Piano Lesson
In the drama, "The Piano Lesson" by August Wilson written in 1945, it showed the difficulties in releasing the past and moving forward in one's life. It also centered on the conflicts between brother and sister over differences in values and beliefs. For example, the brother, Boy Willie, wanted to sell the family piano so he can buy his own land to farm and start a new life for himself. However, he was confronted by his sister, Berniece, who did not want to sell the piano due to it's rich and painful past that it represented. Therefore, the theme in "The Piano Lesson" shows the complexity of African-American attitudes toward the past and black heritage compared to plans for the future. In addition, "The Piano Lesson" is both unique to the dilemma of African-Americans during the time and universal in its depiction of the human condition, which I will further explain later in this paper. The two main characters in this play were Berniece and Boy Willie with the rest of the family as supporting characters. Berniece was very withdrawn and held a lot of pain inside after the death of both her mother and husband. "She is still in mourning for her husband." (1335) Boy Willie, on the other hand, was a loud and stubborn man who
In conclusion, the piano serves as a metaphor for the legacy of the past (slavery) that has brought these characters to this point in life. What they do with that legacy is that point of the story. The attitudes presented by the two main characters of this play (Berniece and Boy Willie) demonstrate the complex thinking of African-Americans depicted in this dramatic play. For example, Berniece wants to carry the burden of her painful past with her yet she doesn't want to pass the history and the history of the family piano down to her daughter. Boy Willie, however, wants to release the past and sell the family piano so he can have a new start in life and thus forget the painful past. Further, "The Piano Lesson" is both unique to the plight of African-Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition. 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. 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" had such writing elements as symbols. For instance, throughout the whole play, the piano played an important and central symbol. The piano symbolized Berniece's and Boy Willie's ancestral family tree with the cravings on the piano legs and other areas of the piano which in-turn represented African-American past (slavery) and at the same time it represented the future in Berniece's daughter, Maretha, who also loved to play on the piano. At the end of the play, Boy Willie and Berniece finally came to terms with the ghosts of the past,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Boy Willie, According Berniece, Piano Lesson, Boy Willie's, Wining Boy, Doaker Charles', Willie Berniece, Lymon Berniece's, August Wilson, Berniece Crawley's, boy willie, family piano, piano lesson, painful past, berniece sell piano, berniece sell, wining boy, sell family, main characters, sell piano, sell family piano, terms ghosts past, piano family, universal depiction human, african-americans universal depiction,
Approximate Word count = 1434
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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