Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Abstract
August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson features a debate between an African American brother and sister over the ownership of a richly symbolic piano, a family heirloom that represents the Charles family’s slave heritage and its endurance through Reconstruction. Ownership questions like the one presented in The Piano Lesson can usually be resolved in the courts, but Wilson’s play suggests that the law might be unable to resolve property disputes so problematically entangled with the legacy of slavery. Wilson offers, instead, a non-legal resolution to the piano debate presented in his play.
Recommended Citation
Tackach, James and Emilie Benoit. 2008. "August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and the Limits of Law." Law, Culture and the Humanities 4 (2)
Comments
Published in: Law, Culture and the Humanities, Volume 4, Number 2 (2008)