The Piano Lesson Lesson Plan

How do Boy Willie and Berniece differ in how they measure the worth of something?

Boy Willie measures things in monetary worth—how much money they could bring. He views the piano as valuable because he could sell it for money that he could use to buy land. He views land as valuable because it would allow him to be his own boss and make a self-sufficient living. He disapproves of Berniece’s use of the piano because she is not using it to make any money. Berniece, in contrast, measures worth in terms of past history and emotional value. She views the piano as valuable for what it represents for her family—the trauma from their enslaved past, her father’s death retrieving the...