Drama Essay ( literture ) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Drama ( literture ) - Essay Example The blood and tears of the family goes even deeper into the grain of the piano as the father was then requested to carve the image of the missing pair into the wood of the piano as a means of placating a disconsolate white mistress who missed her favorite slave. When the slave family finally stole the piano back from the white masters, one was killed in the process, adding more blood to the instrument as his wife spent the rest of her life adding more tears. Through this long history, the piano has come to stand as a symbol of the family, but the interpretations of just what that means differ between the various family members. As they struggle against each other, both brother and sister reveal a deep reverence and close family connection with the piano but are forced, in confronting the opposition, to come to an even deeper understanding of the piano’s connection within their lives. Berniece is in possession of the piano at the beginning of the play. Although she never plays it, she has been teaching her daughter to play by reading sheet music, as the white people do, and withholding the family’s history with the instrument from the child. According to Maretha, her mother’s explanation for the carvings is simple enough, â€Å"She say it just always been like that since she got it† (22). Meanwhile, Maretha remains unfamiliar with the boogie woogie her great-uncle plays for her and insists music cannot be made without the paper to tell her the right notes to play. Berniece’s plans for her daughter are continually stated as having her grow up to become a teacher and have little or nothing to do with the kind of life they’re living now. Although Berniece obviously associates the piano with the spiritual heart of her family, â€Å"Mama Ola polished this piano with her tears for seventeen years. For seventeen years she rubbed on it till her hands bled. Then she rubbed the blood in †¦ mixed it up with the rest of the blood in it†