The Piano Lesson

There are a number of symbols throughout Wilson's The Piano Lesson, a drama that centers on the struggle of the future fate of a family heirloom, a piano. Berniece and Boy Willie Charles are brother and sister, descendants of slaves. Willie has come from down south where he has experienced some success in watermelon farming. His only dilemma is he has no money. He intends to seize the opportunity of buying a piece of land to farm for himself, the very land his ancestors worked. He wants Berniece to let him sell the piano that belonged to their grandparents, slaves who carved into the piano the trials and tribulations the family endured. Thus the piano symbolizes a conflict between Berniece and her brother that represents a larger conflict that exists among the African American community, whether to reject the past and heritage to get ahead or miss opportunities and reaffirm the past and respect for ancestors. Thus to Willie Boy the piano represents a way out of the catch-22 in which most African Americans found themselves in American culture of the 1930s, they are often deprived of their past and present opportunities. As Lymon says when he and Willie Boy first arrive at Berniece's, "After we sell them watermelons he have enough money he can buy him a whole railroad car" (Wilson 3).

Berniece and Willie are opposite sides of a coin. Willie Boy is flashy, loud, likes to party and represents the fast-talking, trying to get ahead in

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