The Piano Lesson Memory and the Past Quotes

It's interesting that Berniece encourages her daughter, Maretha, to play on the piano, while she herself doesn't. Perhaps, even though Berniece is trying to lay the spirits of the piano to rest, some part of her wants to stay connected to them. It could be that she's in some ways living vicariously through her daughter.

Doaker launches into a big long monologue to explain the history of the piano. After he's done we finally know what all the fuss has been about. It becomes clear by the end of Doaker's story just how much the Charles family's past hovers over them.

Doaker and Wining Boy are the oldest characters in the play. They both function as living history books, who pass on the family's past through storytelling. The storyteller has been an important role in many cultures, but in many African cultures this person was called a griot. It was the griot's job to preserve the history of a community through song and storytelling. So, you can see both Doaker and Wining Boy are kind of like 1930ss era African American versions of this ancient occupation. Click here to learn more about griots.

Doaker's grandfather, Willie Boy, carved his wife and child's pictures into the piano, when his master Robert Sutter ordered him to. We imagine it was also a way for him to be with his wife and child who had been traded for the piano. In a way, they became tangible again -- more than just a memory.

We highly enjoy hearing about this little act of rebellion on Willie Boy's part. Instead of just carving what Sutter asked, he chiseled the whole piano with the history of his family. Willie Boy turned the piano into an altar of sorts. After he was done carving, the piano became a monument to his family's past.

Boy Charles, Berniece and Boy Willie's father, was consumed by the family's past. The piano had his family's history carved into it, so as long as Sutter still had it he felt like they were all still slaves. Unfortunately for Boy Charles, this obsession with the past eventually led to his death.

In Boy Willie's mind, the best way to honor the memory of his father and grandfather is to sell the piano and buy the land where his family was once enslaved. His sister Berniece, on the other hand, sees selling the piano as a betrayal of their memory. Either way you look at it, both siblings are heavily influenced by the family's past.

Avery uses the metaphor of carrying stones, when he encourages Berniece to let go of her painful past. He thinks that Berniece is letting the tragedies of her life weigh her down.

Berniece, Maretha's mother, refuses to tell her daughter about their family's past. She doesn't want her daughter to carry around the burden of the memory. However, Boy Willie feels like it's his responsibility to tell his niece the family history. He thinks it's important for her to know where she comes from.

You'll find this quote at the end of every one of our theme sections. We did this to show how August Wilson brilliantly touches on all of his major themes when Berniece climactically plays the piano at last. This moment ties into "Memory and the Past" because Berniece has finally found the strength to face the memories from which she's been running. She's only able to banish Sutter's ghost after she stops trying to ignore her past and instead embraces it.