When first reading August Wilson's The Piano Lesson it is very easy to zero in on the topic of racism. However I believe that is not the only major theme that exists in this text. I do believe that the issue of sex and gender roles is an underlying issue that is just as important to the play as the race issue is.
Throughout the entirety of the play Women (at least those who were forced to be slaves) are often revered and remembered not only before their male counter parts, but in a greater, almost divine light. There is even a scene that includes Avery and Berniece have a fairly progressive talk about women, especially since this play takes place in the 1930's. Also the scene where Doaker explains their family heritage to Lymon is a good example.
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The way he describes the males as oppose to the females is a bit sexist . He has almost nothing good to say about any of the males in the family aside from Papa Boy Charles, who physically sculpted the piano, while saying almost nothing about the females of the family. Now while he is not actually saying anything good or respectable about the females, the lack of good things to be said about the males of the family adds to the respectful demeanor of the females of the family. He also explains how Papa Boy Charles' Wife and Son were traded for a Piano. The fact that a woman slave was chosen over a male slave also adds to the theme of gender roles. Due to the fact that women can potentially give birth to more
These women are sexualized, audacious, respectful, and flirtatious. Women in the Elizabethan society were considered the weaker sex and in need of always being protected. Women, however, were allowed many freedoms in Shakespeare writings. The thinking from both plays was that women were not above men but more like sex objects and a necessary part of society. Women have evolved into so much more, however, I would like to think this is from the open-mindedness of how Shakespeare saw each woman.
The past has many underlying effects on people that are not always apparent. One 's history may drive them to do many things out of vengeance, fear, compassion, or numerous other emotions. August Wilson 's play, The Piano Lesson, set just seventy years after the abolishment of slavery, still revels in the aftermath brought on by it. Many African Americans continue to struggle to establish their freedom and independence and build a life for themselves. The Great Migration was in full swing as many moved North in the hope of a brighter future. In Wilson 's play, Boy Willie’s struggle to achieve his father 's legacy and overcome white oppression reveals how people tend to strive for better than what their family members in the past had and develop
Throughout history women assumed subordination is a constant theme; although in the 1930s and 1920s America this changed. The Twenties brought on woman’s suffrage while the Thirties saw and encouraged a more progressive in women. August Wilson writer of The Piano Lesson supported women’s press towards equality and expressed this in the play. The Piano Lesson follows the Charles family and their heirloom, a piano with carvings of their once enslaved family. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to purchase land where the Charles family labored as slaves for the family of a man named Sutter, who has died. Bernice, Boy Willie’s sister refuses to let him sell it. Sutter’s ghost, the main antagonist terrorizes the family as his spirit wants the piano
The same conflict haunts both men and women, but is portrayed as two completely different groups. The narrator is selective omniscient and allows the men's and women's feelings to be expressed when presented with the same racial issue such as portrayed in "Samuel." This also allows the reader to observe how each sex responds to the issue. Grace Paley writes, "The men and women in the cars on either side watch the young boys playing on the platform. They do not like them to jiggle or jump but don't want to interfere" (191). This shows that both men and women did not like what the boys were doing outside on the platform, and each deals with it in very different ways.
...s that they weren’t just slaves; they were women, sisters, wives, and daughters, just like the white women (DOC C). The women of this time period reached out to expand ideals by showing men that women were going to be involved in political affairs, and they had a right to do so.
The piano held symbolic significance in the story of the family and their struggle to move forward. The piano represents the importance and value of slaves during slavery. Slaves were traded for objects during slavery. Slaves were of no importance to their slave owners. As Doaker says in the story “now she had her piano and her niggas too”, meaning slaves were nothing more than an accessory to their slave owners (Wilson 395). Doaker sarcastically speaks of how slaves were not considered humans but property. As Sandy Alexandre states in her work, “Property and Inheritance in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson”, “Doaker sees greed where there should be something like repulsion or at least a semblance of hesitation to accept such an ill-begotten gift”(77). Alexandre argues slaves are not given the proper respect and are not considered equal. This specific event from the story shows how little to ...
Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine comment in the Introduction to Shakespeare: Othello that sexism is a big factor in the play:
Women have always been large part life. In fact, they are the ones that keep it going which is why some argue that women should be greatly respected. This idea has been around since the beginning of time, but unfortunately they have been treated the exact opposite and it was not up to the 1850’s that women got their rights. Before this time they were used as tools and had no say in anything important. It did not matter if they were smart or not nor did it matter if they beautiful or ugly, they were always lower than men. Voltaire uses Cunegonde, the old woman, and Paquette to show their mistreatment and the mistreatment of all women. They were raped and abused regardless of their wealth or political stance. These characters are not very complex
Until the fight for women's equality started, women were second class citizens. Women in the United States were wives and had a huge variety of responsibilities in the house. Women were expected to cook for their family, educate the youth, and make sure the family is dressed properly. In short women worked incrediablly long shifts in the same rooms so much that now they would get paid double overtime. Im Jane Addams essay "Why Women Should Vote", Addams casts away these roles society deemed necessary for a women to follow. This was just a pebble that has led into the society we live in today where most men are not only fine working with women but working for women.
There are however some sexist elements in the story, but just because there are certain characteristics of sexism in a play does not mean the play in itself is sexist and demeaning towards women.
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 play's climactic resolution.
This fact plays a crucial role in the mood of the play. If the reader understands history, they also understand that women did not really amount to any importance, they were perceived more as property.
Shapiro, for example, goes so far as to claim that Shakespeare was 'the noblest feminist of them all.' Though Shakespeare pays more attention to the roles that men play in society and many of the female characters are constricted in their experiences. They do not have the same ability to be as fully human as the men. They do not learn by their experiences, except Paulina who is eventually chastised and pa... ... middle of paper ... ...
The idea that women are socially inferior socially to men is evident early on in the play. Exemplified by Viola dressing as a eunuch in order to be close with Orsino. “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid. For such disguise as haply shall become the form of my intent. I’ll ser...
Shakespeare’s works had few females because women were not allowed to act in London in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Disregarding the standards imposed on women of his time, Shakespeare created many female characters that were strong-willed, intelligent, and daring. Shakespeare resided in a world dominated by men, in which women were essentially the means of exchange in power relationships among those men. Feminist criticism is interested in marriage and, gender relations, and family structures (Shakespeare, William).