The Piano Lesson August Wilson Character Traits

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Piano Lesson: Character Analysis

The Piano Lesson was written by August Wilson. The playbook is set in Pittsburgh in the late 1930’s. The play is about the Charles family and the legacy left by their slave ancestors. The main characters in the play are; Berniece, Boy Willie, Doaker, Lymon, Sutter, and the Ghost of the Yellow Dog. The trauma and drama left by the slaves haunts this family still to this day. The heirloom that has caused so much grief for the family is a piano. Their ancestor craved their faces into the piano for their slave master’s wife. The piano is the center of all this family’s emotional and physical stress. According to the family’s superstition keeping the piano with the slave owners relatives would keep them in bondage. With that the family has kept the piano from anybody else’s grasp, because of their weird feelings about it. …show more content…

Berniece blames her brother for the death of her husband. Which is one part of their on again off again relationship. Since Boy Willie is back from serving his time, he is ready to make some changes in the way his life. The first thing that he wants to sell the piano that their family has. Since he is back and has become aware of the passing of his ancestors slave master’s kin, he thinks it's a perfect time to sell the piano. With the money, he wants to purchase the Sutter’s land, where his ancestors worked as slaves, and create a better life for his family. Well Berniece on the other hand, is not trying to let go of the legacy and tradition of the piano. The conflict continues because Berneice is suspicious of her brother’s

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