A Lesson In Names
The title The Piano Lesson has a lot to do with not only the themes in the play, but one would think after reading the play that the title helps to set the tone as well. According to Dictionary.com theme is defined as a dominant idea or concern of a work and The Piano Lesson has many. The Norton Introduction to Literature defines tone as defined as the attitude that a literary work takes toward its subject and theme. Both of these factors are important aspects of the play, and they also make the title valuable. One of the most important themes of The Piano Lesson is history. In the play Boy Willie makes it very clear that he wants to sell the piano and take the money to buy some of Sutter?s land. One has to question how genuine Boy Willie is, but he does make a valid point when he says ?If my daddy had seen where he could have traded that piano for some land of his own, it wouldn?t be sitting up here now.? Boy Willie then goes on to elaborate about how his f
amily worked Sutter?s land in the past without any kind of long-term benefit to them. He then tries to justify selling the piano by saying that by selling it he can finally benefit from all the long years of work that his family put into the land. The carvings in the piano make it a good representation of family. Berniece?s grandfather, also named Boy Willie, is the one that did all of the carvings in the piano. When Doaker is telling the story, he says, ?Sutter called him up to the house and told him to carve my grandmother and my daddy?s picture on the piano for Miss Ophelia ? he didn?t stop there. He carved all this.? Something with that kind of family history and value is not worth any amount of money. Therefore, the fact that nobody could put a price tag on the piano is a crucial lesson. One would have to think that Boy Willie learned an important lesson about family bonds and ties, while Berniece and the infamous ghost had a big part in teaching it. The piano is very im
Some common words found in the essay are:
Boy Willie, Piano Lesson, Thats Bernieces, Sutter Sutter, Introduction Literature, Miss Ophelia, Berniece Money, According Dictionarycom, boy willie, piano lesson, bernieces grandfather, Lesson Names, charles family, means piano lesson, play title, sutters land, carvings piano, land piano, means piano, piano lesson themes, title piano lesson, lesson themes,
Approximate Word count = 672
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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