Historical Metaphors in The Piano Lesson - Essay Example

Option 4: “The Piano Lesson” Historical Metaphors in African-American Ideology In “The Piano Lesson” by August Wilson, Wilson explores the ideology of self worth through an expression of heritage through music and individuality. Wilson’s prose leaves the reader with several unanswered questions, namely, what is a person to do with their heritage, and how do they incorporate it by expressing individuality? With that said, a close look will be taken into “The Piano Lesson” to define Wilson’s use of metaphors and historical ideology to tell a tale of personal history and the struggle for individuality. To begin with, “The Piano Lesson” defines the history of African-Americans, which is a history that is painful and problematic to all ethnic groups in this country because of the conflicts and dispersion of traditions and values that African-Americans have a right to keep. The plot follows the Charles family and the symbolic and literal piano that maintains the centerpiece of their lives. Every aspect of the play revolves around the piano, past and present, and a reader is left to wonder at the intensity with which the Charles family values music in their lives. At its foundation, however, the play isn’t about a piano; it is about the need for stability and heritage that is inherent in all of their lives. Neither brother nor sister can live without what that particular piano represents, and that, in itself, highlights the purity of the metaphor that Wilson has crafted for his audience. Wilson’s cannon of plays on the African-American perspective may be “more thematic than theatrical; the plays are rich in their variety of characters and conflicts, and in the resolutions to these conflicts” (Boan 263). Even a casual reader of his plays, specifically “The Piano Lesson,” will come away feeling like they have been granted access into the African-American dynamic and struggles that African-Americans as a culture have to deal with in all elements of their lives. Culture, to any race, is a specific understanding and implementation of their heritage, and it’s easy to lose that in white America, where the dominant culture has become a melting pot of ideologies that are inconsistent with any one race or heritage. Many of these ideologies are often incompatible with the heritage and beliefs that certain races may want to uphold, which makes balancing life with personal traditions more complicated than it seems. Further, “beneath the diversity within the dramatic framework of the plays lies the assertion that the present for black America has been invariably shaped by a history of race-related stolen opportunity and broken relationships” (Boan 263). Essentially, African-Americans have been inserted into a struggling economy full of broken promises, complete and total racism, and a perception that the white American way is the only way to find balance in the outward reality. The problem with this perception is that African-Americans are just like any other race and feel threatened by the impositions of cultures that do not share their same ideologies. Worse, for many, taking American culture into their lives means sacrificing current beliefs or values which can lead to increased trauma and conflicts within the family dynamic. This struggle can be seen within “The Piano Lesson” as brother and sister are torn between keeping the piano for sentimental generational ideologies and to sell it in order to move out of their world of poverty. The brother, Boy Willie, is insistent that selling the piano will enable the family to buy a strip of land that there literal ancestors helped make into fertile farmland, while the sister, Berniece, is convinced that the piano is a family heirloom and to sell it would mean making a sacrifice upon their heritage as a black family. In truth, both Berniece and Boy Willie have every right to feel as they do about the piano. Boy Willie sees the piano as an opportunity to make a change in their lives that will enable them to live better lives in the future, and Berniece sees the piano as an opportunity to retain some semblance of heritage in a world with encroaching cultures and belief systems. In this, a reader feels sympathetic to both sides of the argument. The piano has sentimental value, to be sure, but it represents something much more to the Charles family and is symbolic of their decision. There are several issues that Wilson suggests in “The Piano Lesson” about how individuals can use their personal histories to make decisions about their life for future gain or investment. Boy Willie sees his personal history as an investment in the family’s future. The piano is valuable to any buyer and would make a drastic improvement in the family’s life upon its sale. He has a deep understanding of his heritage and culture, but sees no reason to hold onto something that may represent a better future opportunity. He is the generational opposite of Berniece who stands as the guardian of her family heritage. Her ideology is founded upon a family history that runs so deep the thought of selling the piano represents a sense of failure; of giving up to the white man by selling something the family could never get back: their history. Moreover, the central metaphor of the piano expresses Boy Willie’s frustration to overcome the objections of his family which he is ultimately unable to achieve. The piano is a symbol of the family heritage that is so ingrained within the family dynamic that it functions almost as another character within the play. It is stable and unyielding and screams of the family heritage that it possesses. The tension surrounding the piano is so heightened that it seems the family will never come to a resolution. Generations later, the Charles family could still be arguing over the purpose of the piano and whether it should remain within the family as a functional heirloom or whether it would better serve the family by being sold to the highest bidder. With a bit of supernatural flair, Wilson adds ghosts into the play as an interesting diversion and serves to function as Boy Willie’s mental collapse when his family refuses to sell the piano so he can buy the parcel of land that their ancestors worked upon. Instead of dealing with his family about his internal issues about the piano, the ghost of Sutter (the original owner of the land) comes knocking. In this, Wilson “juxtaposes Boy Willies undertaking with that of his slave ancestors, and makes his quest an extension of theirs, so that Boy Willies story, and the play itself, becomes a metaphorical slave narrative in its own right” (Boan 264). Wilson, here, provides unique insight into the culture and evolution of the African-American dynamic by allowing Boy Willie to serve as the tragic hero as he fights to achieve mental tranquility. His search for peace is tormented by the representation of the piano because, while he has an inherent understanding of his heritage, he is torn between moving on—no longer being a slave to the white man, and moving up—taking action to make a definitive change in the future course of his family’s life. His journey parallels the slave’s journey for freedom. Just as they fought the white man for freedom, so too does Boy Willie fight the ghost of the original white man, the slave owner that his ancestors were forced to serve under. “The Piano Lesson” can practically be read as historical non-fiction. What Wilson achieves by presenting characters as he does, with a rich history and dynamic character arcs, is to illuminate what any African-American family must feel when pressed into the culture of the white man. Their struggle would be no different, and their symbol of heritage, while probably not a piano, would be no less critical to the family belief system that protecting that symbol is the only manner of survival within the white man’s world. The play is comprised of a “collective emotional spirit” (Thomas 275) and is a metaphorical insertion of the African-American ideology. In the end, Boy Willie comes to terms with the meaning of the piano. He no longer sees it as a means for financial gain, but understands that it represents a powerful symbol for his family of heritage and values that cannot be granted by anything else in their lives. A reader, at this point, may be moved by the transformation of Boy Willie. No longer is he the antagonist, or the tragic hero tormented by ghosts of his past, but he has transcended into a guardian in his own right, a protector of his family legacy, a man of consequence in the white man’s world. The transformation parallels the African-American balance between black and white culture, the ability to achieve a combining of cultures without losing either or to feel like the family heritage has been ruined by an incorporation of new culture and ideologies. For the Charles family, the piano is much more than a musical instrument; it is a symbol of their family legacy, a symbol of pride as an African-American in the world of the white man. More, it is power. It grants the Charles family something otherwise unattainable: the ability to feel as strong as the white man, it is, ultimately, a symbol of racial equality. It might seem extreme to relegate an inanimate object this sort of power, but that is the value inherent in symbols. And as the piano is protected by the majority of the Charles family, almost as a member of the family, it gains the respect of the audience as another character, inanimate or otherwise, with the ability to harness change or grant relief to the other members of the family. What Wilson achieves by centering “The Piano Lesson” around the piano is to give the family something tangible to fight for, where otherwise they would only have an ancestral ideology that wouldn’t be nearly as effective in demonstrating African-American empowerment. In this way, the piano helps a reader in understanding the slave narrative as a complex struggle for identity in a world torn between the need to conform to the culture of the white man and the need to keep the family legacy alive. Moreover, the narrative that Wilson has crafted contains the “psychological empowerment for self-identity, a vehicle through which the former slave might construct an apologetic for his or her own personality in terms of the response to that ‘peculiar institution’” (Boan 264). Boy Willie most exemplifies this aspect, and though he struggles on a deep and profound level, he does achieve psychological empowerment and a deeper understanding of his family legacy in the end. In this manner, while Boy Willie represented the antagonist to both the piano and Berniece, he becomes a much more complex individual by the journey he must take in order to reach some semblance of peace and understanding. At the end, Boy Willie emerges the victorious character. He has faced his demons, the ghosts of his ancestral past, and he has attained a level of enlightenment as to the importance of protecting one’s family legacy in a world expectant of change and conformity. Overall, “The Piano Lesson” by August Wilson is still relevant in today’s society. Especially since the world is becoming more and more incorporated culturally, it is still important for people to retain some semblance of heritage and individuality while fitting into the world as it evolves. It is not about changing or conforming to the world itself, it is about evolving, too, as an individual, and taking personal heritage in combination with new cultures of the present to craft oneself into an individual of worth and modernity. While it is crucial for people to create a balance between one’s cultural heritage and the growing and evolving culture of the present, one mustn’t forget the value between pure balance and the solace that can be achieved by doing so. Works Consulted. Boan, Devon. “Call-and-Response: Parallel ‘Slave Narrative’ in August Wilson’s ‘The Piano Lesson.’” African American Review 32.2 (1998): 263-271. Print. Thomas, James. Script Analysis for Actors, Directors and Designers. Boston: Focal Publishing, 2005. Print. Read More