August_Wilsons__The_Piano_Lesson

August Wilsons: The Piano Lesson August Wilson titles his play, “The Piano Lesson”, however, the play has nothing to do with piano lessons at all. The lesson learned in this play is one of African American history. Wilson gives his audience a profound look at the past and how it influences the present. The basic theme of the play is universal for both blacks and whites on how the past can burden the present. However, Wilson puts an interesting twist on this theme by giving his audience a perspective in African traditions and mystical beliefs. The characters in the play have lost touch with their African lineage and neglected their ancestors, which is the underlying cause of the play’s conflict. The piano is the center of conflict. Boy Willie wants to sell it and Berniece refuses to because her father died retrieving it from the Sutter’s home. The piano is engraved with carvings of the Charles family history. We can compare the piano to an orita meta. Translated in English, orita meta means “sacred altar” and was considered by ancient African tribes as a crossroad between the living and the dead. In his article, Ghosts on the Piano: August Wilson and the Representation of Black American History, wilson, august, piano, play, african, past, history, help, boy, berniece, ancestors, willie, mama, sutter’s, lesson, ghost, forget, august, tribes, oral, however, carvings, both, blood, audience, american, years, until, universal, try, traditions, theme, songs, shrines, seventeen, sacred, rubbed, representation, refuses, protection, play’s, playing, played, orita, ola, neglect, mystical, morales, meta, make, lost, look