The Piano Lesson Race Quotes

The piano in many ways represents the Charles family's history of enslavement. When Boy Charles, Boy Willie and Berniece's father, took the piano from Sutter's house, he saw it as symbolically cutting the last ties to slavery. So, if we're following this symbolic train of thought, what might be the significance of selling the piano back to a white person?

Though Boy Willie definitely recognizes all of the racial barriers that existed during this time, he refuses to be a victim. He's determined to fight for equality, no matter what it costs him. In many ways, his determination to buy Sutter's land is a quest to stand on equal footing with "the white man."

Wining Boy sees white people's control of the law as the main advantage they have over black people. He feels like it's really hard for African Americans to get ahead in a country where all the laws were designed by white people who know how to use them to their advantage. This line also calls to mind the racist Jim Crow laws which once stripped many black people of their rights throughout the South.

Boy Willie isn't quite sure if he got the best deal when bargaining to sell the piano. Sometimes he finds it hard to read white people. The play is filled with statements like this that highlight the cultural divide between white and black.

After slavery was abolished, many black people were still left in poverty. Jim Crow laws and other racial barriers made it hard for former slaves to get ahead. As a result, there was a large economic gap between the majority of African Americans and the majority of white people.

Many black people were held in check through fear of violence. Even though slavery had been abolished by the 1930s, there was still racially motivated violence throughout the South. Many black people feared being lynched by members of the violent, white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.

Boy Willie says that he realized he had "the power of death" after he killed a cat. Since then, he says, he hasn't been afraid of the "the white man." Boy Willie feels it's necessary to pay back any violence done to him back in kind.

Boy Willie thinks that Berniece too easily accepts the way that black people are pushed down by the white majority. When he says he lives at the "top of life," it means that he feels like he's equal with everyone he meets. Berniece, on the other hand, just calls it like she sees it. Blacks aren't equal in the eyes of society, and she doesn't see any point in pretending that's not true. Notice, though, that she says that Maretha "ain't got to stay there." Boy Willie accuses her of accepting her place too easily, but it seems like Berniece definitely has hope for the future.

What do you think Boy Willie means by "a time of fire?" Is he referring to the racially motivated violence that many black people have to deal with, perhaps? The word fire does remind us of the way the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog all met their end in a flaming box car. Of course, the word "fire" could also be meant to invoke the war that Boy Willie sees himself fighting against racism.

Ah, here we are again. When Berniece calls on the spirits of her ancestors, she's drawing on the ancient strength of her race. The stage directions even say that the song is "A rustle of wind across two continents" (2.5.202). We're pretty sure those two continents are Africa and North America. When Berniece plays this song, she's appealing to her essential African-ness.