Slavery Essay, Research Paper

According to Wilson, during slavery time, Robert Sutter owned the Charles family. He wanted to give a piano to his wife, but did not have any money. He traded Boy Willie s great grand mother and his grandfather. Mrs. Sutter missed her slaves. An offer to trade back the piano for them was refused. Sutter ordered Great-grandfather Charles to carve the pictures of his wife and son on the piano so that Mrs. Sutter could have them near her. Charles carved portraits of his wife and son, and scenes from his family history on the piano. A generation later, Papa Boy Charles, Boy Willie and Berniece s father stole the piano from the Sutter s because he believed it belonged to the Charles family. He was hunted down and burned alive in a train boxcar. Boy Charles widow grieved for seventeen years while young Berniece watched (36).

The piano was passed on to Berniece and Boy Willie. Three years ago in Mississippi, Berniece s husband was killed. She moved to Pittsburgh with Uncle Doaker, taking the piano with her. Avery Brown, a farmer turned preacher, followed her to Pittsburgh and proposed to her. She refused his offer. With the recent death of the last Sutter heir, Boy Willie was offered a chance to buy the last acres of the Sutter plantation. He and his friend decided to go to Pittsburgh and try and sell the family s piano to get the rest of the money. Therefore, the problem starts her (Wilson 22).

Berniece s instinct to protect herself from being hurt by the reckless action of men sets her at odds with Boy Willie, Doaker, and Avery when she refuses to remarry. Her

maternal instincts compel her to spare her daughter from the burden of the piano, and to prepare her to be a teacher, so that she can be independent and have a better life. Although she is unaware of it, Berniece has the capacity to free herself from her self-imposed exile from life, and conquer the evil spirit plaguing her family. She has a strong sense of survival and justice that is in her Christian beliefs. This is demonstrated when she is faced with losing her brother to Sutter s evil spirit.

According to Pereira, Berniece has a significant role in this play. She realizes the importance the piano has on the whole family. She determines to keep the piano even though it has been a curse upon her family. She wold rather hold on to the bitter past it represents than face the challenges of the future. She teaches her eleven-year old daughter to play the piano. Meanwhile, her brother Boy Willie comes to visit and while he is there, he tries to persuade Berniece to let him sell the piano, so he can buy the land his great grandparents once lived on. and have the dreams of elevating his status in society. Berniece will not allow her brother to sell the heirloom (52).

Berniece stands firm not to let her brother sell the piano. However, she experiences growth. It is the environment that causes her problems. There is a man in her life by the name of Avery, he wants to marry her, but he can t put her trust in another

man. She realizes that she had two men in her life and they were both killed. She feels if she falls in love with another man, he too will be taken away.

Berniece refuses to play the piano because she is afraid to wake the spirits of her ancestors. She goes through many changes. She is forced to confront her unwillingness to embrace her past. Boy Willie s interpretation of Berniece s not using the piano causes more problems between them, and leads to him being attacked by Stutter s ghost. He fails to translate the true value of the piano.

However, when Sutter s evil ghost attacks Boy Willie, she uses the piano to release those spirits to save her brother. The reason she hates her brother is because she blames him for her husband s death (Pereira 82).

Berniece still believes that as black people, they still have to stay at the bottom of life. Doaker tries to talk to Berniece to make her realize that maybe she should sell the piano, so it can stop the confusion between her and her brother. Boy Willie really embraces his history. He doesn t need this piece of wood to remind him of who his daddy was. Berniece realizes that she needs the piano to keep her father in mind.

Boy Willie insists that there is no difference between him and the white man. His friend foresees that even if Boy Willie owns land in Mississippi, he ll never have the power to sway the law to his side of an issue against a white man.

Meanwhile, Berniece, aware of what the piano cost their family in lost lives and grief that follows, tries to make Boy Willie see beyond its monetary value. She reminds him that their father traded his life for the piano and hoe their widowed mother suffered.

Boy Willie searches the house for signs of Sutter s ghost when Berniece first sees it,but fails to find any evidence of a haunting. He believes she is making up the ghost sighting to get rid of him. Berniece also fails to provide evidence that the piano is filled with the anguished spirits of their ancestors or that it is anything more than a carved instrument (Wilson 12).

In Conclusion, the Piano Lesson focuses on a struggle between brother, Boy Willie, and sister, Berniece, over whether to sell an heirloom piano. The piano was previously owned by the Sutter family, who held Boy Willie and Berniece s family enslaved. The slaveowner acquired the piano in a trade; he traded Berniece and Boy Willie great-grandmother and their grandfather for it. Berniece and Boy Willie s grandfather carved portraits of his family into the piano legs in memory of the loss of his wife and son. Boy Willie wants to sell the piano to buy a piece of the property where his family served as slaves. His eye is only to the future. Berniece refuses to part with the instrument. She is unable to play the piano. Berniece cannot reconcile her past with her present.

The Piano Lesson

By

Brandon Williams

Humanities103, Section 03

Mrs. Price

August 04,2000

Works Cited

Pereira, Kim. August Wilson and the African American Odyssey. University of

Illinois Press. Chicago, Illinois.1995.

Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. A Plume Book. New York, NY.1990.

Outline

Title: The Piano Lesson

Thesis: The Piano Lesson tells us about a family that has problems and it takes a tragedy to bring the family back together.

I. Introduction

A. Wilson tells us how the piano first has a reaction on the Charles family.

B. Wilson tells us how the piano was passed from one generation to another.

II. Berniece has to overcome some obstacles in her life.

A. Her father dies trying to steal the piano.

B. Her husband is burned alive in a boxcar.

III. Berniece has a significant role in this play.

A. She realizes the importance of the piano.

B. She overcomes the evil spirits.

IV. Conclusion

A. Berniece uses the piano to exorcise the ghost and save her brother. Boy Willie decides that the heirloom belongs with the family and returns to Mississippi.