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Quotes From The Piano Lesson

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In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Bernice struggles with her family past, which reveals how much it has shaped her over time. The aspects of Bernice’s family past that she struggles with are the time her and her mother spent at the piano, The hardships her family faced as slaves, and the time her grandfather spent carving the piano. After the death of Bernice and Boy willies father, they’re mother would have Bernice play the piano while she cleaned it. This was Mama Ola’s way of communicating with her husband. In the text Bernice says that Mama Ola "Mama Ola polished this piano with her tears for seventeen years. For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled.” this contributes to the work as a whole by Bernice respecting all the effort her mother put in. Ultimately leading to Bernice to not allow Boy Willie to sell the piano which would later save the family from Sutter’s ghost. …show more content…
The piano is more than just a symbol of slavery; it also represents the strength of the Charles family. Bernice and Boy Willies father, Boy Charles felt that as long as the Sutter’s owned the piano, their family would still be enslaved. To get rid of this feeling Boy Charles and his brothers, Doaker and Wining Boy, took the piano from Sutter's house. When Boy Charles dies Mama Ola uses the piano as a means to communicate with Boy Charles. This contributes to the work as a whole by Bernice having to play the piano for Mama Ola to communicate with Boy Charles and Bernice realizing the significance of the

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