The Piano lesson, written by August Wilson, tells the story of an African American family who lived in Pittsburgh during the early 20th century. Throughout the story Wilson tells of multiple stances on what to do with a family artifact that has a different meaning to each member in different ways. Which makes conflict in the family for what they would like to see what happens with the piano, even though each member had an idea to keep the heritage of the piano and what it stands for in some aspect of their idea. Whether it was Boy Willie who wanted to sell the ancestral piano for a practical outcome. Or Berniece’s argument of keeping it because of the sentimental value it carries. The piano has many lessons, though not all musical, which have been taught and …show more content…
So instead of money the trade was made with an exchange of slaves, one full grown and one half grown. He exchanged Doaker’s grandmother Berniece, who Berniece was named after and his Father, Boy Charles. While this may have been the acceptable form of payment, to the Charles’ it makes the piano worth literal flesh and blood. By comparing the price of an inanimate object to human life, by using slaves, shows how little there is in regard to a slave’s lives, and makes a case showing how expendable they were. The price of the piano split up the family, now taking place of the two members that were traded for it. While Mrs. Sutter loved the gift she began to miss her slaves as she interacted with them every day in some way. In an attempt to get them back she was willing to re-exchange the piano for her slaves with Mr. Nolander, who refused, resulting in her to become ill with grief. Which is an abnormal reaction, considering the initial trade disregarded life. A slave master who regretted the decision, shows some compassion that wasn’t a commodity afforded to them normally. Trying to make things better, Mr. Sutter ordered Doaker’s
Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Lesson’ starts with the Sylvia’s description about one African-American’s appearance, who is called Miss Moore. The story is focused on the the event of field trip that Miss Moore conducted for her students one day. She takes her students to pricy toy store which is called F.A.O. Schwartz, to let them see the reality of gap between poor and rich. The story took place in 1970s which was during the movements for civil and social rights, equality and justice swept the United States. According to university of California, during this time, the opportunity to African American was really limited in a lot of aspects, including the education. People often tend to interpret the most important main point of this
... of the fact that he he finally expressed his emotions in class, his pupil Paul will show emotions during playing the piano, thus instead of being just a "good pianist" he would become a "great pianist". To sum up, Peter Goldsworthy in his novel Maestro demonstrates that how the past cannot be left behind, mainly because as nearly every events that have happened before affects on human's life either in a small or large way.
The books of A Lesson Before Dying, Song of Solomon, and The Piano Lesson are all classic tales of African American Literature. While written in assorted periods and by different authors, the lessons found in between the pages transcend time. They recount stories of injustice, perseverance, and success. Memory and the past play a critical role in understanding each character’s mindset. A Lesson Before Dying portrays the past as both a hindrance and a source of motivation. Song of Solomon exposes the belief that knowledge of the past is the key that unlocks the door to self discovery. The Piano Lesson introduces the idea that a person can turn painful memories into a source of motivation and pride. Although each book stresses different principles of how to handle the past, they agree that heritage awareness plays an important role in molding a healthier future.
Objectives for Elementary level Piano Instruction: A Survey and comparison of the Objectives of Piano/ piano Pedagogy Teachers. EdD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Do you ever have one of those days when you remember your parents taking away all of your baseball cards or all of your comic books because you got a bad grade in one of your classes? You feel a little depressed and your priced possession has been stolen. This event is the same as August Wilson’s, The Piano Lesson. The story is about a sibling rivalry, Boy Willie Charles against Berniece Charles, regarding an antique, family inherited piano. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano in order to buy the same Mississippi land that his family had worked as slaves. However, Berniece, who has the piano, declines Boy Willie’s request to sell the piano because it is a reminder of the history that is their family heritage. She believes that the piano is more consequential than “hard cash” Boy Willie wants. Based on this idea, one might consider that Berniece is more ethical than Boy Willie.
As duke’s piano lessons faded into the past, Duke began to show an interest for the artistic. Duke went to Armstrong Manual Tra...
The Piano Lesson written by August Wilson is a work that struggles to suggest how best African Americans can handle their heritage and how they can best put their history to use. This problem is important to the development of theme throughout the work and is fueled by the two key players of the drama: Berniece and Boy Willie. These siblings, who begin with opposing views on what to do with a precious family heirloom, although both protagonists in the drama, serve akin to foils of one another. Their similarities and differences help the audience to understand each individual more fully and to comprehend the theme that one must find balance between deserting and preserving the past in order to pursue the future, that both too greatly honoring or too greatly guarding the past can ruin opportunities in the present and the future.
In the Piano Lesson the main symbol is the piano in Berniece’s home. The piano has a lot of meaning behind it and has been through a lot. This piano has made it all the way from the South to the North, which wasn’t easy. Berniece brought the piano miles from where it was because it meant so much to her. The carvings on this piano are magnificent they represent all of her ancestors. The blood and sweat that were put into making this piano means so much more than just something you play is amazing: “ Willie Boy carved all this. He got a picture of his mama… Mamma Esther… and his daddy, Boy Charles. He got all kinds of things that happened with our family” (1183). Instead of carving what Sutter asked he made the whole piano about the history of his family. After the carving was done, the piano became a monument to his family’s
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 ...
As the story unfolds, Tan suggests that the piano symbolizes different things. For Ni Kan, it is the unwanted pressure her mother inflicts upon. She argues, “Why don’t you like me the way I am? I’m not a genius! I can’t play the piano” (751). However, her mother sees it as a way for her daughter to become the best. Ultimately, the young girl decides to rebel against her mother’s wishes. During her piano lessons with Mr. Chong, her piano teacher, she learns easy ways to get out of practicing. Ni Kan discovers “that Old Chong’s eyes were too slow to keep up with the wrong notes [she] was playing” (751). As a result, Ni Kan performs miserably in a talent show where her parents and friends from the Joy Luck Club attend. Feeling the disapproval and shame from her mother, she decides to stop practicing the piano.
However, his desire conflicts with the racial situation during the time of the play. The play is set during a time when blacks were primarily slaves and considered property. They also didn't own any property. His belief that he is of equal standing with a white man could probably be traced to his lineage with the piano. The piano had symbolized his ancestors since the piano has been around during his grandfather's ...
Say it was the story of our whole family and as long as Sutter had it… he had us. Say we was still in slavery.” ( Wilson 1228). Doaker says that Boy Charles was obsessed with the piano, he felt that if Sutter had the piano they were still his slaves because they were traded to get the piano and they were considered Sutter 's property during slavery. Boy Willie like his father wants to get something that Sutter owned in order to be free from Sutter. However, he does not realize that the piano also represented being free from Sutter. In addition, to Berniece the piano means a lot while Boy Willie only sees it as a profitable object. He says, “ I 'm talking about trading that piece of wood for some land...You can always get you another piano. I’m talking about some land...You can’t do nothing with that piano but sit up there and look at it.” (Wilson 1231-1232). Boy Willie only wanted the piano in order to get some land from Sutter 's brother. Moreover, the land Boy Willie wanted to buy was the land that his ancestors worked on when they were owned by Sutter, and he felt that he had rights to the land. However, he missed to acknowledge that the value and importance of the piano was the same as Sutter 's land. He thought that the land was more important and significant than the piano that contained carvings of his ancestors and his family
In this novel, The Piano Lesson, we learn that some characters are doing their best to leave their mark on the world. A main character, Boy Willie, continually attempts to do so. For instance, he says, “I got to mark my passing on the road. Just like you write on a tree, ‘Boy Willie was here.’” By this, he means that he wants to make sure the world knows that he was here, and that he left something behind. Just as his grandfather carved beautiful, intricate designs into the piano and left it for his family, Boy Willie wants to do something similar. For example, he wants to buy Sutter’s land and make it nice for generations to come. Ironically, Boy Willie wants to sell his grandfather’s statement in order to make his own.
In the play, The Piano Lesson, music played an important role. The piano in the play represented the African American history and culture. The ghost of Sutter represented the pain and trauma that had been endured throughout the generations in the Charles family. Berniece did not play the piano because she associated it with pain and the bad things that happened to her family members. She did not want to accept the things that had happened in her family’s past. She thought that she could deny everything and act like it never happened. She believed if she continued to run from everything and everybody that the pain would go away. Berniece was burdened and haunted by the ghost of Sutter until she gave in and played the piano after all of those years. After playing the piano, Berniece was no longer burdened or haunted by the past. She was free from all of the denial. She escaped the pain through the music and reflecting on the carvings on the piano, which represented her heritage. Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie, told her “Berniece, if you and Maretha don’t keep playing on that piano… ain’t no telling… me and Sutter both liable to be back” (Wilson 108). By saying that, he meant that if she did not allow her daughter to continue playing the piano and learning about her culture that she would end up going through the same things that Berniece had gone through. Music has a huge impact on the African American culture in several ways and many things about the past can be learned through it.
Wilson demonstrates how one should accept and respect the past, move on with their life or slow down to pay respects to their family?s history, by describing the struggle over a symbolic object representing the past like the piano. Often people will sulk in the past and struggle with themselves and the people around them when they cannot come to terms with their personal history or a loss. Others will blatantly ignore their personal history and sell valuable lessons and pieces of it for a quick buck to advance their own lives. Berniece and Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson are great examples of these people. Through these contrasting characters and supernatural occurrences, Wilson tells the tale of overcoming and embracing a rough and unsettling family history.