The Piano Lesson Journal 7

I thought this section of the play was particularly intriguing due to Lymon and Bernieces apparent mutual attraction. Avery has already asked Berniece to marry him however I think she declined in a sheepish manner as to not offend him. If that is true and they don't get married I wonder if her and Lymon will get married. I believe that would significantly change the character dynamics. First of all I would think Berniece might more quickly forgive Boy Willie seeing as how Lymon was there also. But then that leads me to another thing, why does she only blame Boy Willie and not blame Lymon equally?

Austin Schrader said...

I think either Lymon will get in a relationship with Grace, girl he "didnt have a chance to get to", or Berniece. I agree that the tone has changed to a different tone and seems like the entire play is focused on relationships.

The Piano Lesson Journal 6

Easily one of the most striking things that I read in Act 2 Scene 2 takes place when Berniece is preparing to take a bath and Avery walks in. After he proposes to her and she basically shoots him down they move onto the subject of the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog. Berniece seems adamant that Boy Willie killed Sutter by pushing him down the well and that's why Sutter is "haunting" their house/the piano/Boy Willie (I'd say its still unclear as to who he's haunting if anyone). However, Avery believes that The Ghosts of the Yellow Dog are the "hand of god". I think this is an interesting interpretation on murder where its almost ok to kill someone. Maybe the point of saying this is to convey a cliche'd idea of "an eye for an eye" or something similar.

Austin Schrader said...

Yea I also found this strange and wonder if its just trying to depict the differences between the two time periods culture and how they choose a spouse.

The Piano Lesson Journal 5

One thing that I thought was very strange in this section of the play was the ghosts in general. First of all Doaker sees the ghost yet doesn't say anything. This would lead me to believe that if he had said something that the other characters would have believed him whole heartily which develops the culture or attitude of the characters towards ghosts. Building on this I found it very interesting that at first the author says that Berniece see's I ghost I myself and characters in the book questioned it. However, once Doaker said it I believed it as did the characters. The author set this up perfectly and I wonder if this isn't trying to take on sexism. I came to the conclusion based on the fact that this is only years after slavery ended where suffrage and civil rights were beginning to gain momentum.

Austin Schrader said...

Yea, I think the suit is going to play an important role or maybe it just symbolizes something else such as manipulation. And on the sexual humor I thought it not only changed the tone like you said but also developed their characters as less educated.

The Piano Lesson Journal 4

I find it interesting how often Berniece and Boy Willy are seemingly always fighting. If its not over the piano and whether to sell it or not its talking about how Boy Willy is responsible for Crawley's death.  I wonder if their fighting will be the main conflict in this play. However, the conflict also could be something else and this is just syntax. Although we're a good chunk of the way through this play I wonder if our lesson on how the climax often comes near the end of the book will fit with this piece of literature.

Austin Schrader said...

I agree that something will happen to them or the piano as the play is called The Piano Lesson however I'm not sure what. Maybe Boy Willy will take it and sell it like he's said he will do.

The Piano Lesson Journal 3

One thing I thought that was interesting in this portion of the play was the fact that the author decides to include descriptions of many of characters past now. To name a few we learned that Berniece believes Boy Willie to be responsible for her husbands death, the reason why she doesn't want him to sell the piano, a more in depth background on Winning Boy and a lot more about the Ghost of the Yellow Dogs. I what the author hopes to accomplish by letting us develop judgments and feelings about characters with half truths only later telling us the other half.

Austin Schrader said...

I agree about the difficulty to read the book and where some characters will have a solid block of dialogue that seems a bit more like an essay. I wonder if Winning Boy will have something to do with the "Piano lesson". Maybe he instructs Maretha?

The Piano Lesson Journal 2

One thing I've noticed so far is the speed that this play moves out compared to other books such as Cry, the Beloved Country and Lord of the Flies. Just in act 1 family members are accusing other family members of stealing trucks, watermelons, murdering Sutter, seeing his ghost and the Ghost of the Yellow Dog. Its clear this is not only a fast moving book but instead of having a chapter to introduce like you would expect most literature to this just throws you right in the middle of a fast moving drama.

Austin Schrader said...

I agree, I didn't really notice that before. I wonder whether the author intentionally decided to not include some facts about the setting or if its more a product of the fact that its a play instead of a novel. Maybe that's something that is just lost in this type of literature.

The Piano Lesson Journal 1

This book I believe is much like the cover, abstract to say the least. The book starts off with this quaint, fractured characters who are almost all relatives of each other. This might be foreshadowing, albeit oddly placed, of the fractured family itself. By just a few pages in we have a rough idea of what the family dynamic looks like. Its clear in my mind that a majority of this book will have something to do with this family and the same structure will continue throughout, just with more details about them.

Austin Schrader said...

I agree that the words the author chooses to use such as "stillness" "coming together" etc seem to be foreshadowing something. Also it seems clear that on top of personification the author chose to include night vs dark in the quote - "The dawn is beginning to announce itself, but there is something in the air that belongs to the night"

2 things I tabbed on

The first thing I tabbed on was the fact that at nearly the beginning of Chapter 32 Alan Paton decides to have Stephen receive a letter telling him about the fact that Absalom will soon be executed. I think this is ironic because this story begins with Kumalo receiving a letter and because of that letter he goes out searching for his son. The letter both leads to Absalom but also drives him apart from him.

The second thing I tabbed on was the "red blood of the earth". I tabbed it because I'm certain this is a motif and its Paton's attempt to at first glance emphasize the destruction of the earth, however, I believe the setting represents something else. Such as last night when we blogged it represented Kumalo and Arthurs families and could represent the entire society itself.