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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Piano Lesson, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Self-determination
Spirituality and the Supernatural
Grief, Hope, and History
Love, Relationships, and Independence
Summary
Analysis
The play takes place in the kitchen and parlor of Doaker Charles’s house. Doaker lives with his niece Berniece and Berniece’s 11-year-old daughter, Maretha. An old upright piano sits in the parlor; on the piano’s legs are gracefully wrought carvings resembling African sculpture.
Right away, the piano is established as the play’s primary symbol and the center of its drama. Its carvings, so far unexplained, will prove to be important to the characters as well.
Themes
