The Piano Lesson The Supernatural Quotes

This is the first mention of any kind of ghost in the play. Get ready, because you've got lots more waiting for you. It seems that often times the play uses ghosts to represent history that its characters must carry with them. The Ghosts of the Yellow Dog seem to represent, in many ways, the history of racially motivated violence that once plagued the South, because their real life counterparts were brutally set on fire inside a boxcar.

Here's the next ghost we hear about in the play. This guy is the grandson of the man that once owned the Charles family. Therefore, you could see his ghost as representing the history of slavery.

This brings up one of the big mysteries of the play. Did Boy Willie kill Sutter? Is this why the ghost shows up in Pittsburgh? Boy Willie denies it many times, but Berniece doesn't ever seem to really believe him. Boy Willie definitely has motive. He wants Sutter's land and he's got plenty of reasons for revenge. Still, though, he never admits to it, and he just strikes us as the kind of character who would brag about killing Sutter (at least to Lymon). Put on your detective hat as you read the play, and tell us what you think.

Boy Willie seems convinced throughout almost all of the play that Sutter's ghost isn't real. Even when other characters start to see the ghost too, he still refuses to believe it's true. Of course, we wonder if he's really as convinced as he seems. Perhaps, all his denial is covering up the fact that he thinks there really is a ghost.

This quote pops up under the theme of "Spirituality" as well; it comes when Avery is describing the dream that inspired him to become a preacher. Here, we'd just like to point out Wilson's use of the word "Holy Ghost," when he could just as easily have said, "Holy Spirit." You could interpret this as carrying through the theme of ghosts that is threaded through the play. In a way, it links the folk belief in ghosts with Christianity.

Wining Boy claims to have spoken with the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog. Later on, he says that, after he talked to them, he "had a stroke of luck that run on for three years" (1.2.59). It seems like Wining Boy drew on the strength from the ghosts, much the way Berniece does at the end of the play.

At this point in the play, three characters have seen the ghost – Berniece, Maretha, and Doaker. It's looking more and more likely that Sutter's ghost is real and not just a figment of anyone's imagination. It's too bad those guys from Ghost Hunters weren't around back then; they would've had a field day with this haunted house.

Though Berniece is convinced that Sutter's ghost is there because of the piano, Doaker thinks it's the piano that he's after. In Doaker's mind, the ghost has come to reclaim what it thinks it rightfully owns.

Here's a question: why does Berniece so sure that the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog aren't real? She saw Sutter's ghost, didn't she? She clearly believes in ghosts in general.

Well, lookee here – it seems like the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog save the day. Though, Berniece has spent the whole play denying that they exist, when she plays on the piano, they come kick Sutter's butt one last time.