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What Extreme Measures Would You Take To Keep A Symbolic Family Heirloom's Legacy Alive?

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What extreme measures would you take to keep a symbolic family heirloom's legacy alive? The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, is a play that is based on conflict between two siblings and how they are haunted with past trauma over a piano that was passed down to them from their parents. Berniece’s family's past reveals her relationship with the piano. The piano meant a lot of things to a lot of different people over the years. Opposing siblings Berniece and Boy Willie struggle to come to terms with each other over what to do with the precious family heirloom. Boy Willie is persistent on selling the piano to buy land. Berniece wants to keep the piano because it holds a lot of sentimental value to her. Wilson uses the piano as a symbol of the family’s oppressive history and strength, as well as accepting the past to move on. In order to be at the same …show more content…

The adult Berniece leaves the piano untouched in an attempt to lay these spirits to rest while maintaining a grief with her ancestors' past. Moreover, she has refused to pass the piano's history onto her daughter and celebrate it within the family. Berniece can do nothing but carry the past and its traumas with her. She explains to her brother, "Money can't buy what that piano cost. You can't sell your soul for money. It won't go with the buyer. It'll shrivel and shrink" (Wilson 1.2.50). She feels that it is almost profane to sell the piano, since so much of their family history is wrapped up in it. When the ghost of Sutter attacks, Berniece finally conquers her fears and plays the piano. She calls on the spirits of her ancestors to help banish Sutter's ghost. Berniece finds a spiritual connection through the piano and calls on not only the strength of her ancestors, but on the power of the African American

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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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Berniece still constantly thinks about Crawley and has refused to re-marry. Though the play ultimately stages her seduction by Lymon—in some sense to recuperate her femininity—it is crucial that she

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Family is a very a complex thing,there can be many things that can tear a family apart. In life there will be inner family struggles,but you will will need to find a way to work through it. Although the piano has sentimental value to Berniece the piano is not being used,so Boy Willie should get the piano to buy the land. While there is tension between Berniece and Boy Willie it begins to build in a dispute over the family piano. Boy Willie is arguing with Berniece over the piano and says he should get it because he is going to buy land,so he will build of of it which the ancestors would have wanted.

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In 1971, Alvin Ailey choreographed Cry, a three part work solo dance set to gospel music that describes an emotional journey filled with struggle, hardships, defeat, survival and joy. It was intended as a birthday present to Alvin’s mother and a dedication to all black women everywhere. The first part of the dance is the struggle of trying to maintain pride irrespective of the opposition faced from outside. The second part reveals the sorrow within after the woman’s pride has been shattered into pieces and finally the third part is a spirited celebration of finding strength and joy in God. Even though cry was dedicated to only black women, i argue the notion that all women both black and white of the nineteenth century could relate

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Throughout the play, Berniece is afraid of the piano and absolutely refuses to play it. At the very end, Sutter’s ghost is attacking Boy Willie and “Berniece realizes what she must do…She begins to play. The song is found piece by piece. It is an old urge to song that is both a commandment and a plea” (Wilson 106). The song is described as a commandment because it is only when she confronts her fear that Berniece finds her inner power and strength that

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The Piano man turns on his lights, which shine on Jefferies’ face to foreshadow a realization. The piano man stumbles into his studio apartment drunk. He then shoves his music off of the piano and collapses into a nearby chair. At first Jefferies laughs at the piano man. However, Jefferies soon realizes that the piano man’s actions merely animate his own feelings, causing Jefferies to cast his gaze down in shame for laughing.

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There is a sentimental value that is attached to every families’ collection of heirlooms and keepsakes. No matter how long these items remain in storage or are hidden away; their representation always stays the same, they keep people connected to their family roots. Author John Updike’s short story, “The Brown Chest” uses symbolism and imagery and sensory writing to focus on the idea that family memories never fade away and material things can maintain a deeper meaning no matter what they endure. John Updike appeals to the reader’s senses to allow them to connect with what is occurring in the story on a more profound level. He begins the story by writing from the main character’s childhood perspective.

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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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Berniece's brother, Boy Willie, wants to profit off of the piano and sell it to buy the land of Sutter who recently passed away. Berniece disagrees with this incentive and believes the piano should be preserved to preserve the history it withholds. Throughout the play, Boy Willie tries to convince Berniece that it would make

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Mama Ola engraved playing the piano to her into Berniece. However, she wouldn’t play it at all. In Harry Justin Elam’s “The Dialectics of August Wilson’s Piano Lesson”, Elam says, “Accordingly, Berniece’s neglect of the piano, her unwillingness to confront the ghosts of her past, threatens the current stability of the Charles family and allows the ghost of Sutter to return and contest them for ownership of the piano and possession of the “songs.”” (Elam Passage 7). What Elam is implying is very true.

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The American slaves were living lives of hopelessness, extreme physical pain, and brutality. Singing was a way of coping with awful circumstances. Their spirituals sang of a beautiful life after death as a way to inspire and uplift each other. (Musician Guide) While “The Piano Lesson” is portrayed years and years after slavery, the connection between African Americans and Christianity is still prevalent and intensely felt throughout the play.

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