Essay: Boy Willie in ‘The Piano Lesson’ – Character Analysis

​For my character that I am writing about is Boy Willie from the short story The Piano Lesson. Throughout this essay, I will talk about him, describe, and elaborate on his character. He was an interesting character, and he gives a person a lot to talk about because of his actions and how he acts. The way he acted towards his sister was not the best but what he wanted to sell the piano for wasn’t a bad idea. I understood what he was trying to do and why he was doing it. He plans to sell the family piano and buy the land his ancestors once worked as slaves. His impulse is to use the family’s legacy practically.
​Boy Willie was sneaky but smart guy to an extent because he ran watermelon business, so he had ideas through that way and he could sell. He probably could have sold the piano pretty easy because, he knows how to sell and he wanted to redeem his race. As the story progresses Boy Willie assumes different roles to get want he wants:  He plays the kindly uncle to Maretha, telling her that the guitar is easier to learn than the piano, because he wants to sell the piano.  He pretends to be a simple black farmer when he teases his white customer about planting sugar with the watermelon seeds.  He bullies Lymon into helping him move the piano over Doaker’s objections.  He assumes the role of a preacher when he flings water around the house in a mock exorcism. This shows how he can talk his way out of most stuff and get away with lying to others. He wanted to buy land that his ancestors worked and fought on before him. In this sense, Willie will appear guilty of a denial or turn away from his family’s traumatic past. During the story he fights with Bernice to get the piano and sell it, which he doesn’t let go very easy. Boy Willie is a whole lot to handle. He’s loud, stubborn, and not afraid to fight for what he wants. Boy Willie does whatever he pleases despite the consequences. This includes breaking the law. He says that he only follows the laws that he thinks are right.
​What Boy Willie is trying to do throughout the story by selling the piano is good thing to an extent because he wants the money for something useful. Boy Willie, however, has a much different opinion than his sister. He thinks that selling the piano is the best way to build on what has been left them. He feels like the piano isn’t doing any good sitting in Bernice’s living room, hardly ever being played. It would be more of an honor to their ancestors if the piano was used to buy the land where they were once enslaved. His motivation to get the piano and sell it is be driven by his ancestors and make them proud. A quote is “What she gonna do with it? She aint doing nothing but letting it sit up there and rot. The piano aint doing nobody no good.”(Wilson). This is one quote that shows he wants to get rid of it instead, of it just sitting there. He does make a good point in saying how he could use the money. Boy would use that money to claim the land and put it to use rather than Bernice letting it sit there and collecting dust. Willies motivation is great for what he’s doing and he shouldn’t have stopped doing what he was doing. That quote shows that he’s right and she doesn’t even play it at all, so why keep something when they have no use for. Another quote is “The only thing make that piano worth something is them carvings Papa Willie Boy put on there. That’s what make it worth something. That was my great-granddaddy. Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house. Now, I’m supposed to build on what they left me.”(Wilson). In Boy Willie’s mind, the best way to honor the memory of his father and grandfather is to sell the piano and buy the land where his family was once enslaved. His sister Berniece, on the other hand, sees selling the piano as a betrayal of their memory. Either way you look at it, both siblings are heavily influenced by the family’s past.
​Boy Willie wants to break out of the tradition of sharecropping like his father. Boy Willie fights to sell the piano so he can become a landowner and quit being just another poor black sharecropper. He also thinks that he is as equal to a white person or at least thinks he should be and buying land in Mississippi wouldn’t have any problems. As a thematic counterpoint to his true self, Boy Willie considers himself just as worthy as any white man to make a difference in the world. To other characters they think if he does go through with it, then he will end back up working on a farm. It seems like he would want to end racism and have equality through all races. He doesn’t see one person have more value than another person. Another quote to show that he is pushing really hard for that piano is “I’m gonna talk to her.  When she see I got a chance to get Sutter’s land she’ll come around.”(Wilson). This is showing he will try anything even when he has proof of what he’s trying to achieve. He really want to sell the piano and get back the land that his ancestors worked on for a long time. He tries to convince his sister to let him sell the family piano.  She refuses.  In spite of Berniece’s threats of violence against him, Boy Willie locates a buyer for the piano, and starts to remove the piano from her house.  He’s attacked by an evil ghost attached to the piano. Boy Willie thinks that selling the piano and buying farmland will ease his life as a black man in Mississippi.  He refuses to “live at the bottom of life” where Berniece believes they all are. Berniece, aware of what the piano cost their family in lost lives and the grief that follows, tries to make Boy Willie see beyond its monetary value. The readers can see what she is trying to prove and show that family has come a long way. Her family has put a lot of memories into that piano and it is hard to get rid of memories that have no value.
​One of the main social significance of the story has to do with family and racism throughout. Racism is bigger in this story because of the timeline and what is taking place and the south doesn’t agree where every else is doing. Also another social significance is dealing with legacy and what do to with it. This is why Boy Willie wants to buy the land where his ancestors worked and stop what is happening there. He wants to minimize it by buying land and being equal to a white person. While many think he would fail, end back as a slave and lose the money and land. He wants to prove everyone wrong and that everyone is equal, that is why racism takes big part out of this story. Most of this story deals with race and what is happening throughout. Boy Willie declares that he wants to leave his mark in the world. He would do so by buying Sutter’s land. Boy Willie wants rectify the past by selling the piano and buying land that once bound his ancestors in slavery. The trope of the mark invokes a larger paternal tradition. As Willie notes in the same scene, Boy Charles left his “mark” on the calendar the day he stole the piano, providing the family with its own Day of Independence. Willie Boy literally left his mark on the piano, inscribing the family’s history in the language most readily available to him. Boy Willie declares that he wants to leave his mark in the world. He would do so by buying Sutter’s land. The trope of the mark invokes a larger paternal tradition. As Willie notes in the same scene, Boy Charles left his “mark” on the calendar the day he stole the piano, providing the family with its own Day of Independence. Willie Boy literally left his mark on the piano, inscribing the family’s history in the language most readily available to him. The family is another social significance by relating to the family somehow and respecting their decisions. People have to realize what their family has gone through and what the piano means and stands for. A lot of families have stuff like that where they do not want to sell and keep to remind them of the past and fond memories.
​In the end I would say that Boy Willie made the right choice by letting his sister keep the piano but he was right for what he stands for and believes. On the way to achieve his goal, Boy Willie comes to understand that he doesn’t have to own land to have dignity, pride, and proof of achievement, the piano represents that for every member of the Charles family. Before Boy Willie can make an informed decision to sell the piano he must first know what it is he’ll be selling.  Although he goes through the process of listening to Doaker’s stories about the piano and his family, and hearing Berniece’s stories about their widowed mother’s obsession with the piano, he fails to actually understand its significance. In the end he does come to realize what is happening and does understand what it all meant. After Berniece saves him from the ghost using the piano, Boy Willie considers the possibility that it belongs with his sister, and leaves for Mississippi without it.