The Piano Lesson

I feel badly for Boy Willie. As much as I can understand why Berniece didn't want to let Boy Willie sell that piano, I don't think she even for a second thought about how beneficial it would be to go through with such a sale. That piano would undoubtedly be just what Boy Willie needed to get his life on track. He has plans to buy land and with the money from that piano, Boy Willie could get just the land he needed. All right, he should've at least been a little more respectful toward Berniece; he was actually rather rude. But at the same time, that piano was just as much his as it was hers, and the least she could've done was talk to him about it and try to settle on something. Berniece values the family's past a little too much in my opinion. In valuing her family's past so much, she's holding back what could be of the family's future. In not putting this piano up for sale, she's passing up golden opportunities for this family. And in her attitude toward it all, it's like she won't even think twice. I would have liked to see Berniece at least think about some of the positive sides of selling this piano. Her ignorance shines as we watch her stubbornness grow. And on top of all of this, there is one thing that absolutely outrages me! When she pulls the gun on Boy Willie in front of her own daughter, it blew me to pieces. As frustrated as I'm sure she was with Boy Willie, I still believe that she was out of her mind when she did that. Something like that is not for a child's eyes, not at that age. A good mother would never allow her own daughter to witness something like that. It truly bothered me.

All in all, I found The Piano Lesson an amazingly powerful play. August Wilson puts so much emotion and passion into this work, it's breathtaking. The depth in which he portrays the roots of this 20th century black American family is