In the book “The Warmth of Other Suns”, Isabel Wilkerson portrays the numerous struggles that black people were forced to go through in the late 1800s and early 1900s. “The Piano Lesson” can be compared and contrasted to “The Warmth of Other Suns” in multiple different ways; one being that it doesn’t go into as much detail about The Great Migration. Instead, it focused on a specific family, and included a few of the issues they faced. Even though the two books are not completely the same, “The Warmth of Other Suns” can definitely influence your understanding of “The Piano Lesson”. The main point in “The Warmth of Other Suns” is The Great Migration and what caused it. It was definitely caused by black people being treated incredibly unfairly.
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I then began to notice similarities such as slavery and black people never having a say in anything if it involves a white person. There was a section in “The Piano Lesson” where Lymon and Boy Willie told a story about the time they had been cutting wood for a man named Joe Miller, and they set a little bit to the side each day. One day they planned to collect it all and take it with them, but some white men found out and decided to take it for themselves. Lymon and Boy Willie had no say in what was happening because the white men had all authority over them. Even though Lymon and Boy Willie were technically stealing from Joe Miller, it still wasn’t fair for the white men to take advantage of them and take the wood for themselves. Lymon and Boy Willie were just as entitled to it as they were, but the white men always win over the black men. Reading this reminded me completely of a part in “The Warmth of Other Suns” when George starling was almost a teenager. He and his friends liked to climb the orange trees and eat the oranges. One night, they were caught by a man named Mr. McClendon. Mr. McClendon threatened to call their fathers, so they begged him not to and told him they would never do it again. Even though he knew they were lying about never doing it again and that they were at fault, George was still bothered by the fact that he didn’t even have the right to stand up for himself. “He knew they were wrong, but he didn’t like how the grown people wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said, and he didn’t see the punishment as fitting the crime.” I was able to relate this scene to the one with cutting wood in “The Piano Lesson” because in both situations, the black people had no right to stand up for themselves. If they had tried to stand up for themselves, they could have been
I then began to notice similarities such as slavery and black people never having a say in anything if it involves a white person. There was a section in “The Piano Lesson” where Lymon and Boy Willie told a story about the time they had been cutting wood for a man named Joe Miller, and they set a little bit to the side each day. One day they planned to collect it all and take it with them, but some white men found out and decided to take it for themselves. Lymon and Boy Willie had no say in what was happening because the white men had all authority over them. Even though Lymon and Boy Willie were technically stealing from Joe Miller, it still wasn’t fair for the white men to take advantage of them and take the wood for themselves. Lymon and Boy Willie were just as entitled to it as they were, but the white men always win over the black men. Reading this reminded me completely of a part in “The Warmth of Other Suns” when George starling was almost a teenager. He and his friends liked to climb the orange trees and eat the oranges. One night, they were caught by a man named Mr. McClendon. Mr. McClendon threatened to call their fathers, so they begged him not to and told him they would never do it again. Even though he knew they were lying about never doing it again and that they were at fault, George was still bothered by the fact that he didn’t even have the right to stand up for himself. “He knew they were wrong, but he didn’t like how the grown people wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said, and he didn’t see the punishment as fitting the crime.” I was able to relate this scene to the one with cutting wood in “The Piano Lesson” because in both situations, the black people had no right to stand up for themselves. If they had tried to stand up for themselves, they could have been