The Piano Lesson- August Wilson

The piano lesson was an overwhelming play written by August Wilson that mainly describes the struggle between the siblings over the ancestral inheritance that is piano that was carved by the images of their African ancestors and the image if their grandfather. This play was seemed to be accurate for that time as racism between the black and white men was at top and this play also highlights this thing.  The plays also concentrate on the importance of the culture and the inherited pieces. Most of the scenes would remain same as still in the modern society we are losing and forgetting the importance of our heritage. The paper analyzes the themes and the characters of the play that are still consistent in the Pittsburgh society. Most of the play is still applicable and reliable in today’s society as still the black are termed as inferior, the class of slaves.

Boy Willie and Berniece plays important characters in the play and both have their own significance. Boy Willie was an impulsive and fats talking brother of Berniece. The play starts when he came back from Mississippi to sell his piano and to take the land where his father worked as a slave. He was having a firm belief that black men are equal to white men and he acted steadily in the whole play. He knows the consequences of this as he had also a risk of being murdered for raising the voice but he stood firm and said that black men should also stand on the top like white men. Boy wants to sell the piano to secure his future and he doesn’t worry about the legacy while his sister signifies the importance of cultural and inherited items. Berniece was the sister of Boy Willie and she was a guard and was protecting the piano for being sold as she like to saves his ancestral things. (Bogumil, 1999)

I think that the play was awesome and if is dramatized again many acts and scenes would remain consistent as still there is a gap between the white and the black men in the American society. Blacks are still considered as inferiors and they are often made slaves so Boy Willie reactions and his desires would remain same. Both main characters that are Boy Willie and Berniece play their best role and both shows that they are going in the right way as their thinking was different. Boy Willie wants to sell his piano that was their heritage and own the land that they had been working on for several years as slaves and Berniece was against this but Boy Willie doesn’t understand the knowledge that Berniece had.

The foremost conflict of this play was the piano that Boy Willie was in favor to sell while his sister was determined to keep the ancestral legacy with them. This conflict would still be reliable as there are still many blacks in Pittsburgh with several of them having their ancestors as slaves. His desire was to transform the past by changing the future. Although at the end he realized that he should change the future by keeping the past as it is. (Study Guide)

Most of the scenes and dialogues of Boy Willie would be the same as in the American society there is still discrimination and black are often made slaves.

"If my daddy had seen where he could have traded that piano in for some land of his own, it wouldn’t be sitting up here now. He spent his whole life farming on somebody else's land. I ain’t gonna do that. See, he couldn’t do no better. When he come along he ain’t had nothing he could build on. His daddy ain’t had nothing to give him. The only thing my daddy had to give me was that piano. And he died over giving me that. I ain’t gonna let it sit up there and rot without trying to do something with it."

“If Berniece don’t want to sell that piano…I’m gonna cut it in half and go on and sell my half.”  (Wilson)

These dialogues of Boy Willie would still be applicable as this shows his determination and willpower to buy that land in which they were slaves but now they have the opportunity to pay for the land and become the masters of it. He was not in the favor of keeping the ancestral legacy although at the end of the play he finally understands that there is no way that he could escape from it and he had to succeed in his life by keeping his ancestral legacy and learning from the past.

Conclusion

After analyzing the two main characters and their role in the present society it is concluded that my views are very clear about the play. The play had highlighted many issues regarding our society and now we again want such plays which can highlight the current issues in such a nice manner. In my view the play was an important step for the African Americans that have highlighted the slavery.

References

Bogumil, Mary L. (1999) Understanding August Wilson. University of South Carolina Press

August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. Study Guide. Retrieved from: https://americanstage.org/pdfs/The-Piano-Lesson-Study-Guide.pdf

Wilson, August (n.d) The Piano Lesson, Act 1, Scene 2.

Language theory

Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who put his efforts primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, of mind, and the philosophy of language. The picture theory of language is a theory of linguistic meaning and reference expressed by him in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. It is the single book published by Wittgenstein. He recommended that a meaningful proposal pictured a state of affairs. The theory resulted because of the comparison of logical pictures with the spatial pictures. This picture theory of language is considered an early correspondence speculation of truth.

The theory of language states that the statements are meaningful only if they can be defined or depicted in the real world. The picture theory is an anticipated description of the relative of representation. This view is occasionally called the picture theory of language, but Wittgenstein has also discussed various representative relationships, including the non-linguistic pictures like the photographs and the sculptures. For him, propositions are the pictures. Language is used to construct or create these pictures. Wittgenstein's theory is one which illustrates on the visual analogy in particular as the proposals are themselves a collection of facts not only mental representations.

This theory states that if a statements picture the world i.e. if a proposal is made that there is a tree in the garden, than the statement is only meaningful and accurate when it actually represent it in the world and only if there is a tree in the garden; but if there is no tree than the proposition does not precisely portrait the world. It is actually the relationship between the language and the world i.e. what can be said to what can be shown.

The illustrative form of a proposition is best captured in the pictographic form of thinking, as it consists only of illustrative form. This pictorial form is a valid structure. Wittgenstein believed that the parts of the logical structure of consideration must in some way be in contact with words as parts of the coherent structure of propositions.

One product of the picture theory is that a priori truth does not have any existence. Truth only comes from the precise and correct representation of a position of associations (i.e., some feature of real world) by any representation (i.e., a proposition). It is said that the entirety of true beliefs is a picture of world. Thus without setting a proposition up adjacent to the real world, it cannot be told that whether the proposition is accurate or fake.

Phillosophy - Civillization

Mr. Lenox Remond (1842) in his speech of the Rights of colored Citizens in travelling had said that the rights, privileges, civil liberties and immunities are all measured upon the complexion of the citizens. Normally it is said that all the people are equal but that’s not at all the case if it would have been than no discrimination would have occur. He had said that he as a colored man is exposed in his own country while in other countries such as England and Scotland he had been treated in private and public respectfully without even noticing the complexion. While travelling he had highlighted that complexion matters more than the personality. The conductor had ordered the other two people who were sitting beside him to get out of the carriage. It is so humiliating to not to know about the person’s character but judging him as per his color complexion. He felt that he was just separated because of the color. It should not happen. The people are not of the color by their choice, they should be treated with justice and humanity.

            Mercer Langston (1855) in his speech of there is no full enjoyment for anyone in This Country has said that we see that even the eagle’s hates confinement and cage. In the same way we should accept that the man should be freed and independent s every man is equal and no one is allowed to make any one slave. Every one has feelings which he wish to complete in his life but we see that no one today is impendent and every one is covered with so many problems. It should be taken into notice that we are living in an modern age but still we have some people which are of old styles and wanted to have slaves. They should understand that a man is born independent; this is the biggest reason why all men should be remaining sovereign. This tells us that slavery is not a good thing and we should try our best to eradicate it.

            C. Nell (1855) Schools are the place for learning but now it has became the place in which students tries to become superior to another. It has been seen that the rights of the children are not properly followed by the administration and they just keep on looking when these rights are violated. The basic principle is that every student is equal and has same right of education regardless of his cast, creed or color. Mostly it is not observed in the institutions. The students are equal and have equal right to get education and knowledge. We should encourage every child to learn and to go schools but they are afraid of racialism. So we ought to terminate this custom.

Overall the philosophy of civilization has been explained in all the three speeches that there is no respect for the colored people and the slaves. They are not treated like they are even humans. Although in Langston’s speech he has highlighted that anti- slavery movement was also started which did have little but some effect on the people. The comparison between all three is that all three are based on the color complexion of the people by which they are not treated like other white men. Thus the point is that every person regardless of their color should be treated with respect.

•   Lenox Remond, Charles (25 Feb, 1842). The Rights of Colored Citizens in Travelling.
• Mercer Langston, John (9 May, 1855). There is no full enjoyment of freedom for anyone in this country.
• C. Nell, William (17 Dec, 1855). The Triumph of Equal school Rights in Boston.