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"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" (Wilson 1.1.10).

This is a quote from Doaker when he is speaking to Boy Willie about Berneice and Maretha. This quote relates to family as it represents the common desire among parents to want the best for their children. Often times parents want their children to learn from their mistakes and aspire to be something greater than they were themselves. This common desire can sometimes be a double edged sword, as wanting a child to succeed is a good thing, but what the parent wants may not be what the child wants.

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"If I was you I'd get rid of it. That's the way to get rid of Sutter's ghost. Get rid of that piano," (Wilson 1.1.15)

Boy Willie intends on selling this meaningful piano that was given to their family as a gift. Berniece feels as though the piano has a symbolical meaning and that they cannot get rid of it. When Berniece starts to see the ghost of Sutter it represents the "haunting" of the piano and deep meaning behind it. Berniece and Boy Willie continue to make a sacrifice to get rid of the piano to be able to buy land. But Berniece is still worried it is not the best thing to do.

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"I ain't waking that child up... and don't you be making all that noise. You and Lymon need to sell them watermelons and go on back" (Wilson 1.1.8).

When Boy Willie and Lymon come to visit Doaker and Berniece,  she defies cultural expectations by not welcoming back her brother with open arms. At this point in time, the expectation was to accept your family regardless of what they've done without a second thought, but Berniece does not accept the way that Boy Willie has treated her. So she makes sure that Boy Willie knows that he is unwelcome in her home and tells him to "go on back", defying the cultural norm of the time.

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" I ain't selling that piano,Boy Willie. If that's why you come up here you can just forget about it" (Wilson 1.1.27).

This quote shows how Berniece holds a strong belief in the value of family items because the piano was passed down to her from older generations of her family and now she has it and intends to keep it. It shows that Berniece values memories and the item itself more than just what it is worth in dollars. It shows the cultural expectation to keep hold and value family heirlooms and also shows the contrast between these values and those of Boy Willie.

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"Me and Lymon was down there hauling wood for Jim Miller and keeping us a little bit to sell. Some white fellows tried to run us off of it. That's when Crawley got killed. They put me and Lymon in the penitentiary... They looking for Lymon down there now. They rounded him up and put him in jail for not working" (1.2.37).

Boy Willie describes his past trauma regarding his time working for Jim Miller. He recalls witnessing Crawley killed over being on a certain piece of land when they were doing their jobs. It's important to note that they were attacked by white people when they were doing as they were instructed (hauling wood for Jim Miller). They then imprisoned Boy Willie and Lymon, specifically for not working. This shows the injustice of white people vs African Americans because black people cannot work or even take a break from work without being worried or concerned about getting arrested or killed, a privilege that belongs to whites.

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"All that's in the past. If my daddy had seen where he could have traded that piano in for some land of his own, it wouldn't be sitting up here now. He spent his whole life farming on somebody else's land. I ain't gonna do that" (Wilson 1.2.46)

Boy Willie and Berniece have very different ideas about dealing with the past. Berniece believes that you should hold on to the past and continue to learn about your history but Boy Willie likes to plan ahead and think more about the future. Boy Willie wants to make something out of his past by purchasing Sutter's land rather than cherishing it by holding on to the piano.

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"You know she won't touch that piano. I ain't never known her to touch it since Mama Ola died. That's 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" (Wilson 1.1.10).

Bernice has an emotional connection to the piano. She feels that her identity is connected to her ancestors and that the piano is a link to them. She also has dreams for her daughter to make a living off of it.

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When Crawley was killed, Boy Will and Lymon were accused of stealing wood and were put in prison. Lymon was even shot in the stomach. They were able to sneak off, but Lymon was caught by the sheriff again. Lymon was then put in jail for not working. They gave him a hefty fine, and according to Lymon, "the judge say I got to work for him to pay back my hundred dollars. I told then I'd rather take my thirty days but they wouldn't let me do that." (Wilson, 1.2.37). Even though Lymon didn't ask for it, Mr. Stovall paid the fine for him, which forced Lymon to be in service to him. Though slavery in the conventional sense was illegal at this time, Lymon is essentially bound to service due to debt. What's more, this is extremely purposeful. Lymon would rather take the thirty days than be in debt, but no one is allowing him that choice.

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"I ain't selling that piano, Boy Willie. If that's why you come up here you can just forget about it. Doaker, I'll see you later. Boy Willie ain't nothing but a whole lot of mouth. I ain't paying him no mind. If he come up here thinking he gonna sell that piano then he done come up here for nothing." (1.1.27)
After Boy Willie shows up to his sister's house uninvited and demands to sell the piano, Berniece makes it clear that that will not be happening. Prior to Boy Willie telling her he would like to sell it, Doaker told him Berniece will not want to sell it because she has been holding on to it ever since Mama Ola died, who was the former owner of the piano. In this quote Berniece finds out the real reason Boy Willie has come to visit; sell the piano and buy Soaker's farmland. When she recognizes what she is doing she reacts bluntly, which portrays that when members of her family pass away, she keeps sentimental things in their honor to never forget them. Holding on to the valuables reveals that Berneice is a strong person on the outside, but on the inside never loses sight of what is important to her and her family.

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¨We broke down twice in West Virginia...We had to walk about five miles for some water¨(1.1.3).

Lymon and Boy Willie are explaining their journey from Mississippi to the house of Doaker. The truck that they were driving broke down 3 times in the middle of nowhere so they were forced to have to hitchhike to get food and water. This shows how bad that they wanted to sell their watermelons and make some money.

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"Get my deed and walk on out. This time I get to keep all the cotton. Hire me some men to work it for me. Gin my cotton. get my seed. And I'll see you again next year. MIght even plant some tobacco or some oats," (Wilson 1.1.17)

From this passage, we can get a description on how hard working Boy Willie is. We can see his identity by reading about how he works and how he wants to create a living. We see that he wants to start farming and that he seemed to know about it from being a fielding hand on a plantation. Other than that we can stream that he is a hard-worker to get what he wants and wants to create a life for himself.

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"The colored man cant fix nothing with the law" (Act 1, Scene 2, Page 38)

In this part Wining boy tells his nephew to not trust an white man to give them land. He tells us the law favorites the white man and theres nothing they can do about it. Wining boy also explains were he is self conscious because he doesn't have the same freedoms due to the Jim Crow laws.

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"If everybody stay in one place I believe this would be a better world. Now what I done learned after twenty-seven years of railroading is this... if the train stays on the track... it's going to get where it's going." (Wilson 1.1.19)
This quote unpacts the expectations and beliefs of the time period. Especially those of the older working class. Doaker is of the opinion that he doesn't like this new change and new technology. You can also see it in the way that he belives Boy Willie and Lymon move around a lot which is too much. Doaker believes that people should be content where they are and stay on their "track" because everntually you are going to get where you need to be.

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"He don't ever stay in one place. Now, he been here about eight months ago. Back in the winter. Now, you subject not to see him for another two years." (Wilson 8)
Doaker uses this quote to show how his brother hasn't discovered who he is yet. He doesn't stay put because he doe not know who he is yet. He continues to move around to try to find his identity rather than stay still and be lost.

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"They got so many trains out there they have a hard time keeping them from running into each other. Got trains going every whichaway. Got people on all of them. Somebody going where somebody just left. If everybody stay in one place I believe this would be a better world. Now what I done learned after twenty-seven years of railroading is this... if the train stays on the track... it's going to get where it's going. It might not be where you going. If it ain't then all you got to do is sit and wait cause the train's coming back to get you. The train don't never stop. It'll come back every time. Now I'll tell you another thing..."

Doaker, in this quote is trying to express his past to Boy Willie throughout the entire first act he tries to pass on his own knowledge and such to Boy Willie.

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"Boy Willie and Lymon got more sense than to ride all the way up here in a stolen truck with a load of watermelons."(Wilson 7)

Willie and Lymon pick fresh watermelons to move around town they know the risk of doing this because people who dont even know them are already accusing them for stealing the truck and watermelons when they did but they have to do it to make money

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"Money can't buy what that piano cost. You can't sell your soul for money. It won't go with the buyer. It'll shrivel and shrink to know that you ain't taken on to it. But it won't go with the buyer" (Wilson 1.2.50)

Berniece explains that this piano has too much value due to the history of it and its worth. The piano can't be sold because it means so much to them and it's apart of the family. You can't get rid of family and the piano has made its way into theirs'.

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"Look at this piano. Look at it. 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."

Berniece refuses to let Boy Willie sell the family piano, due to all of the blood and tears that were lost getting it. Their father was killed in the process of obtaining the piano, which left Mama Ola without a husband for seventeen years and forced her to raise their family on her own.

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"They looking for Lymon down there now. They rounded him up and put him in jail for not working.
Fined me a hundred dollars. Mr. Stovall come and paid my hundred dollars and the judge say I got to work for him to pay him back his hundred dollars. I told them I’d rather take my thirty days but they wouldn’t let me do that."(Wilson 1.1.15)
Boy Willie and Lymon are discussing how Lymon got put in jail for not working. This is injustice because Lymon now has to pay back Mr. Stovall because he paid for him to get out of jail. If it had been anybody else the judge would've been way more lenient and not as harsh.

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"Aw hell, woman, I was glad to see Doaker. You ain't had to come down if you didn't want to. I come eighteen hundred miles to see my sister I figure she might want to get up and say hi." (Wilson.1.1.4)

From this quote, you can tell what kind of relationship this family has with each other. You can see that they love each other, they have a more sarcastic way of showing it.

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"You know she won't touch that piano I ain't never know her to touch it since Mama Ola died. that's over seven years now. She says its got blood on it.  She got maretha playing it though. say Maretha can go on and do everything she can't do"(Wilson 10)

This piano has "blood" in it witch symbolizes the ancestral history of the family. the sale of the piano, a sale that would reduce it to capital, becomes a turn away from family history in the name of monetary advancement.

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¨ Boy Willie, I want you and Lymon to go ahead and leave my house. Just go on somewhere. You don't do nothing but bring trouble with you everywhere you go. If it wasn't for you Crawley would still be alive.     ( Wilson 1.1.15)
Bernice is Boy Willie's sister and she does not want boy Willie around for the simple fact that she blames him for her husband dying. She is very dismissive of her brother and doesn't want him around for any longer than he needs to be, or at all for that matter.

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Kelsey Flora                   ¨He looked at the piano and got excited. Offered her a nice price. She turned him down and got on Avery for sending him past¨. (Wilson 1.1.11)

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Kelsey Flora                   ¨He looked at the piano and got excited. Offered her a nice price. She turned him down and got on Avery for sending him past¨. (Wilson 1.1.11)

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The piano had a great sentimental value to Berniece and she was unwilling to give it up even for a great deal of money. Berniece got Maretha to learn how to play the piano so one day she can grow up and have a better life. So Berniece is sacrificing money that will help her now for something that could help her daughter later in life.

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"Hey, Berniece!
DOAKER: She got to go to work in the morning.
BOY WILLIE: Well she can get up and say hi. It's been three
years since I seen her.
(Calls.)" (1.1.2)
From this you can see that although it is 5 in the morning it is important that he stays connected with the ones he loves. Boy Willie is so very determined to stay connected because we can see that he is persistent about seeing his sister.

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"You look up one day and you hare the whiskey, and you hate the women, and you hate the piano. But that's all you got," (1.2.41)

People are expected to work past the point where they have burnt out. That is what Wining Boy did. He followed the cultural expectation to find a passion and pursue it. He worked on it until it no longer made him happy, but he had nothing else left to. When he was finally able to stop he felt much happier, like he had initially felt when he started playing the piano.

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"And he go and fix it with the law that them is his berries. Now that's the difference between the colored man and the white man. The colored man can't fix nothing with the law" (1.2.38).

Wining Boy explains the way society works during this time. He tells the others how social inequality is very apparent when it comes to African Americans vs. the law. He makes a point stating that when a black man tries to achieve an accomplishment,  the law denies it. On the other hand, when a white man wants something done, the law is willing to change the circumstance for HIM just because the color of his skin is white. This further supports the image of discrimination that African Americans faced in early years.