The Piano Lesson

August Wilson in his play The Piano Lesson writes an enthralling drama surrounded in conflict, family history, and questioning the importance of the past versus future legacy. At the center of the conflict is Boy Willie and his sister Berniece as they clash over what to do with a family piano that used to belong to a slave owner of their ancestors. Berniece wishes to keep the piano and hang on to the history of their family’s ancestors. Boy Willie, on the other hand, wishes to sell the piano and use the money as a way to buy land that their family used to work as slaves, looking to his own self-regard and create a future for himself.
The setting of the play is in Doaker Charles’ (the uncle of Boy Willie and Berniece) house. Berniece and her …show more content…
Doaker tells the story of Robert Sutter, a slave owner, who was looking for an anniversary gift for his wife, but had no money, and so he sold two of his slaves, which were Doaker’s grandmother and father, for the piano. Doaker and his two brothers ended up stealing the piano and Berniece and Boy Willie’s father was murdered as a result. In response to their father’s death Berniece wishes to keep and maintain their family history, Boy Willie however, responds with: “All that’s in the past. 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.” Here Boy Willie shows how he is not in agreement of hanging on to the family history but rather looking to his future legacy.
August Wilson’s play was refreshingly readable and relatable. The Piano Lesson’s dialogue was written in a way that has a feel of the typical family communicating with one another. Most of the characters give off a sense of being of average intelligence which helps contribute to the relatability that the characters share with the