Defend Boy Willie’s Scheme for Buying Sutter’s Land. In The Piano Lesson, written by August Wilson, Boy Willie devises a scheme for buying Sutter’s land. Boy Willie has one part of the money saved up. He will sell the watermelons for the second part. Then he will sell the piano for a third part. The only debating issue in Boy Willie’s scheme is the piano. Berniece does not want to sell the piano. This is the only reason for a defense in Boy Willie’s scheme. Therefore, I will defend Boy Willie’s issue of selling the piano and how that liberates him in reference to his scheme for buying Sutter’s land. The first defense is the usage of the piano. In Wilson’s novel, Berniece never uses the piano, Boy Willie: “ You can’t do nothing with that piano except sit up there and look at it”, Berniece, “That’s just what I’m gonna do” (p.50). The piano is a “sentimental value” (p.51) to Berniece. Her father died over the piano (p.42-46). Boy Willie argues even though the piano is of sentimental value, Berniece is not using it. He wants to sell it in order to buy land, seed, and workers, which will in turn produce a crop, and something will come out of that (p.51). The second defense is that of equality. Boy Willie believes how a certain individual perceives himself determines what that individual really is in reality (p.92). He also believes that white men have one advantage over black men and that ...
“Herbert already had what he wanted. He had had it long before the inheritance or I intruded. He had the respectability his mother had hammered into him. But just as priceless as that was an income not quite big enough to go around. It left him no alternative but… to play piano in a dive, and breathe smoke, and drink gin, to be
At heart, Willie Stark is a good man with good intentions, but his philanthropic nature clashes with his burning desire for success. Cousin Willie’s political career was conceived out of his search for truth. After the schoolhouse incident, Willie is proclaimed an “honest man” and is thrust into the governor’s race (Warren 97). But Willie is heartbroken when Sadie Burke cruelly informs him, “You a...
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.
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
This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer for the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing. Miller’s use of personification and symbolism in the book shows the situational irony that surrounds Willy.
The Civil War did not successfully give African Americans freedom. One purpose of Reconstruction was to guarantee rights for African Americans in spite of the prominent racism in the South. To accomplish this the federal government passed several laws during to assure the rights and equality of African Americans in the law. One African American author, August Wilson, describes the perspective of most African Americans living in the time after Reconstruction in his writing. His play, The Piano Lesson, follows multiple characters of different backgrounds and depicts the problems they have in society. Despite many attempts to guarantee equal rights August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson describes a large lack of political progress due to Jim Crow laws and Black Codes.
One problem Willy has is that he does not take responsibility for his actions; this problem only gets worse because of his lies. Biff looks up to Willy, so when he finds out that Willy has an affair in Boston, Biff is petrified. Biff realizes his hero, dad, the one he wants to impress, is a phony and a liar. Willy destroys Biff's dream of playing football by saying he does not have to study for the math regents, he also Willy telling Bernard to give Biff the answers. When Biff fails the regents, he does not want to retake the test because he is so disgusted with his hero and does not want to succeed. Not only did Willy destroy Biff's dream, he also broke his vows and refused to admit it. Biff is a failure, in Willy's eye, in most part due to Willy and what happened in Boston. Willy refuses to take responsibility for what he did, so he lies about Biff. Willy tells Bernard that Biff has been doing great things out west, but decided to come back home to work on a "big deal". Willy knows that Biff is a bum who has not amounted to anything, but he refuses to take responsibility for what happened in Boston, so he changes the story of Biff's success. Throughout Willy's life he continued to lie. It might have stopped if Linda did not act the way as she did. Linda is afraid to confront Willy, so she goes along with his outlandish lies.
“You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away – a man is not a piece of fruit!” In the play “Death of a Salesman”, Willy is the father of two boys, Biff and Happy. They live in a world of denial and unacceptance. Every time something bad happens that Willy doesn’t accept, he goes into a state of mind that plays back memories in which he feels successful. Willy believes he is a success in the business world as a salesman and ends up living in a world of memories instead of reality causing him to become prideful in his everyday life, even though there is not anything to be proud about.
characters are in engaged in a dialogue which is common for a mother and a daughter to
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 part of our lives, but it does not limit or determine where we can go, what we can do, or who we can become.
Throughout this semester of college, I have observed three separate Elementary General Music teachers. Each of the teachers had their own personalities that each reflected upon their teaching. They all came from different areas of study, but all still manage to be successful, each with their own pros and cons.
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.
In conclusion, Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” portrays racist stereotypes through symbols, such as the piano, watermelons and supernatural powers, characters like Breniece, Boy Willie, and Avery and also through conflicts within oneself, with another character and also supernatural power. Racism was prominent throughout the play but these are the symbols, characters, and conflicts that were very significant. Wilson’s “The piano lesson” did indeed teach about the happiness of white men in the misery of black men, as once said by Fredric Douglas, “The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery.”
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.