The Role Of Women During History Throughout The 20th Century

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 book,“The Piano Lesson” Augustus Wilson tells a story about his family who is struggling with their past. The story begins with a Boy Willie coming up from the South to bring up the idea of selling the family’s legacy, a piano, which he will sell to buy the land that his ancestors were slaves on. The only problem is that his sister Bernice owns half the piano and she doesn’t want to let him sell it.

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

After being laid off, the factory worker, Chen guilin, organized a band on his own, and was struggling to maintain his life in the business of Weddings and Funerals and Store opened. His wife, xiao ju, ran away from home and turned to a wealthy counterfeit drug dealer, who was now returning to home, not only to divorce from Chen guilin, but also to fight for the custody of their only daughter. Chen guilin lamented the fate of his failure and was bent on cultivating her daughter into a pianist. To get his daughter, he raised money to buy the piano, even with his girlfriend Sue Sandy and the steel mill's good buddies to steal the school’s piano at night. When all the methods failed, Chen guilin accidentally found a Russian literature on the piano, so called on the partners began the journey of hand-made piano in the already dilapidated plant.

She had failed her mother in many ways and felt terrible for it. She had stayed away from her parents for years because of it until one day. It was her thirtieth birthday and her mother reached out to her asking if she wanted the piano that they had bought her so many years earlier. She thought it was like a forgiveness offering something to get rid of the burden but was oddly surprised by what her mother had said to her. Her mother had encouraged her to play the piano again but this time try hard not like the last time. Ni kan decided not to take it at first she was very proud of it like it was a shiny trophy. She sent of a tuner one day to tune the piano for sentimental reasons but when she went over to pick up some things at her parents house she began to play the piano again. She played pleading child the song she had learned for the talent show and then saw on the right hand side a piece called perfectly content and realized it was the second half of the song. Two pieces of one

This relationship between mother, daughter, and piano is essential to the piano’s role in continually being a part of the family. Berneice sees this piano as a family member, and not just an heirloom to be relished. The fact that Berneice chooses not to disclose the history of

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.

As an adult, Jing-mei’s mother offers her the piano once more, and Jing-mei accepts the gift. Appreciating the encouragement and faith her mother bestows upon her Jing-mei decides to care for the piano. The piano piece

The piano serves as a testament to the family’s resilience and perseverance

For her, the piano came to symbolize her rejection of her mother’s plans, as well as her rebellion against doing what she did not want to. In the end, she embarrassed herself at the recital; her mother was horrified. June also viewed the piano as her mother’s attempt to mold her into something she was not; she did not feel as though she was a genius. “For unlike my mother,

“The Piano Lesson” is a production written by August Wilson. It is about a brother, Boy Willie, coming from Mississippi to Pittsburgh to sell a piano that is located at his uncle house to purchase land to gain ownership for the first time (August 1995). His sister, Berniece, will not allow him because of so much pain that is behind the piano. Berniece does not like to play the piano nor does she wants it to move out of her home. She is soon forced to move out of her comfort zone by getting rid of supernatural presence that is in her home (1241).

It starts with Samantha Hoefe holding a piano-like toy, recounting the account of Nanner and Nannerl's association with her younger sibling Wolfie. Evidently, Nannerl would have wanted to take in the harpsichord at an exceptionally youthful age. Nonetheless, her dad Leopold Mozart, an arranger, artist, and instructor, declined to show her when she was exceptionally youthful,

Following this, she embarrasses herself at her concert by messing up the two songs she was supposed to have mastered. This part is "Pleading Child". Reaching adulthood her mother gives her the piano for her birthday. She finds the two pieces she played at the concert and plays them with ease. " Perfectly Contented" with what she was able to play and the freedom of being able to play as she wishes.

‘The Piano’, a film directed by Jane Campion, is focusing on how Ada, the protagonist, is struggled against the society. The film is about Ada, a mute Scottish woman, who is being arranged into a marriage by her father with a man she has never met. In the film, Ada makes a journey to New Zealand along with her daughter, Flora, and her piano to meet her new husband, Stewart. As Ada migrates to a new country, Ada is struggled to blend herself into a new culture, struggled from being isolated from the society, and struggled to keep her possession of the piano. These ideas of struggles that Ada has faced are introduced and reinforced in the film through the use of various cinematic techniques, for instance, camera angles and costumes.

`The Piano' is set in the Victorian times where women were repressed, treated as possessions and were expected to play a certain role in the male dominated society... When Ada was sent to live with her husband through arranged marriage, she refused to show any affection towards him. This angers her new, paternal husband who tells her "I'm supposed to love you." This comment reveals the attitudes of marriage being like an agreement of love, rather than something heartfelt.