Part one of term paper
In The Piano Lesson, August Wilson portrays the life of a 30's family in a dilemma over selling an ancestral piano for money to buy land those ancestors worked as slaves. The piano teaches many lessons, among the most important is that you must hold on to your heritage over everything else, even economic betterment. The Piano Lesson speaks o ...

Part two of term paper
... American history and attests to the past. He tells Lymen, a friend of the family, about the piano saying " it was the story of our whole family" (p.45). Doakers job in the play is to carry the background story of the bloodstained piano to the viewer. He is also a reminder to respect the past and a realization that our past is not that far in back of us. Another way this play teaches duty toward heritage is it's assertion that you cannot escape racism by pretending it's non-existence, and that th ...