August Wilson's The Piano Lesson: Family Legacy

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In the movie, "The Piano Lesson" by August Wilson are two siblings at war over the question of using the family legacy. Berniece and Boy Willie are brother and sister left with a piano that bounded their family for centuries. It all started with their great grandparents working as slaves on Robert Sutter's land. Sutter wanted to make an anniversary present out of his friend's piano but couldn’t afford it. He then decided to trade some of his slaves. One was Berniece and Boy Willie's uncle Doaker's grandmother Berniece and the other one was Doaker's father. Sutter's wife loved the piano but she grew to miss her slaves. Sutter then asked Doaker's grandfather, Willie Boy, to carve the faces of his wife and child into the piano. Willie Boy did not only carve his immediate family in the piano, but he included his mother, father, and various scenes from the family history. Long after slavery, Berniece and Boy Willie's father, Boy Charles developed an obsession over the Piano. Boy Charles, and Berniece and Boy Willie's uncles, Doaker and Wining Boy stole the piano and fled town. Boy Charles got caught on the Yellow Dog train and was burned to the ground. This leaves Beniece and Boy Willie to argue over the family heirloom.

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He wants to sale the piano and take his profits to purchase Sutter's land. Boy Willie believes that God ain't making anymore land and he wants to possess a property of his own. He wants to be equivalent to the white man and he thinks his daddy, Boy Charles, fought and died for that piano so they can buy the land their family was once enslaved on and honor their father's memory. Boy Willie doesn’t understand why Berniece won’t give it up because she hasn’t touched that piano for over seven years. He refuses to be like his daddy and work his whole life on someone else's land. Boy Willie's only desire is to build on with what his family left

Thesis For The Piano Lesson

In The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, the Charles legacy is upheld with the family piano. The piano was an item that recorded the family’s history of enslavement. In The Piano Lesson, Berniece holds on to the past memories of her family, through the attachment of the piano. She keeps in mind all the struggle and hardships her relatives went through with that piano. It’s essentially an artifact with an overwhelming amount of history behind it. As much as she cared for the piano, Berniece left the…

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Charles S. Dutton's The Piano Lesson

Economic liberation, the preservation of familial legacy, or the desertion of one’s restrictive circumstances in search of a new identity is a topic that has especially plagued the Black community. Arguments for these ideas and ideals are what continue to create grave disaccords that halt forward movement. There is an abundance of truth and justification for each of these philosophies, but then the question becomes how does one reconcile trading history for self-independence. Very few plays have…

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Note Cards Essay

Biography.com: August Wilson wrote his first notable play in 1979, Jitney, for which he earned a fellowship at the Minneapolis Playwright Center. In 1981, Wilson married Judy Oliver. The following year, his new play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, was accepted at the Eugene O'Neill Playwright's Conference. The year 1982 was particularly fruitful for Wilson, as it marked his introduction to Lloyd Richards, who went on to direct Wilson's first six Broadway plays. Wilson's play Fences premiered on Broadway…

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August Wilson's The Piano Lesson

In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, siblings Boy Willie and Berniece fight for ownership over the piano. Though it is in her own possession, Berniece does little with it, as she is reluctant to engage with the supernatural spirits haunting the piano, which also has a rich connection to her family history. Berniece’s relationship with the past is an indication that one must accost the past in order to build a positive future. In Berniece’s case, she must accost the history of the piano and the spirits…

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