Beginning of Essay
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 he ....

Middle of Essay
.... way this play teaches duty toward heritage is it's assertion that you cannot escape racism by pretending it's non-existence, and that the ghosts of slavery's past will follow you unless you hold them up. This was demonstrated in the conclusion of the play when Bernice faces her denial of the piano and "realizes what she must do" and exercises Sutters ghost by "beginning to play"(106). When Bernice plays the piano she is showing a respect for her family's history and moves past her denial and the ghost's power over the family. Another basic lesson of the play is that family is important and to sick together in hard times. This family is scat ....