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Analysis Of The Piano Lesson By August Wilson

793 Words4 Pages

August Wilson's The Piano Lesson is a gripping piece that takes place in Pittsburgh and examines the African American experiences during the 1930’s. The story revolves around the conflict between two siblings, Berniece, and Boy Willie over an antique piano. This antique piano holds a significant place in their family history. This 137-year-old piano holds great significance to their family because it is a strong representation of their families past trials and tribulations. The approach I chose to use for this play is design. Throughout my paper, I will focus on creating an overall concept and designing specific costumes for the characters. The overarching concept for the costumes in The Piano Lesson will be to create an authentic representation …show more content…

Wilson was known for his vivid depictions of African American life. Wilson’s plays often explore the legacy of slavery and its impact on subsequent generations. Berniece’s connection to her family’s piano reflects this larger theme, as she grapples with the weight of her ancestors’ experiences. In the first act of the play, the character of Berniece is shown as a strong-willed and independent woman that plays a crucial role to this play’s story and themes. In the first act of the play, Berniece is introduced as a mourning widow who is unwilling to part with her family’s piano, which has been passed down through generations. Berniece is haunted by the memory of her ancestors, who were brought over from Africa as slaves and forced to endure unimaginable hardships. The piano represents her family’s legacy and history, and Berniece feels a strong responsibility to preserve it. Throughout the play, Berniece struggles with her relationship with her brother Boy Willie, who wants to sell the piano to buy land. Berniece sees the piano as a symbol of her family’s heritage and refuses to let it go, while on the other hand, Boy Willie sees it as a way to make a better life for himself and his family. Their conflict is a microcosm of the larger struggles facing the African American community, as they battle with their history and their hopes for the

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395 Words | 2 Pages

have a great relationship with Boy Willie. Once Lymon notices the piano and tells Boy Willie, this is where the drama begins. Boy Willie tells Lymon that he wants to sell the piano because he thinks it is worth a lot of money. Doaker already knows that Berniece will not let him sell the piano because of the significance it has within the family. Another reason Berniece does not want to sell the piano is because her daughter, Maretha, is learning how to play it.

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In this play, Wilson illustrates the current generation that is struggling to hold on to their ancestry. He exposes the audience to two such characters named Berneice and her brother Boy Willie, who tell the history of the piano. When he saw the painting of Romare Bearden, he was influenced by it to make this play. “The Piano Lesson is a painting of a little girl at the piano with her piano teacher standing over her and in my mind, I saw Maretha and Berniece” (NY Times). The piano is carved with the faces of their ancestors in slavery, the piano represents a valuable piece of history that the family fights over. In Bearden’s collage he shows a figure playing the piano with a woman that is standing above her trying to teach her how to play.

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August Wilson’s play, The Piano Lesson, expresses the idea that African-Americans must embrace where they've come from before they will truly be able to move forward with their life. In relation to this the piano in the play represents the Charles families years of slavery to the Sutter family, as well as a symbolic representation of the strength and resiliency of the family. Music serves the function of representing the past, present, and the future, through the family piano. The music in “The Piano Lesson” serves as a solution to the characters’ problems and an escape from their hardships. The characters were able to reconcile their pasts through the illustration of music.

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640 Words | 3 Pages

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267 Words | 2 Pages

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The history of what the piano and her family makes it hard for her to have any contact with the piano. Berniece also mentions that she does not want to play it because she might wake the spirits of her ancestors that had passed. We can conclude that, that is the reason she says " Avery.. I done told you I don’t want to play that piano, now or no other time"(page 71). But that changed till one day the family experienced the presence of Sutter, and in order to remove it Berniece was brave enough to play the piano and call out her ancestors to help them remove the

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