American Literature--Epilogue to August Wilson's The Piano Lesson (Daniela Atanasova)

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[The following epilogue was written by Daniela Atanasova, a third-year English Language and Literature student at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, as a response to The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson.]

Epilogue to August Wilson's The Piano Lesson

(Three years later. Afternoon. BERNIECE is playing a score that sounds like a spiritual on the piano in Doaker’s living room. The door opens and a young girl enters wearing a school bag. BERNIECE ceases playing.)

MARETHA
Go on playing, Mama…Was that a new one?

BERNIECE
Yeah…I’ve been practicing it on and off since this morning. We’re performing it at next month’s concert. How was school today?

MARETHA
My math teacher said I did surprisingly well on the test, so he might let me off the final exam.

BERNIECE
That’s a smart girl!

MARETHA
It wasn’t too hard. Math’s quite easy, but bores me to death. I’m so happy I won’t have to deal with equations again.

BERNIECE
Don’t ask me about equations. Can’t help you there. All I could ever do was scrubbing and sweeping and cooking the dinner.

MARETHA
No one cooks it better than Uncle Doaker, though. I miss him.

BERNIECE
Yeah, the house is not the same without him.

MARETHA
And, Mom, you play the piano beautifully, like no one else I know. Go on, play that song again. And then I’ll tell you about the books my literature teacher told us to read. She is white, you know, and really nice. Says I got talent…

(BERNIECE smiles and starts playing again. But soon, a knock is heard on the front door. Maretha goes to see who it is and enters with WINING BOY.)

MARETHA
Look, Mama, it’s Uncle Wining Boy!

WINING BOY
Well, good day to y’all! Maretha, my love, you’ve grown so…and grown even prettier! Berniece, you gonna have to look after her, boys will be going crazy soon, I can see that.

BERNIECE
Oh, Wining Boy. Just talking and talking as always! It’s so good to see you! Maretha, get that chair for Uncle Wining Boy.

WINING BOY
Berniece dear, it’s true, a man can’t tell the difference between you two any more, she as pretty as you! And you as young as always. (Sits down.) Ah, the good old place.

BERNIECE
(Laughs.) Can’t say it ain’t so…Lord, Wining Boy, it’s been a long time! Last time you were here was when we drove away Sutter’s ghost…I’d swear you people come all at once and make a row, and then go and forget about us for three years and more. How have you been? Would you like some dinner?

WINING BOY
Sure, but later. I need some rest from that damn train ride. Forgot how long it takes. But where’s Doaker? Get the old fool here.

BERNIECE
Doaker is…on vacation.

WINING BOY
Doaker on vacation?! Boy, things have changed!

BERNIECE
After thirty years in the railroad he done deserved it. He got a letter from Coreen to go visit her up New York. I think she must be sick or something, otherwise why would she suddenly remember to write, when he hadn’t heard of her for years. She used to be real proud, Coreen was.

MARETHA
First he didn’t wanna go, but I convinced him. One needs some rest from time to time. And adventure too…It must be wonderful to see New York! I’m gonna go there soon, when I go to college.

WINING BOY
College?!

MARETHA
Yeah, I wanna be a writer!

WINING BOY
Why, Berniece, you got quite some ambition to handle there. No one of our family has even gone to college or become a writer.

BERNIECE
Well, I’ve always hoped she’ll have a better life. And her teacher says she got talent, and with her good grades she can get some scholarships.

WINING BOY
But how are you getting by on your own? I thought you’d gone and married Avery and become a rich Ma’am by now. Is he still preaching?

BERNIECE
I never said I was going to marry Avery. Besides, he’s now married to the widow who’s teaching Sunday school at his church. Avery’s the same as always. His church is doing well, though. Started a choir and all. I play the piano for them, and I even get paid. With that and the piano lessons I give, we’re doing fine. I don’t go to rich people’s houses to clean any more, praise the Lord! And Doaker said he’ll help out if Maretha goes to college. He done so much for us already.

WINING BOY
That sure is good news! You ended up musician too, Berniece! We should play duets, if you are up to it. But jazz, not that church stuff! I wish I could help you out too, but, you see, I don’t have a cent. I have something else, though…I got me a woman, Berniece…

BERNIECE
(Laughs.) Like that’s something new.

WINING BOY
But, for real you know…When a man grows old, he oughtn’t to be alone. She is a kind heart, not like Cleotha…but kind. Gone tell me not to drink and gamble, but at least lets me play for her. She real nice, you should come down and meet her…

BERNIECE
I’m happy for you Wining Boy! You should’ve brought her over…

WINING BOY
Hey, how’s that Lymon kid doing?

BERNIECE
Rambling around. Can’t hold on to a job. Haven’t seen him for a while. Maybe he’s gone and married some of his girlfriends. He’s got a new one every week.

WINING BOY
He probably hasn’t found the right one. Or she hasn’t noticed him.

BERNIECE
Anyway, Boy Willie called last week. Scared me to death as usual. He the same as you, disappearing for so long you almost forget about him, and then comes out of the blue, shouting as if he owns the place. Always been like that. I thought he would start about that piano again, but he didn’t. He wanted me to play for him. And went ranting about some new business he was going to start.

WINING BOY
He a good boy. Something is bound to work out for him these days. But I’m glad you didn’t sell the old piano.

BERNIECE
Yeah, Maretha didn’t take to it, but it sure done me a lot of good.

WINING BOY
Well, come on, play us some blues.

BERNIECE
Later. Let Maretha read to us now. Every evening she reads her books to me. They mighty fine, even the parts I don’t understand. Her father and her grandparents would have been proud.

WINING BOY
I’m sure they would. Let’s see what you got, Maretha girl.

MARETHA
Let me get my books!

(She runs up the stairs and the lights go down to black. The piano is heard playing in the background.)

THE END

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INSTRUCTOR'S NOTE
I love offering prequel/sequel assignments as options for response papers because

1. Such exercises allow literature students to develop something creative without having to invest a large amount of time trying to come up with an original idea.

2. If a student can create a plausible prequel/sequel to a piece of literature, then I can easily determine if the student truly understands the original work. Besides, it is always interesting to see a creative mind at work, even if the student is not a "creative writer" in the traditional sense.

Over the years, I have had many students tell me that they have never written anything creative (for example, a story, poem, play, or creative non-fiction) in their lives and that the creative response option offered them a opportunity to try something new.

I have had at least one student who decided to start writing poetry and continues to this day.

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WORK CONSULTED
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Rpt. in Literature and Society:
-----An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. Eds. Pamela
-----J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson-Prentice Hall,
-----2007. 809-879.

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American Literature--The Piano Lesson: Character Study of Avery and Lymon (by Vesna Ilievska)

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Avery
Avery is an acquaintance of Boy Willie and Lymon from the South, and considers himself to be Bernice’s boyfriend. He’s in his late thirties and has become a preacher. Like most of the characters in the play, he is also fighting for his dream, and that’s starting his own church and being able to hold congregations there. In addition to his Avery’s passion to preach, he also works as an elevator boy, which in a way nicely depicts how well he has adapted to city life, in comparison to working the fields in the South. Avery holding a menial job and doing a totally different kind of work in his community is also something that can be frequently encountered among the people from the African-American community during that period. Nevertheless, as a preacher Avery gets the chance to climb up the social ladder and earn respect far more quickly than being an elevator boy and that position is seems to match Avery’s almost silly religiousness perfectly.

All of this makes Avery look like a good and strong man, but perhaps a little bit unimaginative and plodding, as we see in his relationship with Bernice. When it comes to her, Avery’s extremely respectful, gentle and thoughtful which almost seems to be counterproductive because Bernice continues rejecting his marriage proposals.

He is extremely persistent as well, because as a preacher he is in good social standing to be able to marry any woman he wants, but instead he keep trying to convince Bernice to be his wife which seems almost futile. Finally, I see Avery as the character that has the most indirect approach to things. Boy Willie is ready to load the piano on his truck and Bernice is ready to shoot Boy Willie to keep the piano in the house, but Avery stops to ask Bernice whether there’s “any woman left in her”, instead of actually kissing her and discovering the woman in Bernice.

Lymon
Lymon is Boy Willie’s good friend from the South that has accompanied him to the North, to Pittsburgh, because he wants to make a chance in his life. He’s in his late twenties and seems to be an easygoing man. Like the others, he’s trying to make a future for himself and is looking forward to a new beginning in a new place. There are two main reasons why he chooses the North over the South, one reason being the fact that he is being prosecuted in the South and the other being his beliefs that the law will always be changed to suit white folks, thus he believes he will never be treated equally and make a living like the others. Here, we also discover Lymon’s struggle to be self-sufficient and independent because he would rather stay in prison than have someone pay his debt and go back to serving someone again.

Lymon seems to be rather spontaneous and direct compared to some of other characters, which we see in his attitude towards him moving to the city. Instead of planning his future a touch more, he seems to be more willing to go with the flow and enjoy the nightlife and the women of Pittsburgh rather than find a place to live, a good job and settle down. We do not see a lot of Lymon’s personality because he is after all a stranger to the family and tries not to get between Boy Willie and Bernice. When compared to Boy Willie, Lymon seems to lack Boy Willie’s explosiveness but often is more brilliant in his own way. This is probably what attracts Bernice towards Lymon. We see him as more laid back, yet caring and sensual. Though he is presented as a bit naïve at certain moments in the play, like when he agrees to buy Winning Boy’s coat because he believes the coat will bring him luck in his love life, it takes him only minutes to get to a point with Bernice which would have taken Avery months or even years. In the end, he and Boy Willie go their own ways and even if we do not have any information on what happens next with Lymon, we somehow feel he will succeed in whatever he puts his mind on.

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Note: The American Literature students and I were assigned to develop studies of two characters from the play.

These studies are essentially rough notes, developed to stimulate class discussion. If you quote or paraphrase from these original character studies for a scholarly paper, please cite this post as a source.

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Work Cited
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Rpt. in Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. Eds. Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2007. 809-879.
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American Literature--The Piano Lesson: Character Study of Doaker and Grace (by Daniela Atanasova)

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Doaker
Doaker has a discreet presence in the play The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, and it would be easy to write him off as a somewhat straightforward and inconsequential character. However, a closer look would reveal that in the persona of Doaker, Wilson has actually created a fully developed character with a complexity all its own.

Doaker Charles is described as a forty-seven-year old man “with severe features” (809) who has been working for the railway for twenty-seven years. He has a house which he shares with his niece Berniece and her daughter Maretha and where all the drama of the play takes place. We find out that he has had a wife, Coreen, but they are now separated or divorced and she lives in New York City. There is certain mysteriousness around the story as well as around Doaker’s relation to women in general. According to Boy Willie, his nephew, Doaker used to be or is still very popular with women, and we cannot know to what extent what he says is true, but it is clear that at the time of the action in the play Doaker is well accustomed to living on his own and apparently has no thoughts of chasing women. In several scenes we see him cooking, ironing, etc. so it appears that he does most of the household work (additionally, he works as a cook) and the other characters seem to take that as natural. There is no question of a diminished masculinity here, the fact that Doaker works around the house, I would say, only adds to the dignity he enjoys in the eyes of others.

Again from Boy Willie we find out that Doaker is respected in the black community they all came from, probably because of his job in the railway. Doaker also takes great pride in his work and we can imagine how it must have been more of a big deal earlier, when he was younger and when black people rarely had steady jobs. Doaker has managed to win his independence, to move north and have his own house and reliable income, and that was a great achievement for a black person at the time, which immediately distinguished and separated him from the community as someone to look up to. He is the complete antipode to his brother Wining Boy and his insecure, gambling, adventurous, haphazard way of life. Doaker may be seen as the epitome of sobriety and moral firmness in the play, when compared to the other male characters, although he was not always an angel. For instance, he took part in the family theft of the renowned piano which is the centre of conflict in the play, but perhaps he did that driven by the sense of family loyalty, the same sense, or generosity, which motivated him to admit under his roof Berniece and Maretha for whom he cares and provides support.

Doaker has a very realistic view on life and the people around him; sometimes he even exhibits an ironic trait, like for example when he talks about Avery’s epiphany (827) or when he denigrates Wining Boy for visiting them only when he is broke. However, in the end he still supports Avery in setting up his church and lets him bless the house to drive away Sutter’s ghost, and still gives money to Wining Boy, which shows that he has a warm heart and understands people, their flaws and their dreams. The speech he makes about the railroad on page 820 reveals a contemplative side of Doaker. He knows that people travel in search for a better life; however, to him this only means that they are trying to run away from their existing lives and problems…and what they come up against most of the time are disappointments. Therefore, in his view it is better to stay in one place and play with what you have and try to make the best of it. That is exactly what he is doing and hence he is the centre of stability in the play.

In the conflict between Berniece and Boy Willie, Doaker plays the role of mediator. Although he tries to remain as disinterested and as impartial as possible, he is inevitably drawn in the arguments and sometimes forced to take a side. He never refutes the legitimacy of the claim both Berniece and Boy Willie lay on the piano, but sometimes it seems like he supports Berniece more. However, at one point he states his opinion clearly that Berniece should let go of the past, sell the piano and marry Avery. Nevertheless, he remains respectful of her wishes until the end and even exerts his authority to stop Boy Willie and Lymon from taking the piano out of the house.

Finally, Doaker is an altogether positive character, a caring person that in a way provides shelter and support for all the other members of his family circle. He tells the history of the family to Lymon, his is the house everybody comes back to, he is the one they can always rely on in times of distress to fill them with a sense of belonging and create a consciousness that they at least have a secure base they can start from and build upon.

Grace
Lymon most succinctly describes the type of women Grace represents: “Mostly they be lonely and looking for somebody to spend the night with them. Sometimes it matters who is it and sometimes it don’t” (857). Although she is a minor character that appears in the play only on two occasions, she is set to be a counterpart to Berniece. Contrary to Berniece’s independence, loftiness and reserve when it comes to men, Grace is one of those girls who go out in the bars in a constant search for some love and male companionship. When she meets Berniece the night when they come to Doaker’s house together with Boy Willie, she plays the dignified, and she probably does put on an attitude of a girl with morals and principles. This is doubtful though, since she spends one night with Boy Willie, goes out with Lymon the following day and we hear of a previous boyfriend she used to live with who still has a key to her apartment. However, I believe that she is a good and naïve girl at bottom who will probably find a husband in the end and get settled.

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Note: The American Literature students and I were assigned to develop studies of two characters from the play.

These studies are essentially rough notes, developed to stimulate class discussion. If you quote or paraphrase from these original character studies for a scholarly paper, please cite this post as a source.

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Work Cited
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Rpt. in Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. Eds. Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2007. 809-879.
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American Literature--The Piano Lesson: Character Study of Boy Willie and Wining Boy (by Anita Manceva)

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Boy Willie
Boy Willie, a rash and impulsive 30-year-old man, comes to Pittsburgh with a truck loaded with watermelons only with one goal – to sell them and to sell the family piano which has a great meaning for the all members of his family.

Boy Willie is the character who introduces the conflict in the play. His intention to sell the family piano brings him into a quarrel with his sister, Berniece, who is strongly opposed to selling the piano. However, his strong will and obstinate nature does not allow him to step back despite his sister’s disapproval, which leads him in fierce quarrels with Berniece every time they meet. Furthermore, taking into consideration his reluctance to listening Bernice’s arguments when they quarrel, his selfish and inflexible nature comes to light. Every time Bernice determinedly says she does not want him to sell the piano he does not even listen or ask her why she does not want the piano to be sold but goes on listing his own arguments and needs (he needs money to buy Sutter’s land on which his ancestors worked as slaves).

Willie is especially zealous about questions of race. He does not acknowledge any difference between himself and white men. His goal in life is to leave a mark of his existence in the ‘white’ society. He follows and acknowledges only the laws that he thinks are just, in the same way he obstinately pursues his intention to sell the piano because he thinks the selling of the piano will serve for a higher purpose.

Boy Willie is a practical man, with practical beliefs, believing that the past should be used for creating a new and better future. He believes that with buying Sutter’s land he will do better in his life than his father did. His buying the land is even more important because that is the land his ancestors worked on as slaves and now he will be the owner of that land, which would be a huge improvement.

Boy Willie is a man with strong beliefs and his own outlook of life. He is the embodiment of the rebellion against the stale conventions of a transient society where “the black” is still seen as obtrusive. Although many readers may take the side of Berniece who tries to preserve the historical legacy of the family (thus refusing to let go the past and face the future), Boy Willie is a man whose practical ambition will inevitably bring progress to all the members of the family, and even wider world: the whole African-American community.

Wining Boy


Wining Boy appears in Act 1 Scene 2 and Wilson depicts him tremendously:

Wining Boy is fifty-six years old. Doaker’s older brother, he tries to present the image of a successful musician and gambler, but his music, his clothes, and even his manner of presentation are old. He is a man who looking back over his life continues to live it with an odd mixture of zest and sorrow (826).

Wining Boy, a tragicomic figure in the play, is just as Wilson delineated: an amalgamation of joyful appearance and latent sorrow. He is lonely (which is most obvious when he talks about his deceased wife Cleotha) and tries to fill the emptiness by gambling and drinking. His soft side comes to light when he talks about his dead wife, enabling us to see Wining Boy not only as a comic figure in the play, but as a man capable of feeling deep emotions.

He tries to leave an impression of successful musician, although his hoarse voice betrays his “success.” He being gifted as a musician, i.e. capable of playing the piano, emphasizes even more the strong connections the family has with the piano (also, Bernice knows how to play the piano and she teaches Maretha; thus Wilson depicts the complex connection of the family lineage with the piano, the whole being symbol of the family generations, Wining Boy representing the past, Berniece the present and Maretha the future).

In addition, he is very persuasive, persuading easily Doaker to give him $5 and persuading Lymon to buy “the magical suit”. He is so good at this that even the reader is puzzled whether he really believes in the things he says. Furthermore, he claims he had talked to the Ghosts of Yellow Dog, which creates even more to the confusion; also this faintly points out his mentally distorted perspective of perceiving things.

Wining Boy is not playing a major role in the play, he is a marginal character; however, Wilson brilliantly manages to depict him as an old shallow fool at first glance, but as the play goes on Wining Boy is more and more humanized and made a more complex character, which perfectly adds to the powerful theme of the play.

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Note: The American Literature students and I were assigned to develop studies of two characters from the play.

These studies are essentially rough notes, developed to stimulate class discussion. If you quote or paraphrase from these original character studies for a scholarly paper, please cite this post as a source.

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Work Cited
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Rpt. in Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. Eds. Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2007. 809-879.
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American Literature--The Piano Lesson: Comparison and Contrast of Lymon and Avery (by Kosta Bojcheski)

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If we analyze August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson we would come to a conclusion that every character in it is a world of its own. Every character is a separate mixture of feelings and interpretations of the world around them. One could say that a character study of The Piano Lesson would also give a pretty colorful picture of the African American community in the first decades of the 20th century. The two extremes of this culture are presented in this play by the characters of Lymon, 29, and Avery, 38.

If we compare these two characters, we come to a conclusion that they are quite different and apart in society. However, one thing that binds them together is their goal--to prosper and survive in a society which is thought of as “generally white.” They try to accomplish this in different ways.



Lymon is a young man who--determined to leave the cruel treatment of the South--decides to move to Pittsburgh. From his first appearance in the play, he is presented as a quiet man who does not speak unless it is absolutely necessary. He owes some money to a man from the South, but he would not work for a white man. His dream is to move to the North, meet a nice woman (or a few) and make it on his own.

On the other hand, we have Avery, who moved to Pittsburgh some time before Lymon, and is trying to make a living out of serving the “white man.” He is running an elevator in a sky scraper, and, as Wilson puts it--he “has taken to the city like a fish to water” (826). This distinction between Lymon and Avery is important for understanding the two basic currents in African American culture, something which can be traced back as far as slavery time--the need to conform or, the opposite--to become an individual.

Avery becomes a preacher after-- as he says--“the dream about the three hobos” (824), which we might understand as trying to find an escape from the oppressed position of black people in society, whereas Lymon buys a truck and decides those who persecute him.

Another thing that puts these two characters together is the central female figure in the play. Berniece is a young widow who is raising an eleven-year old daughter. Avery is trying to convince her to marry him. This is definitely not attractive to Berniece because she can see that he is only interested in his social status--a married preacher is better than a single preacher. However, he is in love with her and is trying to take care of her and her child.

On the other hand, there is Lymon, whose quietness makes him mysterious, and his rebellious spirit makes him attractive. He [tries] to seduce Berniece, but is too busy thinking about all the women he can get in Pittsburgh for her to get him seriously.

So, although it would be reasonable to say that Avery is a better match for Berniece because he has a sober point of view and realistic ambitions and expectations from life, it would be unfair to say that he is ideal for her. From the play, we get an impression that Berniece is more attracted to Lymon than to Avery. But, [in a way], they both fail her. Lymon takes Grace out to see a movie and Avery does not have the courage to bless her house and get rid of Sutter’s ghost.

I would say that Lymon is a better match for Berniece, but her actions, as well as theirs, are strong proof that a woman like her can be independent and live on her own. So, in a modern world, Berniece would be better off alone, or at least in a search for a more suitable partner.

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Note: The American Literature students and I were assigned to develop studies of two characters from the play.

These studies are essentially rough notes, developed to stimulate class discussion. If you quote or paraphrase from these original character studies for a scholarly paper, please cite this post as a source.

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Work Cited
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Rpt. in Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. Eds. Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2007. 809-879.
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American Literature--The Piano Lesson: Character Study of Berniece and Maretha (by Ms Siegel)

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Berniece (Alfre Woodard) and Maretha (Zelda Harris)
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Character Study of Berniece
In The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, Berniece represents promise unfulfilled.

Berniece, a smart and fairly young woman, is forced to work at a menial job because of her lack of education and formal training. She does the best she can with what she has, and with the help of her uncle Doaker (with whom she lives), manages to survive but minimally. Had Berniece been offered the right opportunities in life and not been African-American in 1936, her life might have been very different and much more financially stable.

Berniece is a steady, hardworking middle-aged mother of one child, 11-year-old Maretha, and widow of a man who died a violent death while committing a crime with her brother Boy Willie and his friend Lymon Jackson. The death of her husband Crawley has left her embittered, especially against her brother (who she blames for the death); in addition, she is squeamish about jumping into a marriage with Avery, her on-again, off-again beau, a newly-minted preacher who is trying to set up his church.

One gets the sense that Berniece had loved Crawley deeply, although he had been a bit of a renegade and who probably caused her many sleepless nights during their marriage. But now that she is a widow, she is determined, at least on the surface, not to get involved with another man. She is wary and does not trust men very much, except for the “safe” ones like Doaker and Wining Boy, who, ironically, have had their own issues with women.

Despite her wariness, Berniece is a highly sensual woman, but she tries to keep her sensuality in check. With Avery, she succeeds in fending off his increasing romantic demands; however, with a little perfume and a few smooth words from Lymon, she nearly gives in to her sensual side. But at the last minute, she pulls away from the slick Lymon. After all, she must focus on raising her daughter, so romance must be on the bottom of her long list of life events.

However, after she pulls away from Lymon, she is shocked; her strong sensuality scares her, so it is likely that, from now on, she will keep Lymon, a self-proclaimed womanizer, at a safe distance.

Before Lymon comes into the picture, Berniece marrying Avery does seem to be in the back of her mind, but she’s hesitant because Avery, let’s face it, is not that sensual—he reserves his passion for the pulpit. However, Berniece would make an excellent minister’s wife, for she is accustomed to placing other people’s needs ahead of her own.

She presents a steely front and is determined to keep the family history and tradition intact, and that family tradition is depicted on the piano that Boy Willie is determined to sell so that he can buy the Sutter farm. In order to keep the piano in the family, she is willing to shoot her own brother—not to kill him, of course, but, perhaps, to maim him slightly. Family is everything to her, even her troublesome younger brother, so she would never seriously harm him.

Although she and Boy Willie, by the end, seem to patch up their immediate disagreement, they will always have a troubled and complicated relationship; the piano, safe for now, will always act as the wedge between them. To Berniece, the piano represents the family history and, therefore, should not be sold to a white stranger; however, to Boy Willie, the piano, just a pretty possession, represents the future because of the money it can bring so that he can create a better life for himself and his future children. To his way of thinking, family history remains in the family stories and the heart, not on some piece of wood that was, in the first place, a stolen item.

Also left unresolved is Berniece’s bitterness toward Boy Willie for her husband’s death—that would be sure to crop up again at a future time, precipitated by yet another family crisis.

Ironically, ever since her mother died, Berniece, wishing to keep the spirits of the past away, has been unable to play the piano herself, instead acceding that job to the next generation: Maretha, who may or may not eventually develop her piano-playing skills. At the moment, only she and Wining Boy have anything to do with playing the piano—and Wining Boy only sporadically, given that he shows up in Pittsburgh only when he is broke and needs a handout from family.

Will Berniece ever remarry? I think so. If Avery does not get too impatient or she does not wait too long to say “yes,” she will probably marry him. If not Avery, she will meet someone similar: a steady, hardworking man who will always provide for his family and love his wife and children (including Maretha) above all else (except God). She will not marry Lymon or anyone like him; her sensual side will always cede to her sense of responsibility and family duty.

Thus, she will never again put herself in a situation where she might find herself alone with Lymon or someone like him. In her mind, that kiss with Lymon was a wake-up call.

Berniece, while mired in the past, prepares her daughter Maretha for the future by insisting that the child keep up her piano lessons and attend the settlement house events, probably at the Morgan Memorial House, an off-shoot of The Kingsley Association, then located at 1707 Penn Avenue, in Pittsburgh.

The settlement house was a place where working class and underprivileged people, including children, could go to socialize and learn some practical knowledge and life skills. It is quite possible that Berniece and Maretha actually spent some time at The Kingsley Association itself, for Berniece, in passing, tells Maretha, “Don’t be going down there showing your color” (826), suggesting that they were mingling with white folks, also living in poverty.

Thus, the pragmatic Berniece is preparing her daughter for living in a “white world” and playing the game according to white rules. Yes, according to Berniece, you “show your color” at home, but leave it there once you venture out into the world, at that time, predominately white.

Berniece envisions Maretha becoming a teacher—whether or not that is what Maretha wants is another story, a story not yet told.

Character Study of Maretha
If Berniece represents promise unfulfilled, then Maretha represents promise not yet fulfilled.

Maretha is a static character in that by the end of the play she does not change in any significant way. She exists solely to offer a purpose for Berniece and establish her as a character rooted to tradition and family.

Without Maretha, Berniece might not be all that different from Grace, the woman that Boy Willie picks up and with whom he spends the night. Maretha is the root that keeps Berniece’s feet on the ground and out of Lymon’s bed. So, in that sense, Maretha is responsible for the way in which Berniece has developed as a character.

Maretha represents a future that is no longer possible for Berniece: to become a teacher and enjoy a career that offers some social status and, perhaps, better wages. Berniece has accepted her own station in life, but, in her mind, Maretha’s life will be different—and better.

Whether or not Maretha agrees with her mother, the reader cannot say for sure. Readers are offered one small hint that the girl might share her mother’s dream: her willingness to plug away at that piano, although she does not appear to be too good at playing it. On the other hand, the reader is also given a small glimpse into the feistier and more argumentative side of Maretha: during the hair straightening session, the girl seems uncooperative and unwilling to have her hair combed.

However, the 1936 Maretha is still an unopened book.

I believe that the playwright has purposely left Maretha ambiguous, simply because the conflict is not (yet) between mother and daughter—it’s between brother and sister. So Maretha simply acts as a mechanism to help keep Berniece on a straight path and, thus, more convincing as The Formidable Guardian of the Family Piano.

So how might Maretha turn out?

If she’s 11, then she was born in 1925, slightly too old for the Black is Beautiful movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (See also Wikipedia), but just at the right age to know and appreciate the great African-American leaders of the 1950’s: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, among others.

She would have read about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and, perhaps, rejoiced at Rosa Park’s defiance when she refused to move from her seat at the request of the white bus driver to accommodate a newly arrived white rider. She would have known about the 1954 Brown versus The Board of Education Supreme Court Decision that effectively ended discrimination against minorities in public education.

She may have even attended Martin Luther King’s famous August 28, 1963, I Have a Dream speech in Washington, D.C.

But, most likely, we will never know because August Wilson has never revealed much about Maretha.

We do know this: her mother, as long as she lives, will keep pushing Maretha in the right, albeit a more conservative, direction, so it is likely that Maretha will live a better and more stable life than Berniece. However, Berniece is not likely to advocate a life of protest and rabble-rousing and will always remind Maretha about when and where she should not be “showing her color.”

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Note: The American Literature students and I were assigned to develop studies of two characters from the play.

These studies are essentially rough notes, developed to stimulate class discussion. If you quote or paraphrase from these original character studies for a scholarly paper, please cite this post as a source.

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Work Cited
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Rpt. in Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. Eds. Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2007. 809-879.
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American Literature--The Piano Lesson: Character Study Exercise

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Lymon (Courtney B. Vance) in the "Berta, Berta" Scene in The Piano Lesson
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Tasks 1, 2, 4 and, 5 will consist of developing character studies of two characters.

Task 3 will consist of comparing and contrasting two characters.

We will discuss these character studies in class (tentatively on December 7). I will then ask that you submit, via email, your studies, which I will post on the website (I'll let you know in class when this is due).

Task 1: A.M.

--Boy Willie, 30

--Wining Boy, 56

Task 2: V.I.

--Lymon, 29

--Avery, 38

Task 3: K.B.

Compare and contrast:

Lymon, 29, and Avery, 38.

In your opinion, which of these characters would be the best match for Berniece?

Task 4: D.A.

--Doaker, 47

--Grace, age not specified, probably slightly older than Boy Willie and Lymon

Task 5: Ms. Siegel

--Berniece, 35

--Maretha, 11

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American Literature–The Piano Lesson (August Wilson) (Notes on the 1995 Hallmark Film)

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"Berta, Berta," Prison Work Song from The Piano Lesson, Written and Directed by August Wilson

dansato says,

In the play, this is "Berta Berta" [lyrics on pages 833-834 in Literature and Society, 4th edition, full reference below and here] a prison work song the men learned while in Parchman Farm (Penitentiary) in Mississippi. You can hear its roots in the field songs of slaves and in gospel call-and-response, as well as the relation to its distant descendant, rock 'n' roll. Actors: Charles Dutton, Courtney Vance, Carl Gordon, Tommy Hollis. Dir. Lloyd Richards.

Afterwards, hear a short clip of a real prison work song.

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(Part Four of August Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle”)

Setting (place and time):

Pittsburgh, circa 1936

Major Characters (and ages, according to August Wilson):

Boy Willie, 30 (Charles S. Dutton)

Lymon, 29 (Courtney B. Vance)

Doaker, 47 (Carl Gordon)

Berniece, 35 (Alfre Woodard)

Maretha, 11 (Zelda Harris)

Avery, 38 (Tommy Hollis)

Wining Boy, 56 (Lou Myers)

Grace, age not specified, probably slightly older than Boy Willie and Lymon (Rosalyn Coleman)

Characters mentioned in the dialogue but who do not appear on stage or the film:

Papa Boy Charles (Berniece and Boy Willie’s late father and Doaker’s brother, killed in 1911 after stealing the piano from the Sutter family)

Mama Ola (Berniece and Boy Willie’s late mother)

Sutter (the 340-pound man who ended up in the well and is now a “ghost”)

Crawley (Berniece’s late husband, killed after stealing firewood)

Cleotha (Wining Boy’s late wife)

Important characters not appearing on stage (but appear in the Hallmark film in flashbacks):

Papa Boy Willie (Harold Surratt)

Mama Berniece (Elva Branson)

Sutter, the slave owner (Tim Hartman)

Miss Ophelia, slave-owner Sutter’s wife (Lynne Innerst)

Minor characters appearing in the film:

Ace (Tommy Lafitte)

Dolly (? Appeared in a cameo in the movie theater)

Watermelon Lady (Alice Eisner)

Watermelon Man (Ben Tatar)

Nolander (Bob Tracey)

Director/Writer of film version:

August Wilson

Major Themes

--The American Dream versus Tradition

--Race: relationship between blacks and whites (in both South and North)—socio-economic issues

--Freedom (in its many guises--20th century America motifs

--Pre-feminism: relationships between women and men (potential romance?)

--The supernatural/spirituality/organized religion

--Family drama/conflict/relationships

--Stereotypes/inverted stereotypes

--Music (The Blues)

--Cultural legends, lore (the reference to Stagolee, a folk hero), and folktales

--Family stories

--Humor)

Questions for Discussion

What word is missing from the film and why?

What scenes have been added to the film?

What scenes have been deleted from the film?

What is the legend of the Yellow Dog, and how is it depicted in the film?

August Wilson specifies ages for the major characters. In your opinion, did the Hallmark casting director cast these parts to match the ages noted in the play script? Why or why not?

To read the play, see Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, 4th Ed. (Edited by Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen), Upper Saddle River (NJ): Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. 808-879.

Questions: # 1-14, pages 877-878

Suggestions for Writing: # 1-4, pages 878-879.

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Interesting websites about playwright August Wilson:

Piano Lesson, painting that influenced August Wilson, by Romare Bearden:

August Wilson Website

About August Wilson
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