Berniece and Boy Willies Take On the Piano in The Piano Lesson - Essay Example

? here) (Your here) (Type of assignment e.g. Test assignment) dropping the assignment) Berniece and Boy Willie’stake on the piano in “The Piano Lesson” The characters of Berniece and Boy Willie are central to the drama, the piano lesson. Their conflicting perspectives regarding the piano present a clash of two opposing views. Berniece represents a point of view that the legacy of a family must be kept intact and preserved. Boy Willie, on the other hand, attempts to deny the bleak history of his family and wants to get rid of unpleasant memories by selling the piano. Berniece is very stalwart in upholding family traditions. She has been very close to her father. She and her father had developed an obsession for the piano. Berniece’s perspective on piano shows her being very keen to preserve the past of her family. She resents racism too but protests against it within the limits of reasonability. The piano has the carving of her family’s history in the shape of pictures, blood and tears. These are invaluable for Berniece and she does not want to let go any part of that. In her point of view, her father stole the piano because he wanted to get close to the engravings that were on it. It shows that she has great love and respect for her family’s past and history. She also respects the feelings of her ancestors. She acts as a guard for her family’s past. She does not want the piano to be sold and thinks that her father would have approved her intentions. Berniece is a cleaning lady and she accepts the world the way it is. She has lost her husband and she blames Boy Willie for that. She has lost very much and all she is left with is the pleasant memories of the past. She chose to live close to the piano just like her mother, Mama Ola. She goes through almost the same type of tragedy that her mother had faced. She loves her mother very much which is shown by her cleaning of Mama Ola’s picture with love (Act 1, Scene 1, Part 1). Her decision of not agreeing to sell the piano shows that she is very attached to the memories of the past and the legacy of her family. She is so much attached to her past that she does not heed to the offer of Avery to court her (Act 2, Scene 2). She does not want her daughter, Maretha, to suffer from a similar nostalgia which is why she has not told her anything about what the carvings on the piano mean (Act 2, Scene 5). Boy Willie wants to sell the antique piano to buy the land in which his ancestors worked as slaves. His perspective on the piano describes his nature. He shows utter disregard for the family traditions. He thinks that if he sells the piano and is able to purchase the Sutter’s land, he would avenge his father and live at the “top” of life. His father was also as reckless as he is. He thinks that if he is able to sell the piano, his father’s wishes would be immortalized. It also suggests that his father is somewhat responsible for instilling a rash behavior in him. He looks at the piano as an object that can fulfill his desire to become rich. He thinks that his father would have done the same (Act 1, Scene 2, Part II). He does not care about what his family wants and upholds. He completely rejects the wishes of sister, Berniece. His decision to sell the piano shows his negative approach towards life which has made him a person who looks at easy ways to get rich rather than by working hard. Boy Willie thinks that the only way to stand neck to neck with the white people is to become wealthy. This is a common belief among the suppressed races of the world that they can get respect if they become wealthy. Boy Willie thinks that the white people have no right to look down on him and must treat him with respect. He can get his due respect by becoming rich and selling the piano is his only chance at that. He is a person who has received a lot of mental suffering due to the racism between blacks and whites. He has a lot of hatred for white people. His father worked for the white people all his life. He holds the white people responsible for his father’s life non-ownership of any kind of property. Boy Willie hates the whites so much that even their laws are unacceptable to him (Act 1, Scene 2, Part I). This is why he has served some time in prison. Although he was committing a crime, he blamed the white people for his time in prison. The life in prison was almost similar to the lives of his ancestors in the times of slavery. This has buttressed his hatred for the white people. On one hand, he talks consistently about his being equal to the white people. On the other hand, a feeling inside him is detectable that how much it hurts him to be treated as inferior to the white people. It is evident in Act II, Scene 5 when he complains that his heart beats like any other’s heart. He claims to believe in the “power of death” because he is fearless and is ready to confront any white person because he has the power to kill him. Overall, Boy Willie has nothing but hatred in his heart for white people and he is constantly striving to be able to stand equal to them. In the end, when Boy Willie confronts Sutter’s ghost, Berniece plays the piano and asks he ghosts of her ancestors for help. She has mentioned it once to Avery that when she used to play the piano, her mother could feel her Boy Charlie talking to her. She has not played the piano ever since her mother died. It can be said that she changed her view about the piano because she did not firmly believe that she could be a source of contact with her ancestors. By playing the piano, she becomes a firm believer. Now the piano is more than a memory for her, it is a source of communication too. Boy Willie’s confrontation with the ghost can be regarded as a confrontation between the two races. His ancestors help him on his sister’s request which changes his point of view about the piano. He now acknowledges the true value of his family’s legacy and understands that it is priceless. He encourages Berniece to play the piano more often because it is a symbol of the family’s history. He also warns her that if she does not play the piano, same thing could happen again. What he means to say is that the family’s legacy must be upheld with dignity because it is a part of a person’s identity. The conflicting views of the siblings are molded in a way that now they are in now in harmony. References Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. New York: Plume, 1990. Print. Read More