Themes of Education Migration and the Next Generation in the African American Communities of Youngblood The Street and The Piano Lesson
Education of the next generation forms a core, central theme in manyof the greatest works of literature, particularly those of the African-American tradition where the next generation holds such promise for thoseoppressed by the historical weight of the present. However, in thenarrative framework of the novels Youngblood by John Oliver Killens AnnPetry's The Street, as well the play "The Piano Lesson," it is not only theyouth of tomorrow whom receives an education from their wiser elders.Although the older individuals in the play educate the younger members ofthe family, ultimately the education in all fictional contexts is holistic,rather than an unbalanced relationship of old teaching morality to young. In all of the family structures presented, the protagonists arechildren, more or less, if not in years, than in certain dearly held butfalse assumptions they have about life and their place in history. Therole of education in the African-American experience is particularlycritical to all of the protagonists, as all members of the family mustreceive an education about their role in a society that has marginalizedthem and continues to marginalize them because of their race, as well as
Like Joe Youngblood,she learns from the process of parenting as well, of being a strong Blackparent in a White society. In August Wilson's play, entitled "The Piano Lesson," the centralcharacters must learn about life and receive their education-but not fromchildren, but from the ghosts of their ancestors. However, Lutie is already in theNorth. Her education is not simply academic, it is gleaned fromthe New York Streets Street and seeing that world through the eyes of achild for whom she hopes life will be easier. The lesson of the pianois not about scales and one's ability to play a song. One of the most profound teaching tools, the earliest of the novelssuggests, comes through is the medium of migration. heir role in the African-American community of America. Also, the past, like the piano, although beautiful, is alsoinfected with racism, and an exorcism must be performed so that the youngergeneration is not ghost-haunted with the legacy of segregation. The patriarchal Black familystructure must shift, just as the next generation must shift in theirallegiances to other areas of the nation and in their political loyalties,such as Robby, who ultimately and against his parent's wishes, becomesinvolved in the labor movement. Through the medium of fighting to create a better lifefor her daughter, Lutie gains a sense of independence as a woman. In this last case, it is the ghosts that inhabit "The Piano" thatprovide a lesson for the protagonists who are no longer children. The family father Joe, it is suggested, hasadopted a highly patriarchal method of raising his children that isbeneficial during the height of segregation, but must be rebelled againstby his children, if there is to be progress. As impressive as her accomplishments are, shealso gains a stronger sense of herself and her ability to engage in upwardmobility in the Black community as she proceeds through the novel. Thus, Lutie Johnson is hardlyignorant and apt to mince her words in describing her life-In fact she isquite streetwise. The younger Youngbloods,although the respect the family patriarch, believe that there is afundamental and crying need for change in the family and in the African-American community as a whole.
Common topics in this essay:
Piano Lesson,
Boy Willie,
African- American,
Lutie Johnson,
Southern African-American,
Streets Street,
Joe Youngblood,
Harlem Southern,
Oliver Killen's,
Myles York,
boy willie,
wilson's play,
limits own,
central characters,
novel lutie,
john oliver,
ann petry's,
piano lesson,
selling piano,
protagonists children,
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Acceptance Essays
