The End

  The Beatles have always been one of my favorite bands, and I feel like a lot of their songs can serve as soundtracks to movies or books. I feel like the Beatles could play as the soundtrack to my life, like if there was a movie about me The Beatles would be playing. A lot of their songs are happy tunes, they talk about things that people can do in order to be happier with each other. When I read the ending of The Piano Lesson, I thought about how the family struggled with the ghost of Sutter, the piano, and between themselves, but in the end they came out better and happier after all the problems were resolved. Even Boy Willie himself seems to change towards the end, he helps everyone by fighting off the ghost of Sutter and making him leave. The song “Here Comes the Sun” especially fits the ending of the book, because the sun is a reference to happiness and light, and it is coming out because the darkness, in the form of Sutter’s ghost is lifted. “Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces, little darling, it seems like years since it's been here.” This says now people are beginning to feel happy again, it has felt like it’s been a very long time that the ghost of Sutter has tormented the house, but now finally it is gone.

Selfish Boy Willie

At first Boy Willie acted as if he didn’t care about anybody but himself. He was set on selling the piano and getting the money he needed to buy Sutter’s land. He didn’t care if Berniece didn’t feel like selling it was a good idea, nor did he care that his niece, Maretha, loved playing on it. He was willing to do anything in order to sell it; he was even willing to get shot to get his way. He was crazed by the piano. This is where “Live and Let Die” by Guns N’ Roses fits in. to me this song signifies how the world is now, how sometimes you have to be cruel to everyone else and just look out for yourself. “What did it matter to you, when you got a job to do, you got to do it well, you got to give the other fella hell.” Boy Willie is selfish, he doesn’t care if he inconveniences other people, he is like a bull, who only does what he wants.

Berniece and Lymon

  Although the book lacks in the passion department there is one scene in it that is okay. Here when Berniece and Lymon kiss, I think of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” by Elton John. Growing up watching Disney cartoons this song has been one of my favorites ever since I can remember. On one hand I think this is a very romantic song and on the other it is still very childish and simple. This song is very sweet, and the melody makes me think of their relationship. “It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer, that we got this far”, Lymon is the wanderer, he has been with many women, but now say he just wants to settle down.  Lymon is shy, but he makes subtle passes at Berniece, by calling her pretty among other complements, besides that the relationship seems to be inexistent until that moment during the night that Lymon comes to the house. At that moment Berniece becomes accommodating and nice to Lymon by making his bed and the scene climaxes as they share a kiss. Plus Elton John just goes with anything to do with piano.

Lymon's New Suit

Another time Wining Boy comes back to the house after failing to pawn his old silk suit, and here enter Lymon and Boy Willie after selling the watermelons to rich white folks. Wining Boy then talks Lymon into buying the suit and shoes, and says that the outfit will make the ladies fall for him. This makes me think of “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top. “Clean shirt, new shoes, and I don’t know where I’m goin’ to.  Silk suit, black tie, I don’t need a reason why.” This is a perfect fit for this scene. After buying the suit Lymon and Boy Willie go out, and Lymon picks up a girl and takes her back to the house. Clearly every girl is crazy about a sharp dressed man.

Berniece's Sadness

Throughout the book Berniece is saddened by her late husband’s, Crawley, death. The fact that Boy Willie and Lymon come to visit reminds her of Crawley, because he was shot and killed when he was stealing some wood while helping them. She feels that the two of them are responsible for Crawley’s death. They were lucky, because they were only sent to prison for their acts but Crawley was killed and his wife and daughter were left in sorrow. This makes me think of “Paint it Black” by The Rolling Stones. “Paint it Black” is about a person who has forever lost his loved one and is now depressed "With flowers and my love both never to come back", the same feelings that Berniece is experiencing. And with the appearance of Boy Willie and Lymon those feelings have come back to her, so she would rather both of them leave and let her get on with her life not thinking about the sad past that they bring with them.

Wining Boy

When I read about Doaker’s older brother, Wining Boy, I thought of him as a rambling man, someone who just didn’t have anything to lose, he seemed invisible to others, with no secrets to conceal, and no direction home. “He is a man who looking back over his life continues to live with an odd mixture of zest and sorrow.” Although he is fifty six years old it doesn’t seem that he has many worries and no purpose in his life, just all in all a very unprofessional and unorganized individual. Whenever these adjectives are used to describe a person, I automatically think that he is a rolling stone of sorts. “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan fits well. In this song Bob Dylan depicts just the type of person that August Wilson is trying to paint Wining Boy to be. Dylan’s songs are filled with simple joys and struggles of life, just like The Piano Lesson.

Lymon

Lymon is an outlaw. He is wanted “dead or alive” by the police back in Mississippi. The song that I think of here is “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi. If Lymon goes back home he will be jailed because he ran away from his commitment to Mr. Stovall the first opportunity he got. Now Lymon is forced into a life of hiding and banishment from his home. “The people I meet always go their separate ways.” Lymon has no home now and has no one to take care of him. He can’t go back home to his family because he will be put in jail.

Boy Willie

It seems like Boy Willie is a person who has had to work hard for everything he’s ever gotten. He’s had to take on many odd jobs to support himself, and never had much stability in his life. He’s been mistreated all his life, after growing up poor in a slave family, he and Lymon were imprisoned for taking some wood for themselves. After which Lymon was sold in to a sort of legalized slavery. I think “Hustlaz Ambition” by Young Jeezy fits him perfectly. This song is basically about working hard for everything you get and not having anything come easy. “Ain’t nobody gave a shit and that’s why we grind weight.” Boy Willie is all alone now; he has to look out for himself. When I read that Boy Willie is trying to make a three part payment to Sutter for his land, I thought about this song, and how it fits perfectly for Boy Willie’s life.

Mississippi

Doaker, Boy Willie, and Lymon sit down around a table and talk about their home in Mississippi, the area that the family is from. They talk about Sutter, his land, the ghosts of the Yellow Dog, and the truck full of watermelons that they brought with them up to Pittsburgh. This makes me think of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The song is about how proud the band is about being from the south and that they do not know much more than that, the same vibe I get from Lymon and Boy Willie. I don’t I know they are not from Alabama, but the lyrics fit “Big wheels keep on turning, carry me home to see my kin”, Boy Willie is riding in the truck on his way to see his kin. Plus the truck full of watermelons that keep breaking down just seems like something that you would see in Alabama.

Jaws

The beginning of the story gives me an eerie feeling, the way that someone unexpectedly knocks at a house door in the middle of the knight. The yelling and banging is so loud that it wakes up all of the people living in it. This is the same feeling I get as the one I got while watching Jaws for the first time. That dun dun dun dun theme just gives off the creepy feeling that something bad is about to happen, but at the same time leaves you in suspense for what seems like hours, but is actually seconds, before the killer shark appears. This just how I feel while reading this book. This tune is perfect for this moment because it not only makes you feel the same way as does the opening scene, it is also a foreshadowing into what is going to happen throughout the story. A foreshadowing of the troubles that Boy Willie and Lymon’s appearance will bring to Berniece and Doaker’s lives.