A Lesson in Names The title The Piano Lesson has a lot to do with not only the themes in the play, but one would think after reading the play that the title helps to set the tone as well. According to Dictionary.com theme is defined as a dominant idea or concern of a work and The Piano Lesson has many. The Norton Introduction to Literature defines tone as defined as the attitude that …showed first 75 words of 668 total…

…showed last 75 words of 668 total…in the literal sense. It means a piano lesson from an emotional standpoint. Towards the end of the play before the ghost arrived again, one thinks that Berniece started to at least warm up to the reasoning behind Boy Willie wanting to sell the land. However, the piano in the Charles? family stood for so much that Berniece just had to give Boy Willie a little reminder about the history and the meaning of it.