated just because of their race and color they suffered through money and racism situations. As shown, people were treated differently based on what color they were. Racism was hard for colored people to face and this