The Piano Lesson

Act I

Reading Check

1. Berniece and Boy Willie are siblings, and Doaker is their uncle.

2. They traveled from Mississippi to Pittsburgh.

3. Watermelons (Act I, Scene 1)

4. The land where his family was enslaved, owned by a man named Sutter who has died (Act I, Scene 1)

5. Sutter’s ghost (Act I, Scene 1)

6. He had a dream in which he met Jesus. (Act I, Scene 1)

7. In a letter from a friend of Cleotha’s (Act I, Scene 2)

8. Parchman Farm, or prison (Act I, Scene 2)

9. He fired a gun at police. (Act I, Scene 2)

10. Maretha (Act I, Scene 2)

Short Answer

1. Boy Willie says that Sutter died after the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog pushed him into his own well. (Act I, Scene 1)

2. Lymon needed a place to sleep where he could keep moving to avoid the sheriff. He is trying to escape a sentence forcing him to work for free. (Act I, Scene 1)

3. Berniece believes that Boy Willie killed Sutter for his land, because when she saw Sutter’s ghost, it called Boy Willie’s name. (Act I, Scene 1)

4. Berniece has told Maretha that the carvings have always been there since she got the piano. (Act I, Scene 1)

5. Boy Willie tells Doaker that he will cut the piano in half so he can sell his half. (Act I, Scene 1)

6. They made him feel powerful, like a king, and he had good luck for three years. (Act I, Scene 2)

7. Crawley was with Boy Willie and Lymon moving stolen wood when they were caught, and Crawley was shot and killed. (Act I, Scene 2)

8. Everywhere he went, he was always expected to play. It became a burden and took over his identity. (Act I, Scene 2)

9. The piano was traded for his father and grandmother in slavery, and his grandfather carved the faces of their family and ancestors all over it. Letting a white man own it was like leaving the family in slavery. (Act I, Scene 2)

10. She polished the piano with her sweat, blood, and tears. She made Berniece play it for her because she felt that it allowed her to talk to her dead husband. (Act I, Scene 2)

Act II

Reading Check

1. Doaker (Act II, Scene 1)

2. He says the watermelon seeds are planted with sugar. (Act II, Scene 1)

3. Take a bath. (Act II, Scene 2)

4. She is afraid it will awaken the spirits of her ancestors. (Act II, Scene 2)

5. Boy Willie and Grace knock over a lamp. (Act II, Scene 3)

6. A woman (Act II, Scene 3)

7. Wait for Bernice (Act II, Scene 4)

8. Crawley’s gun (Act II, Scene 5)

9. He killed the cat to gain power over death. (Act II, Scene 5)

10. Berniece (Act II, Scene 5)

Short Answer

1. They’ve gotten their truck to the rich part of town and been successful selling watermelons. (Act II, Scene 1)

2. Wining Boy sells Lymon a silk suit and shoes, and he convinces Lymon that the suit is magic and will attract women. (Act II, Scene 1)

3. Avery calls the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog the hand of God, doing God’s work by smiting those who have done wrong. (Act II, Scene 2)

4. Berniece asks Avery to bless the house to exorcise the ghost of Sutter. (Act II, Scene 2)

5. Grace has an ex named Leroy who has a key to her house, although she doubts he’ll show up because he left her for another woman. (Act II, Scene 3)

6. Lymon has an intimate moment with Berniece when he dabs perfume behind her ear and kisses her, and Berniece kisses him back. (Act II, Scene 3)

7. It won’t budge, and they hear Sutter’s ghost. (Act II, Scene 4)

8. Berniece says that if Maretha were a boy, she wouldn’t have to go through the pain of having her hair done. Boy Willie doesn’t think she should make her daughter feel bad about herself. (Act II, Scene 5)

9. Lymon has picked up Grace, and she is waiting in the truck. He wants to take her out. (Act II, Scene 5)

10. Wining Boy sits at the piano and plays a blues song he wrote for Cleotha, his deceased wife. (Act II, Scene 5)