The Piano Lesson

The Piano Lesson by August Wilson explores the conflict within a family to sell their long-held piano. The inciting incident occurs when Boy Willie tells his sister Bernice that he plans on selling the piano. Berniece is completely opposed to this prospect. The piano has a history through their family and she finds that it is a tradition that she must keep alive. The crises occurs when Sutter’s ghost prevents Lymon and Boy Willie from being able to move the piano. Boy Willie finds this frustrating and infuriating, as he is mocked by his desire to earn profit out of the piano. After each moment of his frustration, Wilson utilizes comic relief to lighten the atmosphere. For example, as Boy Willie argues with Berniece, a drunk Whining Boy enters…

Playwright August Wilson writes his drama’s in order to demonstrate the struggles of Black Americans throughout the twentieth century. In fact, August Wilson uses The Piano Lesson to illustrate the hardships of two siblings involving conflicts, symbolism, religion, and folklore. Boy Willie focuses mainly on the time at which his family was held captive as slaves to a chance to buy his own piece of land. The Piano Lesson demonstrates the importance of family heirlooms and how no amount of money…

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…

When the past is often discussed, few truly recognize the importance of how previous trails aid with the development of the future. Knowledge gained from prior actions, and their consequences after, are vital in survival and preparation for upcoming tribulations. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, this artful theater production expresses how the past provides the necessary understanding to prepare for the following difficulties. Bernice in The Piano Lesson conveys how the past, and former…

your family is. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Berniece Charles denies and avoids her family’s history by not playing the piano and rejecting the existence of the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog. This reveals how embracing the past can be beneficial to present and future actions. The Charles family has overcome a copious amount of obstacles over the years: they were enslaved by the Sutter family, separated and sold in exchange for a piano, and have even been incarcerated in the Parchman Prison…

in The Piano Lesson The Piano Lesson, a play written by August Wilson, portrays a family that has been living within the presence of various ghosts and spirits. The play hones in on the Charles family living in Pittsburgh during the depression. Doaker, Berniece and Maretha are surprised with a visit from Bernice’s brother Boy Willie and his partner Lymon. In the house which Berniece, Doaker and Maretha live, there is a piano; a family heirloom that has carvings of ancestors carefully engraved…

world.” Decades after the Civil Rights Movement, in 1990, August Wilson wrote one of his more noteworthy productions called The Piano Lesson. This play is the fourth book in Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle which is a series…

Black Americans living throughout the twentieth century. In fact, August Wilson uses The piano Lesson to uncover the hardships Boy Willie and his family face focusing on a time when his family was held captive as slaves to a chance to own his own piece of land. The Piano Lesson demonstrates the importance of family heirlooms and how no amount of money could ever replace the sentimental value they hold. Berniece and Boy Willie battle over whether the piano should be sold to help re-write the…

Possessions that people treasure the most usually have more value to the beholder than anyone else. There could be an emotional attachment to this item, such as a final gift from a friend, it could be the only thing an individual has to remember a deceased loved one, or it could be an heirloom passed down in a family for generations. In The Piano Lesson, Berniece feels as if she has a strong emotional bond to the piano: it literally has her family’s history carved on it. This piano, traded for…

In The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, readers can see Berniece struggle to let the piano go, which affects Boy Willie from buying Sutter’s land. In this play there are some religious aspects, some of which who say are attached to the piano. Boy Willie struggles to see the piano more than just an item which is in their house, he fails to see the emotional attachment within the piano, and struggles to utilize it correctly. In this play, Boy Willie comes from Mississippi all the way to Pittsburgh…