The Piano Lesson Questions and Answers
by August Wilson

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• The Piano Lesson
  What are three quotations that support the idea that Berniece deserves the piano in The Piano Lesson?
  All the siblings in The Piano Lesson are ambivalent toward the piano, which is strongly connected with their enslaved ancestors’ painful experiences. Berniece, however, stresses the importance of...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What is the lesson from The Piano Lesson?
  Through focusing on a material object, August Wilson explores the abstract concepts of heritage and legacy. The siblings Berniece and Boy Willie in particular have highly contrasting views on the...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What is a character analysis of Boy Willie from The Piano Lesson?
  The Piano Lesson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by American playwright August Wilson. The Piano Lesson is the fourth play in Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle," also called his "Century Cycle": a series...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Why is Berniece adamant to preserve the piano as a symbol of her family history in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson?
  Berniece is one of the primary characters in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, and she is the family member who understands the significance of the piano she has in her possession. While it is not...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What lessons does Boy Willie learn in the story?
  Boy Willie is probably the most dynamic character in the play The Piano Lesson. He begins the play as an “all talk, no action” character who is dogged by the past to a very significant (if not...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson, Berniece wants to keep the piano and her brother Boy Willie wants to sell it. Who is right?
  In many respects, I think that this becomes one of the central issues of the play. The desire to sell the piano or keep it represents the notion of discarding the past or being tied to it. Boy...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson, how important is the past ownership of the piano?
  I think that the piano represents the past and the question then becomes how important is past ownership of "the past." In my mind, Wilson seems to be making a complex statement about a complex...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, how does the piano represent the family's freedom from oppression in many ways?
  In August Wilson’s 1990 play “The Piano Lesson,” the significance of the piano is only hinted at through much of the first act, when Boy Willie and his friend Lymon show up at the door of Boy...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Describe the rising action and climax of the play in relation to the truck's load.
  In The Piano Lesson, Boy Willie has one over-riding goal - to buy Sutter's land. Boy Willie has two ways to get the money for this purchase. He wants to sell the truckload of watermelons and to...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Where and when does the first act open in The Piano Lesson?
  The play opens in Act 1 in the kitchen and parlor of Doaker Charles' home, which he shares with his niece Berniece and her daughter Maretha. This is Pittsburgh in the 1930s. The most arresting...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, how is the South important to the drama?
  The South is the home of slavery. It is the birthplace of "the original sin," something that is carved on the piano, the narratives of the characters in the drama, as well as what it means to be...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What functions does Maretha have in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson? In what ways is her age important? If you were directing the play, how would you have Maretha behave? How would she be costumed?
  The Piano Lesson was written by August Wilson, son of a white German-American father and black mother born in 1945. The play premiered in 1987 and opened on Broadway in New York in 1990. The story,...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Discuss the significance of Pittsburgh in the drama.
  I think that Pittsburgh has some significance in the drama. The first would be for background purposes. The drama is inspired by the Bearden portrait of the same name, and Bearden made Pittsburgh...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What are three quotations which support the idea that Berniece deserves the piano in The Piano Lesson by August WIlson?
  The piano which is the featured object in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is full of family history and represents a lot of family suffering for both the original owners and for Berniece's...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What is the sense of identity felt by Boy Willie and Berniece?
  Boy Willie and Berniece are divided in their relationship to the recent past and their family history. Boy Willie identifies himself as being very similar to his father, who was known as a stubborn...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In the play The Piano Lesson, what does the piano mean to each character?
  In August Wilson’s powerful play, The Piano Lesson, the piano is one of the most important symbols in the story. The piano itself is over a hundred years old and has carvings on it of slaves that...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson, what does Doaker's continued with the railroad symbolize?
  I think that Doaker's work on the railroads represents a couple of elements. The first is that it shows consistency and a sense of constancy in a world of mutability and change. Doaker does not...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Describe the climax of the play in relation to the truck's load of watermelon at the start of the play.
  I think that the opening of the play with the watermelons is significant. Lymon and Boy Willie have stolen the truck and loaded the melons on it in order to sell it and split the profit. This is...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What is the significance of the way the family acquired the piano in The Piano Lesson?
  The short answer here is that the family acquired the piano as a legacy. The piano is obtained by the family after the Civil War, when the Charles family ends up being sharecroppers for the Sutter...

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• The Piano Lesson
  How is the piano a symbol of the Charles' family spirituality in The Piano Lesson by August Wilson?
  The Piano Lesson by August Wilson centers, unsurprisingly, around a piano. This piano has a complicated history, but it begins as a simple musical instrument given as a gift to Ophelia Sutter by...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson, in what ways does Berniece's presence enhance the play's portrayal of African- Americans?
  Berniece enhances the discussion in Wilson's play because it raises the issue of gender in being as important as that of race. In the subject matter of the drama, the "scars" caused by slavery,...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What is the role of one minor character in The Piano Lesson?
  In August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson, there are a total of 8 characters: Berniece, Boy Willie, Doaker, Lymon, Maretha, Avery Brown, Winning Boy, and Grace. There is also Sutter's ghost, who is...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Explain how irony is illustrated in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.
  In the final analysis, there are many different ironies that emerge in Wilson's The Piano Lesson. I think that one of the most interesting ironies is how a source of historical pain can end up...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What ideas can I use for a thesis statement on why everyone should read The Piano Lesson by August Wilson?
  There are many reasons to read August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson. Among the first reasons that come to mind is the idea that this is a (relatively) contemporary work of American drama. Much of...

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• The Piano Lesson
  If you could write an alternative ending to August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, what would it be?
  I think that there could be several different approaches to this particular question. I would say that one distinct ending would be for Berniece to give the piano to Boy Willie. I think that it...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Examine how the symbol of the piano represents the family's freedom from oppression.
  The idea of the piano is significant in detailing the family's freedom from oppression. The piano's "lesson" is one of valuing the past and understanding how the narrative of oppression and the...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Why does Wilson title his play "The Piano Lesson"?  What are some of the lessons  learned, who learns them and how are they taught?
  The symbolism of "the piano lesson" in the story is the lesson of history itself. Wilson explores the themes of African-American identity and the struggle for civil rights. In this...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What aspects of Boy Willie's character does the open scene illustrates? What aspects of his character are revealed later? What does the land represent to him?
  Boy Willie is 30 years old and has come to Pittsburgh from Mississippi to sell watermelons. His actions soon become clear on why he is there. Boy Willie goes to see his sister and to tell her that...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What, specifically, do the carvings on the piano represent?
  The carvings on the piano represent the past. There is a very profound implication here. On one hand, Miss Ophelia felt bad that the slaves to whom she had grown attached were now gone because of...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In what way does Winning Boy have a tendency to exploit people?
  Wining Boy is described as being exploitative and selfish even before he comes on stage in this play. This is not necessarily a negative trait, but it is Wining Boy's nature to "play the angles" or...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Why did the writer choose the piano instrument and not, for example, the guitar or any other music tool?
  This is a guess on my part, but a carving of a family story could not be accomplished in most musical instruments because there simply would not be enough space. The other idea that comes to my...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What plot functions does Grace perform? In what ways does her presence complicate the play's gender themes?
  It is difficult to link Grace to any specific plot actions definitively as her appearance is so brief. Some consider her entrance and the seduction scene between her and Willie to act as a foil or...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, in what ways do different characters' attitudes toward the piano reveal their feelings about the past?
  The attitude towards the piano becomes the central issue of the play. Wilson constructs the characters to represent the thematic understanding of a painful past and its connection to an uncertain...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What does the South represent to the different characters? THE PIANO LESSONS BY AUGUST WILSON
  The South is referred to as "down home" often in The Piano Lesson. This is where every character in the play has come from, though the action of the play takes place in Pittsburgh. Like the actual...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In The Piano Lesson, what different view of the past does the piano represent for each of the characters?
  The complex relationship that people have towards the past is evident in the divergent approaches that different characters take towards the piano. For example, Doaker Charles recognizes that the...

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• The Piano Lesson
  How is the piano central to the wrangling of the siblings in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson?
  In Wilson's The Piano Lesson, the piano is a key symbol in the play. It represents something different to each character, especially the two central characters. To Berniece, it has blood on it and...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What was happening in America in the year surrounding the play The Piano Lesson?
  The play takes place in the 1930s, and the U.S. was in the midst of an economic depression that stemmed from weaknesses in our economy after World War I. In just three years, from 1929 to...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Describe the complications of the tension of "racial ownership." Where do other characters fit into this?
  I think that the tension of racial ownership relates to how different characters understand their own past and the condition of slavery. This tension is brought out by the piano, itself. The very...

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• The Piano Lesson
  What has Bernice's husband's death to do with their migration to Pittsburgh?
  This play takes place in the early Fifties, which was a time of enormous African-American migration from the South to the North. Black people moved to Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and other cities...

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• The Piano Lesson
  In August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, what genre is displayed?
  Given the nature of the content, it needs to be serious. On the other hand, the comedy therein provides necessary relief from intense suspense. Enotes provides a very good commentary about what the...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Why is it important that the piano is a musical instrument?
  This is an interesting point of discussion. On one hand, the piano represents a particular level of talent and focus required to play it. This is seen in Berniece. While she no longer wishes to...

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• The Piano Lesson
  Describe the racial ownership tension in the play. Where do other characters fit into the opposition and what is Doaker's relationship to the past?
  The most significant undercurrent of this play is slavery’s continuing influence on the family. The story of the piano in The Piano Lesson essentially encapsulates and symbolizes the family’s...

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