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August Wilson's The Piano Lesson

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The Piano Lesson Timed Write In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, the story Berniece’s family and their past of enslavement and chaotic events is described throughout a play. Within the play two men named Lyman and Boy Willie come up from the South to sell watermelons and visit Berniece and Doaker in their home. As this occurs, the story begins and the relevance of an astonishing and mysterious piano is brought to life within the household. In The Piano Lesson, Berniece struggles with her past ties of family enslavement which reveals to us the importance of legacy and how a close connection to one’s past can positively influence one’s present day life, forming a purpose for one’s will of a better lifestyle and improvement of oneself as a person. …show more content…

Berniece’s household contains a piano unique to her family’s history. Engraved on the piano are her ancestors of her family and their memories throughout their lives created by her own Great Grandfather. While this special piano seems to be the epicenter of her family’s story and a priceless item, Berniece doesn’t make much use of the piano except to occasionally have her daughter Maretha play on it. Despite the absence of music emitted from the piano, Berniece refuses to let Boy Willie sell the piano as it appears to have sentimental value to her. As Boy Willie, Berniece’s brother, attempts to convince Berniece to let him sell part of the piano for Sutter’s farmland, Berniece exclaims that her father died in a box car as a result of the piano. Along with this, she expresses her anger towards the ‘cold’ 17 years mama Ola played and committed to the Piano like it was a tradition, all the while the men in the family were constantly ‘killing and thieving’, “For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled. Then she rubbed the blood in... mixed it up with the rest of the blood on it.”(Wilson 1232) As this close yet negative connection is revealed to us about the piano, it is clear that Berniece hides and ignores her past for her own sake, and maybe even for her daughter’s sanity as well. As the special piano resides in obvious view within the charles household, Berniece is reminded almost everyday of the ties related to the piano most of which are negative. Considering these circumstances, it seems reasonable that Bernice may want to ignore the piano, her dad died over it, but in doing so she also limits her connection to her past ancestors and nearly refuses their legacy, which in a way could be seen as placing all past

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