Essays on Piano Lesson

In the op-ed “In ‘The Piano Lesson,’ a Family Fight Over an Heirloom Rooted in Slavery” by Ken Jaworowski posted in The New York Times last 26 Jan 2016, the author describes the method of acting by the performers. There are several words and ways that can be used to describe the different aspects of a play, but to be able to do it in an objective manner is not easy. Theatrical performances generally involve emotions, and in writing a review about on, it is difficult to move away from capitalizing on the emotions implied while staying objective about ...

When it comes to the topic of slavery, one’s heart immediately jumps up and cries out for justice. It is a dark mark on this country’s and the world’s past. What makes August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson so interesting is that the Charles family’s ties to the time period are so close, they not only remember who owned them, they know the family personally. It is this fact that creates the dilemma of the first act. Boy Willie wants to sell the family’s piano in order to buy the land of the Sutters, the ...

August Wilson met success as a play writer after experiencing various odd jobs and dropping out of school after facing intense racism. In a way, the drama is a personal piece of expression for him. The Piano Lesson focuses on the lives of two siblings and an ancient family heirloom dating back to their great grandfather’s time. The drama revolves around their bickering over the piano that what should be done with it. Boy Willie and Berenice, the two siblings, and their story focuses on the migration of Africans and the problems they faced during whole life but also add to ...

"The Piano Lesson" By August Wilson

Set in Pittsburg in 1936, the play “The Piano Lesson” revolves around the contradictory standpoints of two siblings, Willie and Bernice as they fight over one of their family’s most prized possession, the piano (Wilson 23). Boy Willie is so determined to sell the piano and use the proceeds from the piano sale to purchase a piece of land from the Sutters, a white family who had murdered Boy Willie’s father. Bernice refuses to listen to the proposition to sell the Piano. She reminds her brother Willie that money what the piano costs is impossible to be bought with ...

Music and Heritage in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson

Music plays both an obvious and a subtle role in the action of August Wilson’s play, The Piano Lesson. The most obvious part is because of the piano itself. The piano is a part of the Charles family history. It was bought by the Sutter family during the time that the Charles family was owned as slaves by the Sutters. Robert Sutter bought the piano for his wife by trading two slaves for it; however, his wife, who plays the piano, decides she wants her slaves back because she misses them. Since the Sutters are unable to get the slaves ...

August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson

As part of August Wilson’s ten play cycle, The Piano Lesson concerns issues that African-Americans deal with in the 1930s, primarily the effect of the past, its bearing on the present, and the consequences for the future. The weight of the past in the play is represented by the piano. This piano once belonged to the Sutter family, slaveholders who owned the members of the Charles family who currently possess the piano. As Doaker reveals when he explains to Boy Willy why Berniece will not consent to the sale of the piano, members of the Charles family stole ...