“The Piano Lesson” By August Wilson

Introduction

A 137-year-old, upright piano, adorned with totems in the African sculpture, overrides the parlor. The play explores African Americans' relationship to family history, particularly to the history of their slave ancestors. August Wilson's The Piano Lesson is a mini-classic infused with a variety of themes, such as the panache of capitalism, the importance of legacy, the psychoanalytical trope of the personal unconscious and the art of storyteller, music, mythology.

Discussion

The story “The Piano Lesson” is set in Pittsburgh in 1936 and focuses on the relationship between Charles' siblings, Berniece and Boy Willie. The dispute is over whether or not the family piano must be sold. In the mid-nineteenth century, 100 years old when the family of Charles was slaves, two family members had been sold by their owners, Sutters, for a piano. Subsequently, a master carpenter in the family of Charles was organized by Sutters to carve the faces of the person traded as slaves for piano (Wilson, 21-24). He did that and more: he carved his entire family in chronic piano. Oborudovanie was stolen later by Boy Willie and Berniece's father, who was killed Sutters in vengeance.

The Piano Lesson revolves around the struggle of two brothers over the precious relic of the family, which is piano carved with images of enslaved Africans ancestor. The Great depression is the historical background for the game and migration in this dark period from south to north. This migration has increased steadily before stabilizing in 1930 and the creation of new black communities will be devastated by economic collapse. Wilson took the inspiration for the play from Romare Bearden panting, the teaching scenario and allegory for how African-American students must learn to negotiate their stories.

The play discovers African Americans' connection to family history, especially to the annals of their slave ...