Mama Ola Character Analysis in The Piano Lesson

Mama Ola was Berniece’s and Boy Willie’s mother. She died over seven years ago. She constantly polished the piano with her tears and often begged Berniece to play for her in memory of Mama Ola’s husband, Boy Charles. Mama Ola’s spirit is among those called upon by Berniece for help at the end of the play.

Mama Ola Quotes in The Piano Lesson

The The Piano Lesson quotes below are all either spoken by Mama Ola or refer to Mama Ola. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Racism and Self-determination Theme Icon

).

DOAKER: You know she won’t touch that piano. I ain’t never known her to touch it since Mama Ola died. That’s over seven years now. She say it got blood on it. She got Maretha playing on it though. Say Maretha can go on and do everything she can’t do. Got her in an extra school down at the Irene Kaufman Settlement House. She want Maretha to grow up and be a schoolteacher. Say she good enough she can teach on the piano.

Related Characters: Doaker Charles (speaker), Berniece, Boy Willie, Maretha, Mama Ola

Related Symbols: Piano

Page Number and Citation: 10

Explanation and Analysis:

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 on it. Every day that God breathed life into her body she rubbed and cleaned and polished and prayed over it. “Play something for me, Berniece. Play something for me, Berniece.” […] You always talking about your daddy but you ain’t never stopped to look at what his foolishness cost your mama. Seventeen years’ worth of cold nights and an empty bed. For what?

Related Characters: Berniece (speaker), Boy Willie, Mama Ola, Boy Charles

Related Symbols: Piano

Page Number and Citation: 52

Explanation and Analysis:

I was only playing it for her. When my daddy died seem like all her life went into that piano. She used to have me playing on it […] say when I played it she could hear my daddy talking to her. I used to think them pictures came alive and walked through the house. Sometime late at night I could hear my mama talking to them. I said that wasn’t gonna happen to me. I don’t play that piano cause I don’t want to wake them spirits. They never be walking around in this house.

Related Characters: Berniece (speaker), Avery Brown, Maretha, Mama Ola, Boy Charles

Related Symbols: Piano

Page Number and Citation: 70

Explanation and Analysis:

Mama Ola Character Timeline in The Piano Lesson

The timeline below shows where the character Mama Ola appears in The Piano Lesson. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Doaker continues that Berniece hasn’t played the piano since Mama Ola died seven years ago. Berniece claims the piano “got blood on it.” She’s teaching Maretha... (full context)

...snuck in and removed the piano, the other two brothers carrying it by wagon to Mama Ola ’s house in the next county. Boy Charles stayed nearby, acting as though nothing had... (full context)

...stands by the piano and tells Boy Willie to look at it. She says that Mama Ola polished the piano with her tears and blood for 17 years. She cleaned it every... (full context)

Spirituality and the Supernatural Theme Icon

...change his mind about selling it. Berniece says that she hasn’t played the piano since Mama Ola died, and that she only ever played it for her. Mama Ola used to say... (full context)

...as she repeats it. Berniece begins singing and calls upon Mama Berniece, Papa Boy Charles, Mama Ola , and other ancestors to help her. Just as the sound of an approaching train... (full context)