The past can have a high impact on someone’s life whether it’s positive or negative. In The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, the character Berniece has an unhealthy relationship with her family’s past and the legacy of slavery. Due to her ignoring it, the past haunts her. In the end, she learns that you must accept and honor the past to find peace with it.
Bernience owns a piano which holds intense value to her family and their past. Berniece's brother, Boy Willie, wants to profit off of the piano and sell it to buy the land of Sutter who recently passed away. Berniece disagrees with this incentive and believes the piano should be preserved to preserve the history it withholds. Throughout the play, Boy Willie tries to convince Berniece that it would make
…show more content…
During this Berniece claims there is a ghost in the house identified to be Sutter’s ghost and that it is searching for Boy Willie. Sutter is the man whose grandfather owned the ancestors of Berniece and Boy Willie. In the past, the piano was a gift to the grandfather of Sutter’s wife for their anniversary. Though to obtain the piano Sutter had to trade the ancestors of Berniece and Boy Willie. As time passed, though his wife cherished the piano she missed the slaves/ancestors who were traded. Sutter decided to ask Willie Boy, an ancestor of Berniece and Boy Willie, to carve the faces of the slaves who were traded. Willie Boy did so but also decided to carve all of the ancestors along with the family history tied to them. After slavery had passed, Boy Charles, the father of Berniece and Boy Willie, decided to steal the piano from Sutter considering its ties to the family. Though Charles was successful in obtaining the piano, when Boy Charles fled on the Yellow Dog, the lynchers who set his house
Natasha Trethewey's "History Lesson" explores and examines the connection of personal and collective histories, particularly the intergenerational pain created by the legacy of slavery and racism in the United States. “History Lesson" employs mood, symbolism, and imagery to connect the racial discrimination endured by colored people in the past to more current times, where equality is improved and embraced. Also, while reading Trethewey's poem, she used a nostalgic tone, and an emotional mood to remind readers of America's contaminated past while also encouraging them to hope for a better future. Immediately upon reading this poem I was feeling a sort of calm and innocent reaction in the first couple of lines. But I was also getting nostalgic
According to Mrs. Grose, one of the maids who worked at Bly, the Governess described the ghosts as being Miss Jessel and Peter Quint. Miss Jessel was the former Governess and Peter Quint was a part of the help at Bly. Mrs. Grose also saw the Governess slip quickly away into insanity caused by the ghosts, and Mrs. Grose and the children wanted to escape from the Governess by leaving Bly household. There are several indicators that the children and Mrs. Grose wanted to escape from the Governess as a result of her mental instability and possibly even the ghosts. Miles says “Then when am I going back(to school)?”
“Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house. Now I’m supposed to uild on what they left me”(Wilson 51).If Boy Willie purchases the land he will be able to do more and help his family because he will prosper if he sell it instead of having it sit in Berniece’s house. Boy Willie wants to avoid an argument with Berniece so he decides to take the piano while she is at work. “Come on,let’s get it loaded before Berniece come
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
He is ashamed of having a younger brother who can't walk, and he believes that if he can teach Doodle to walk, it will make him look better in the eyes of others. This prideful motivation leads him to push Doodle too hard, which ultimately leads to his death. Love is another theme that runs throughout the story. Despite
Even trough thus far the brother has been selfish about his beliefs he is not all bad. Both the brother and Doodle go down to the swamp and play around. To me even trough the brother is gaining from it, i believe that Doodle is gaining even more. The brothers plan to teach Doodle how to climb, swim, fight, and run before the start of school is bittersweet. Having Doodle learn how to do all of those things would be great for Doodle since I doubt that Doodle likes being crippled.
In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson Berniece Charles has been dealing with the death of her husband, Crawley, for the past three years and the presence of an old piano in her home that ties all the way back to her great grandparents and the slavery that they were subjected to. Crawley’s death occurred due to his involvement in a firefight with police when he was assisting Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie, and Boy Willie’s friend, Lymon Jackson in the pilfering of wood. Berniece blames her brother for Crawley’s death because he was present during this action of stealing. Berniece also deals with the acceptance of an old, engraved piano in her household that has a long history of her family tied to it. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Berniece
Simon Birch’s brother treated him with much more respect than Doodle’s brother did. Doodle’s brother taught him how to walk because he wanted to have a able bodied brother. ”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him” (James Hurst 132) Whereas Simon’s brother Joe did things out of the love of his heart.
This fifteen-year-old girl was willing to remove herself from her social life, free time activities, and even her family in order to further her piano career and thus earn the coveted respect of her Tante. That requires an immense amount of devotion, likely even more than some adults have. Hannah was so absorbed in her piano studies that “sometimes it seemed that there was nothing else in the world but Tante Rose and me and Tante Rose’s piano” (3). She saw nothing but what was necessary for her goal of becoming a concert pianist. Her devotion to the piano, and by extent Tante Rose, overwhelmed all other aspects of her life.
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
The Piano Man’s Daughter executes all of the elements of a great book perfectly. Works Cited Findley, Timothy. The Piano Man 's Daughter. New York: Crown, 1995. Print. "
August Wilson's play Fences addresses a great content of interpreting and inheriting history. Throughout Fences, much of the conflict emerge because the characters are at disparity with the way they see their foregoing and what they want to do with their forthcoming. Fences explores how the damaged aspirations of one generation can taint the dreams of the next generation on how they deal with the creation of their own identity when their role model is a full of dishonesty. Wilson illustrates his qualities primarily through his use of symbolism in the play Fences.
The history of what the piano and her family makes it hard for her to have any contact with the piano. Berniece also mentions that she does not want to play it because she might wake the spirits of her ancestors that had passed. We can conclude that, that is the reason she says " Avery.. I done told you I don’t want to play that piano, now or no other time"(page 71). But that changed till one day the family experienced the presence of Sutter, and in order to remove it Berniece was brave enough to play the piano and call out her ancestors to help them remove the
The speaker as a child would see his father as a harsh man but as an adult, when he looked back he saw that his father had a love for his family. His father's love could be considered as a hidden love. However in the poem “Piano” the speaker's life seemed great until he looked back at his past to see his mother playing the piano and
Legacy In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Berniece struggles with the piano and it’s memories brought on by her mother. During the play Berniece argues the piano’s importance to Boy Willie. However, she has a shift in attitude. Berniece doesn't really interact with the piano or want anything to do with it