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Essay Subject: Analysis of August Wilson's play set in the Depression era.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analysis of August Wilson's play set in the Depression era. The piano as a protagonist of the play. Its representation ob black history and transition from past to present. Monetary and symbolic value of the piano. Wilson's use of music in his plays. Different interpretations of the American Dream. Struggle between the past, present and future. Paper Introduction: THE PIANO LESSON Inside this book, there is a review from the Washington Post which says, in part “The piano is no less vital a sign of a family’s spiritual heritage than Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard was.” In a sense, the piano itself is the protagonist of this play. It was stolen from a white man. It represents not only black history -- the pain of slavery and the greater pain of some sort of limited freedom. It also represents a sort of transition from the past to the present (Berniece and Boy Willie, for example) and the future (eleven-year old Maretha). The piano also symbolizes some little wealth -- it is obviously worth money. Boy Willie wants to sell it for his share to buy into his piece of the American dream -- a hundred acres of land down Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Cause the land give back to you. For blacks in the Nineteen Thirties, we have now come to anepiphany: Boy Willie heading back to his land. One can go down a list of some of themusical "greats" of the early part of the Twentieth Century, for exampleJelly Roll Morton and W.C. Avery is noMartin Luther King, Jr. But, thereis a continuity in this family, even with slavery and a burning box-car, astolen piano, and small amounts of money made and lost. Storyville helped to establish a special kind of jazzman- the solo pianist. Boy Willie thinks he is being more practical. He is following his father's advice that people must own the productsof their labor. . (199 ). The piano is the link in this family, and Boy Willie cannot understandits symbolic value. (1956) The Story of Jazz New York: Oxford UniversityPress.Wilson, A. New York: Plume Books So does would-be preacher Avery, who works as an elevatoroperator ('with a pension"). Berniece tells Boy Willie, "Moneycan't buy what that piano cost. Thepiano also symbolizes some little wealth -- it is obviously worth money.Boy Willie wants to sell it for his share to buy into his piece of theAmerican dream -- a hundred acres of land down South. This family -- widow, widower, nephews and brothers and friends --were part of the move toward recognition as a group of people willing towork and pay for what they wanted. "By clinging to thepast she does not have to face the challenges of the present and thefuture; she can retreat into the false security of her denials" (Pereira,1993, p. Yet, she realizes somewhere down deep that she may need a man andromance and love. In Boy Willie's case, that means owning land -- even if theprice he is asked to pay is higher than what Sutter might offer the land toa white man. Slow-witted Lymon, the fanaticallyreligious Avery, the anxious Boy Willie -- all seem somehow to bestereotypical of a white man's version of black folks at home. Berniece's character becomes a lesson on how theblack community must remember the past. To get even with somebody? Handy. In fact, one might think that he is playing the"Jesus Card" more for acceptance (and some eventual profit) than a realrelease from his current status. "You can sit up here and look at that piano for the next hundredyears, and it's just gonna be a piano. as long as I got the land and the seed then I'm alright. 51).Without reading any further, one is tempted to be at a cross-roads. The struggle between this ghost andBoy Willie, between the past, the present, and the future, brings theprotagonist to the rescue: the piano, that is. Through Berniece, Wilson shows thedanger of dwelling too intensively on historical pain. Now she had her piano and her niggers, too" (Wilson, 199 , p. 52).What Berniece seems to be doing here is turning her piano into a memorialfor her ancestors. He made more money than an entire jazz band. The real theme of this play and its characters is to achievesome sort of dignity for black people, not the same as for the whites, buta self-supporting dignity all its own. America as a Civilization. "You tryin' to tell me a woman can't be nothing without a man?"(p. To the casual reader, the first lengthy scene of the play does notseem like there is any dignity in it. Berniece has a job, which is rarefor the times. As much as Avery wants to marry her, she is determined notto give in. Max Lerner (1956) writes about thestratification of American society when he wrote about "the working class,tenacious of its gains, job-conscious...the Negroes, whose history markedthem for the role of a depressed caste" (Lerner, 1956, p.525). 45). I can always get me a little something else. (1957). Boy Willie and Lymon, both of whom hadserved jail time in the South, come with a beat-up truck to sellwatermelons. But, it is. THE PIANO LESSON Inside this book, there is a review from the Washington Post whichsays, in part "The piano is no less vital a sign of a family's spiritualheritage than Chekhov's Cherry Orchard was."In a sense, the piano itself is the protagonist of this play. He is a part of the history ofthe piano, and it is obvious that the more this ghost seems to appear, themore Berniece realizes that this ghost could never let her get rid of thepiano. (Winter 1993). That piano can buy himsome land. Yet, much as people want children, to leave something behind, WillieBoy is against it. Her characterreveals that Boy Willie's selfish designs and impetuous actions are instructive they should agitate black Americans who regard without feeling or simply ignore vestiges of their past in their desperate pursuit of an American Dream that has historically eluded them (Shannon, 1996, p. Atthe same time, Berniece's vision keeps her from moving on with her lifewithout Crawley. Berniece is also a complex character. For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled....Seventeen years' worth of cold nights and an empty bed. She cannot forget the past- shestill seems to be mourning her husband, dead now some three years. Rememberingthat this play is set in the mid-Thirties, it is still a time of danger,unemployment and prejudice. For what? 148). Wilson does not seem to paint the overall picture quite like he hasBerniece stating it. In a telling speech to Boy Willieshe explains more fully her determination to keep that piano. For a piano? As Berniece opens the pianofor the first time in years and sits down to play, she exorcizes thedemons. What are we to make of Sutter's ghost? "What I want to bring a child into the world for? Thetradition and pain of the past as a bridge to the future or the definiteopportunity of a black man making something of himself in the South? The piano's carvings have a history that is important to this family,because it is a daily reminder of where they all originated -- Southernslavery. Making the three Wise Men parable into his"dream" of three hoboes makes these Messengers more like the poor Blacksthan the whites of Biblical times. Avery wants the moneyto buy a place to create his church. What we are really seeing here is a rather complex portrayal of thedifferent interpretations possible within this so-called American Dream.Boy Willie, for all his talk, is the realist and not the dreamer in thisplay. Willie Boy's dream is rooted in the reality of the 193 s.There is no dust bowl down South. .I ain't got no advantages to offer nobody" (p. 44).Still, the fact that a white man had the piano was deeply offensive to PapaBoy Willie. Thattenacity is evident in Berniece's determination to keep that piano, at allcosts. Respecting and owning the piano means to her honoringthe value of her heritage. The Piano Lesson. References Lerner, M. It alsorepresents a sort of transition from the past to the present (Berniece andBoy Willie, for example) and the future (eleven-year old Maretha). Jelly Roll Morton took in fifteen to eighteen dollars a night (Stearns, 1956, p. We are in depression-era Pittsburgh. "August Wilson and the African-AmericanOdyssey" African American Review, Vol. He would always talk about taking the piano, because "it wasthe story of our whole family and as long as Sutter had it...he had us. They shouldnot want to emulate whites, but progress along their own individual needsand feelings. 67). It would be a difficult decision to make. For a piece of wood? 42). The point Wilsonmakes is that blacks are not like whites only with darker skin. As Doaker relates the story, when his grandfather carved all thefaces and symbols on that piano, "When Miss Olivia seen it she got allexcited. 72).No wonder Wining Boy talked about "carrying the piano on his back". The rationale here is that there is so much history in that piano --not merely the carvings but the efforts to take it from old man Sutter --to have it installed now, up North, relatively safe from the indignitiesthe blacks still were exposed to in the South. 146) If Boy Willie represents the carefully ambitious black man who seesland as his only opportunity, Berniece opposes that wish. New York: Simon &Schuster Pereira, K. You can't sell your soul for money" (p.5 ). They were the legendary beginnings ofblack "jazz". . The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson WashingtonDC: Howard University Press Stearns, M. It washis living. . 91). Land is still worth something, and WillieBoy has his explanation, land the only thing God ain't making no more of. Boy Willie more or less pleads, "That piano ain't doingnobody no good" (p. W. As much as she delves into thepast, and worries about her child, what about another man in her life? 51).He sees the land as continuity, Berniece sees the piano in the same way.The question that emerges now is "What do you do with your legacy, and howdo you put it best to use?" (Shannon, 1996, p. Saywe was still in slavery" (p. It is OK, he seems to be saying, to remember and honorthe past- especially a past so fraught with danger and hardship andslavery. 27 (4). This is to be the future forMaretha: to become a teacher, perhaps to play as well as teach the piano.This particular piano would be the foundation for her future. Of course, since Wilson used music in many of his plays, and music asa sometime profession for some of his characters (Wining Boy in this play,Lyons in "Fences") musical instruments represented one of the few ways ablack man could make decent money. But, Wilson peoples some of his plays withcharacters that seem to expect that things would get better. (p. I can make me another crop and cash that in (p. One talks of the piano as a symbol. Mama Ola polished this piano with her tears for seventeen years. G. But, his voice seems to be imploring his black peers that it istime to stop worshiping the past at the expense of the future. . It is like a deus ex machina. Whichmakes more sense -- Boy Willie settling down on some land, or the pianoremaining as a symbol in the household in Pittsburgh, offering a betterfuture for little Maretha? Berniece is locked in another struggle. (1996). It is a fact that August Wilsonhimself mentions that the entire play was inspired by a painting of ateacher bending over a student at the piano. It represents not only black history -- the pain ofslavery and the greater pain of some sort of limited freedom. At thesame time she is anxious to make Maretha's future brighter than her own, orthat of any other member of her family. Shannon, S. It was stolenfrom a white man. The piano remaining as areminder of what was and what will be. 91). Now I want to get Sutter's land withthat piano" (p. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.