The Key Roles of Blues and History in the Piano Lesson
Wilson, an African American writer, describes lives and experiences of African
Americans in a variety of ways in his work. Wilson uses traditional cultures of Africa, Afro-
American history as materials. Among them, he uses the Blues the most as a musical device
because he believes it represents the story of the African slaves. In particular, he reflects the
history and culture of African American intentionally through Blues, clarifying the world of
his drama. Therefore, blues plays an important role throughout the plays. Since most of his
works are related to the Blues, it is needed to look at the Blues a specific manner. The blues
he describes in his work are not only musical contents, but also symbolism which holds past,
present, and future of black people. To be specific, in Piano Lesson, he shows the spirit of the
Blues in 1937 to blacks using a tool symbolized by piano. In addition, it helps understanding
to know how the Blues plays a role in his other works. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom dealt with
the origins of the Blues which is set in 1927. In Fences, he clarifies the structure of conflict
and reconciliation of black people in the background of 1957. Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is
one of his works which shows African traditional music that can be a symbol of the Blues,
while using the materials of 1991. While the blues is a symbol of their ancestral legacy and
pain to African American, it is also plays important role presenting their ways to live.
Whereas, the Blues is the means of entertainment and enjoyment as part of their lives to
white people, it is a completely different meaning to black people. As Wilson describes the
blues, “the blues music is terribly misread. It is the carrier of the philosophical ideas of black
Americans. It is their cultural response to the world” (290) . It is a history in itself because it
reflects a staple of life to express the behavior and emotions of black people more than white
people, knowing about the Blues is helpful to understand Wilson’s work on the whole.
Following paragraphs are about how the Blues and the history function in this story.
First of all, the Blues plays a role as a device that reproduces the history and the past.
In the piano lesson, even though the meaning of a items that is a piano is far more remarkable
than the music that is the blues, it is just a item that invisible music is embodied in a solid
stuff, and the essence of them is not different. I think the figure of their ancestors who were
enslaved carved on the piano, instead of the Blues. As a result, the piano is currently existing
state of the Blues.
However, the most important fact is why it is important as a medium between the
past and the present. This is because it reveals how and what point of view two main
characters look at the legacy of the past. The main conflict of this play appears in different
positions of Berniece and Boy Willy about the piano which was a legacy and heirloom o their
ancestor. Since the piano symbolizes the history how their ancestors lived, the conflict about
whether they sell it or not is related to how to interpret the past history. To be specific,
