The Piano Lesson Project Analysis

In a passage in The Piano Lesson, the author uses the slavery of his ancestors to add a deeper, emotional feeling to Boy Willie's argument over the piano. Boy Willie is talking to Doaker and Lymon about getting land and having to sell the piano to do it. He tells them, "[My daddy] spent his whole life farming someone else's land. I ain't gonna do that" (46). Boy Willie is like any other man; he feels strongly the unfairness of slavery. He is infuriated by how most of his family have lived in slavery and has a strong will to turn the family legacy around. And now that he has a chance to own something for himself, he begins to pursue the American Dream.