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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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