The Piano Lesson, By August Wilson

Within The Piano Lesson, August Wilson effectively presented the scene of the play by implementing symbolism and characterization, displaying one single point: the past is meaningful, but only up to a point. It should not hinder a person from advancing into the future. Taking place in 1936 in Pittsburgh, Wilson accurately portrays a migration in which thousands of African-Americans ventured north in search for jobs and opportunities, however, he also revealed the struggles that these people were destined to overcome. He ensured that their stories lived on. The use of symbolism is immediate, and like a hammer on an anvil, Wilson struck them onto pages with such concise precision that it brought characters to life. This is clearly evident on page 41 of the play, when he wrote, “I give that piano up. That was the best thing that ever happened to me,
Because of this, Wining Boy became the person he is through the rough experiences he had lived through. Nevertheless, he would not have become the insightful man that he was, and he would not have been able to clarify the stories within the play. By creating relatable characters, Wilson allowed his audience to become flies on a wall: they were there and they lived through the experiences of the characters. He portrayed life as it was. Within The Piano Lesson, Wining Boy was driven to deal with the fate of his ancestors, since it became his own. Falling back into the past, he became lost in himself, resorting to drinking in order to cope with the fact that he could not move forward with his life. Becoming prey to the predatory nature of the world, he told the world the story of the struggling people who tried to mold their own destinies in the mid 1930’s. Yes, the past is a crucial detail of people’s lives, but it should not confine individuals to live lives of struggle. The future holds