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"I got to find another way to get Sutter's land....Now I want to get Sutter's land with that piano. I get Sutter's land and I can go down and cash in the crop and get my seed." (Wilson 1.2.51)

Boy Willie's family was forced into slavery and now Boy Willie wants to buy the land and reclaim it as his own. Willie believes the piano that has been in his family would have a better use if it was used to help buy the land.

Aedan Deckard

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"Then he got here when my daddy was born... and here he got Mama Esther's funeral... and down here he got Mr. Nolander taking Mama Berniece and my daddy away down to his place in Georgia. He got all kinds of things what happened with our family" (Wilson 1.2.44). 

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"Then he got here when my daddy was born... and here he got Mama Esther's funeral... and down here he got Mr. Nolander taking Mama Berniece and my daddy away down to his place in Georgia. He got all kinds of things what happened with our family" (Wilson 1.2.44). 

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Jorie- The piano contains years of family history through several generations. Berniece's strong determination to keep the piano in possession of the family shows how important she believes family is. It also demonstrates the bond between the members of the family, which can help to characterize them.

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"That's what I'm talking about. You start all that hollering and carry on as soon as you hit the door." Wilson 1.1.4

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"That's what I'm talking about. You start all that hollering and carry on as soon as you hit the door." Wilson 1.1.4

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In this quote Berniece is telling Boy Willie that they never stay with them and are always leaving to try to get something. This time they are trying to sell watermelons.
Dylan

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"I wish I had a dollar for every time that someone wasn't at the station to meet them. I done seen that a lot. In between the time they sent the telegram and the time the person get there... they done forgot about them" (1.1.18-19).

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"I wish I had a dollar for every time that someone wasn't at the station to meet them. I done seen that a lot. In between the time they sent the telegram and the time the person get there... they done forgot about them" (1.1.18-19).

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Jackson - Here, Doaker is talking about how there are so many people in the country who don't have anyone that cares about them. I think he's trying to say that they should be grateful for the disassembled family they have.

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"...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? For a piano? For a piece of wood? To get even with somebody?" (Wilson 1.2.52). 

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"...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? For a piano? For a piece of wood? To get even with somebody?" (Wilson 1.2.52). 

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The price of the piano was the death of Boy Charles who was a father and a husband. Boy Charles laid down his life for said piano and in this quote Bernice is saying that it isn't worth it. She is saying that all of those sacrifices were not worth it. Her husband Crawley died for a piece of wood too. I think she also sees herself in her mother because of this. This is relevant because it shows how Berenice views some of her familial relationships as well as sacrifice. - LILIANA ANDREAN

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"Then one day she asked me to leave. Told me she loved me before I left. Told me, Wining Boy, you got a home as long as I got mine. And I believe in my heart I always felt that and that kept me safe," (Wilson 32)

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"Then one day she asked me to leave. Told me she loved me before I left. Told me, Wining Boy, you got a home as long as I got mine. And I believe in my heart I always felt that and that kept me safe," (Wilson 32)

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After hearing the news that Cleotha has died, Wining Boy reflects on the sacrifice he made to make her happy. He left despite loving her because she asked him too. Wining Boy sacrificed his own feelings and home and left his love in order to make Cleotha happy.
Maddie Rocchio

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"Might be looking for him about that truck. He might of stole that truck."(Wilson 1.17)

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"Might be looking for him about that truck. He might of stole that truck."(Wilson 1.17)

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Erik- This shows Berniece's Identity as not as trusting and suspicious of family. This also more reveals in her identity with family problems which would lead her to be suspect of even her own family

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"See, everything my granddaddy made Mr. Sutter owned cause he owned him... Told Mr. Nolander he didn't have enough money to buy him" (Wilson.1.2.44).

Doaker, Berniece, and Wining Boy grandfather and grandmother were slaves. Slavery is a great injustice because Black Americans and White Americans were not seen as equals. Instead of their grandfather being seen as a person who makes great wood carvings. He was seen as Sutter money making property, who could be brought at any time if the amount was high enough. People who were slaves were not seen entirely human to White people. They were property, an object used for labor and money. They had to have a talent of some sort to be considered as something to be wanted. And if they had a talent then a white man had to put a price on them to be seen worthy.
Amani Tanner

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"That's what I'm talking about. You start all that hollering and carry on as soon as you hit the door." Wilson 1.1.4

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"That's what I'm talking about. You start all that hollering and carry on as soon as you hit the door." Wilson 1.1.4

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Boy Willie will never be able to stay with them because he is always trying to leave. This shows his relationship between him and the others around them.
griffin

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"All this thieving and killing ... what it ... lead to? More killing and more thieving."(1.2.31)

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"All this thieving and killing ... what it ... lead to? More killing and more thieving."(1.2.31)

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Berniece looks back at her family history and the history of her people in Sunflower County and sees a series of crimes that only hurt everyone involved. Her father stole the piano from Sutter's house and got killed for doing it. Now the so-called Ghosts of the Yellow Dog are continuing the killing. Boy Willie and Lymon stole some wood from a white man so they could sell it and make some money. As a result, Berniece's husband was shot dead by the sheriff. It's time, she thinks, to break the cycle of vengeance.

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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."

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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."

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Overall it shows the backstory and the history of the Charles' piano. It shows how it came to be in recent history, and why it's so important to Berniece and Boy Willie, it symbolized the family's deep-rooted past.-pax

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"Now I done learned after twenty-seven years of railroading is this... if the train stays on track... it's going to get where it's going... The train don't never stop. It'll come back every time" (Wilson 1.1.19). 

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"Now I done learned after twenty-seven years of railroading is this... if the train stays on track... it's going to get where it's going... The train don't never stop. It'll come back every time" (Wilson 1.1.19). 

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Doaker talks about his past, working on the railroad, for 27 years specifically. This is his way of overcoming the difficulties of his life, by contending with his past, and changing for the better of the future. -Pat

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"That was my great-grandaddy. Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house. Now, I'm supposed to build on what they left me" (1.2.51).

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"That was my great-grandaddy. Papa Boy Charles brought that piano into the house. Now, I'm supposed to build on what they left me" (1.2.51).

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Jonah - This quote demonstrates that family is about legacy rather than memory. Boy Willie has had his mind on selling the piano because he believes that he would be honoring his family by purchasing the land on which they were once forced to work on. He sees the sentimental tie it has to the family, who are mostly in favor of keeping it for this reason. Boy Willie thinks it is more important to use this cherished family piano in order to honor his family with the legacy of the land that they once had to work on.

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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...She got Maretha playing on it though. Say Maretha can go on and do everything she can't do"(1.1.10)

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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...She got Maretha playing on it though. Say Maretha can go on and do everything she can't do"(1.1.10)

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Berniece refuses to play the piano because her mother died, but she doesn't want to deprive her daughter of an opportunity that will benefit her in the future. She expects and hopes that her daughter, Maretha, to have opportunities that she didn't have.
-MICHELLE AYEH

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"Aw hell, woman, I was glad to see Droaker. 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." (1.1.4)

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"Aw hell, woman, I was glad to see Droaker. 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." (1.1.4)

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Boy Willie's and Bernice's initial interaction when they see each other for the first time in a while demonstrates family rifts that are present between the siblings and highlights the family dynamic and past as to why the piano, currently with Bernice and Droaker, plays such a role in this play. This interaction as sets the basis for future interactions as boy Willie and Bernice will continue to disagree about what to do with the piano (Bernice with hold grudges).
Hannah

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"Now, the first three or four years of that is fun. You can't get enough whiskey and you can't get enough women and you don't never get tired of playing that piano. But that only last so long. You look up one day and you hate the whiskey, and you hate the women, and you hate the piano. But that's all you got. You can't do nothing else.All you know how to do is play that piano. Now, who am I? Am I me? Or am I the piano player? Sometime it seem like the only thing to do is shoot the piano player cause he the cause of all the trouble I'm having. (1.2.41)

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"Now, the first three or four years of that is fun. You can't get enough whiskey and you can't get enough women and you don't never get tired of playing that piano. But that only last so long. You look up one day and you hate the whiskey, and you hate the women, and you hate the piano. But that's all you got. You can't do nothing else.All you know how to do is play that piano. Now, who am I? Am I me? Or am I the piano player? Sometime it seem like the only thing to do is shoot the piano player cause he the cause of all the trouble I'm having. (1.2.41)

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Winning Boy talks about his dilemma and confusion about his identity as a musician and overall person. He first describes living his life nonchalantly without much care in the world, enjoying drinking, women, and playing the piano. But as time goes on, all these lavish things get tiring yet he cannot give it up because it’s the only thing he has going on in his life. He expresses his annoyance with a part of him, the “piano player” and amplifies how that is the root cause of his crisis.

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 "Money can't buy what that piano cost. " (1.2) Jessie 

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 "Money can't buy what that piano cost. " (1.2) Jessie 

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Berenice doesn't want to sell the piano because of her family. The piano represents her family and their history. Which shows that family is more important to her than money.

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“Twenty - seven years. Now, i’ll tell you something about the railroad. What I done learned after twenty - seven years.” (Wilson 1.1.18).

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“Twenty - seven years. Now, i’ll tell you something about the railroad. What I done learned after twenty - seven years.” (Wilson 1.1.18).

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Doaker makes many sacrifices for everyone else, and a good example of that is his work. He has worked for most of his life, which is a big sacrifice to make.

Maddie Hundley

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"'You got the land.. but them berries,  I'm gonna keep them. They mine.' And he go 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 comes back from Arkansas and hears Boy Willie's plan to buy Sutter's land. Wining Boy thinks that it is unfair that although Boy Willie will have the land, the "white man" will find a way to steal it back. Boy Willie will buy Sutter's land to rebel against their ancestors' slave owners, but he does not realize that he is still not free.
Daniela

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"Money can't buy what the piano cost" (1.2) Makayla Newkirk

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"Money can't buy what the piano cost" (1.2) Makayla Newkirk

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Berneice is trying to explain that no matter how much money is possible, it will never be worth the sacrifice of the piano. It is something to sentimental and special to give up and money does not compare. Some things just aren't worth what the cost.