Trauma in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
Article Sidebar
Published:
Jun 26, 2020
Keywords:
African Americans, Slavery, Southern Plantation, Trans Generational Trauma, Trauma Theory
Main Article Content
Abstract
August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson (1987) is a play which deals with the social life of a broken African American family in Pittsburg – a city in Pennsylvania – who migrated from the South. The family’s grandparents, who were slaves on a Southern plantation, were separated and exchanged with a piano. This shocking incident causes cross-generational trauma and other traumatic incidents for the family as they retrieved the piano. This study examines the play through the lens of Literary Trauma Theory. This theory appeared in the middle of 1990s, henceforth it has been developed by so many scholars, and the latest revision is made by Joshua Pederson, an Associate Professor of Humanities at Boston University, in 2014. The first wave of the theorists claim that trauma causes amnesia for the victims; they can neither remember nor describe what they have experienced, but Pederson in his revised edition of the theory proves the opposite. By applying the latest version of trauma theory this study shows how slavery, its aftermath or its legacy affected and haunted African Americans, and created trauma or historical trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the African Americans.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Article Details
How to Cite
Maulood, N. O. and Barzani, S. S. (2020) “Trauma in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson”, Koya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(1), pp. 107-122. doi: 10.14500/kujhss.v3n1y2020.pp107-122.
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Akbar, N. 2006. Breaking the chains of slavery. 6th Printing. Florida: Mind Productions & Associates, Inc.
Allvin, R. 2014. Making connections: Sankofa. YC Young Children, 69 (1), pp. 40-41.
American Psychiatric Association. (2016). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, Dc: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Balaev, M. 2008. Trends in literary trauma theory. Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, pp. 149-166.
Balaev, M. 2014. Contemporary Approaches in Literary Trauma Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Biography. 2018. Romare Bearden Biography. A&E Television Networks. [Online]. Available at: https://www.biography.com/people/romare-bearden-40540 (Accessed: 28 Feb 2018).
Brogan, K. 1995. American Stories of Cultural Haunting: Tales of Heirs and Ethnographers. College English, 57(2), pp. 149-165.
Caruth, C. 1991. Introduction to psychoanalysis, trauma and culture II. American Imago, 48 (4), pp. 417- 424.
Caruth, C., 1995. Explorations in memory. Baltimore/London.
Caruth, C. 1996. Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. JHU Press.
Danzer G, Rieger, S, Schubmehl, S & Cort, D. 2016. White psychologists and African Americans’ historical trauma: implications for Practice. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 25 (4), pp. 351–370.
DeGruy, J. 2005. Post traumatic slave syndrome: America's legacy of enduring injury and healing. Oregon. Milwaukie: Uptone Press.
De Mey, L. 2012. The Representation of Trauma in Shira Nayman’s Awake in the Dark and The Listener. MA Thesis. Ghent University.
Field, F. 1991. British and French writers of the First World War: comparative studies in cultural history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Georgiades, E. 2014. Trauma, company and witnessing in Samuel Beckett’s post-war drama, 1952-61. PhD Dissertation. University of Manchester.
Hurwitt, S. 2017. Review: August Wilson’s ghostly ‘The Piano Lesson’ comes to Danville. The Mercury News. [Online]. Available at: https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/10/review-august-wilsons-ghostly-drama-piano-lesson-comes-to-danville/ (Accessed: 22 July 2018).
LaCapra, D. 2014. Writing history, writing trauma. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
McNally, R. J. 2012. Are we winning the war against posttraumatic stress disorder? Science 336 (6083), pp. 872-874.
Mohatt, N. V., Thompson, A. B., Thai, N. D., & Tebes, J. K. 2014. Historical trauma as public narrative: A conceptual review of how history impacts present-day health. Social Science & Medicine, 106, pp. 128-136.
Morales, M. 1994 Ghosts on the Piano: August Wilson and the Representation of Black American History, In: Nadel, Alan. (Ed.) May all your fences have gates: essays on the drama of August Wilson. Lowa City: University of Iowa Press, pp.105-115.
Morrison, T. 1994. Conversations with Toni Morrison. Univ. Press of Mississippi.
Morrison, T. 2008. What moves at the margin: Selected nonfiction. University Press of Mississippi.
Pederson, J. 2014. Speak, trauma: toward a revised understanding of literary trauma theory. Narrative, 22 (3), pp. 333-353.
Pederson, J. 2018. Trauma and Narrative, In: Trauma and Literature. Kurtz J. (Ed.) Philadelphia: Drexel University, pp. 97-109.
Rich, F. 1987. Stage: Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. The New York Times. P. C25. [Online]. Available at:https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/10/theater/stage-wilson-s-piano-lesson.html (Acessed: 23 Oct. 2018)
Salam, W. 2016. The application of trauma theory to the Post-World War I writing of Ernest Hemingway, Laurence Stallings and Harry Crosby. PhD Dissertation. University of Texas.
Sotero, M. 2006. A conceptual model of historical trauma: implications for public health practice and research. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 1(1), pp. 93–108.
Starman, H. 2006. The juridical unconscious: Trials and traumas in the twentieth century, by Sh. Felman. Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 4 (1), pp. 1-4.
Stove, R. 2009. ‘1914 and Christmas: what might have been’, New American. [Online]. Available at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4670-1914-and-christmas-what-might-have-been (Accessed: 22 July 2018).
Tian, J., & Li, N. 2018. Symbols and functions of two kinds of ghosts in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 31(4), pp. 272-275.
Visser, I. 2014. Trauam and power in postcolonial literary Studies. In: Balaev, Michelle (Ed.) Contemporary approaches in literary trauma theory. Chennai, India: Palgrave McMillan, pp. 106-129.
Whitehead, A. 2004. Trauma Fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University.
Wilson, A. 1990. The piano lesson. New York: A Plume Book.
Willis, W. B. 1998. The Adinkra dictionary: A visual primer on the language of Adinkra. Washington, DC: Pyramid Complex.
Allvin, R. 2014. Making connections: Sankofa. YC Young Children, 69 (1), pp. 40-41.
American Psychiatric Association. (2016). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, Dc: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Balaev, M. 2008. Trends in literary trauma theory. Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, pp. 149-166.
Balaev, M. 2014. Contemporary Approaches in Literary Trauma Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Biography. 2018. Romare Bearden Biography. A&E Television Networks. [Online]. Available at: https://www.biography.com/people/romare-bearden-40540 (Accessed: 28 Feb 2018).
Brogan, K. 1995. American Stories of Cultural Haunting: Tales of Heirs and Ethnographers. College English, 57(2), pp. 149-165.
Caruth, C. 1991. Introduction to psychoanalysis, trauma and culture II. American Imago, 48 (4), pp. 417- 424.
Caruth, C., 1995. Explorations in memory. Baltimore/London.
Caruth, C. 1996. Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. JHU Press.
Danzer G, Rieger, S, Schubmehl, S & Cort, D. 2016. White psychologists and African Americans’ historical trauma: implications for Practice. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 25 (4), pp. 351–370.
DeGruy, J. 2005. Post traumatic slave syndrome: America's legacy of enduring injury and healing. Oregon. Milwaukie: Uptone Press.
De Mey, L. 2012. The Representation of Trauma in Shira Nayman’s Awake in the Dark and The Listener. MA Thesis. Ghent University.
Field, F. 1991. British and French writers of the First World War: comparative studies in cultural history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Georgiades, E. 2014. Trauma, company and witnessing in Samuel Beckett’s post-war drama, 1952-61. PhD Dissertation. University of Manchester.
Hurwitt, S. 2017. Review: August Wilson’s ghostly ‘The Piano Lesson’ comes to Danville. The Mercury News. [Online]. Available at: https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/10/review-august-wilsons-ghostly-drama-piano-lesson-comes-to-danville/ (Accessed: 22 July 2018).
LaCapra, D. 2014. Writing history, writing trauma. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
McNally, R. J. 2012. Are we winning the war against posttraumatic stress disorder? Science 336 (6083), pp. 872-874.
Mohatt, N. V., Thompson, A. B., Thai, N. D., & Tebes, J. K. 2014. Historical trauma as public narrative: A conceptual review of how history impacts present-day health. Social Science & Medicine, 106, pp. 128-136.
Morales, M. 1994 Ghosts on the Piano: August Wilson and the Representation of Black American History, In: Nadel, Alan. (Ed.) May all your fences have gates: essays on the drama of August Wilson. Lowa City: University of Iowa Press, pp.105-115.
Morrison, T. 1994. Conversations with Toni Morrison. Univ. Press of Mississippi.
Morrison, T. 2008. What moves at the margin: Selected nonfiction. University Press of Mississippi.
Pederson, J. 2014. Speak, trauma: toward a revised understanding of literary trauma theory. Narrative, 22 (3), pp. 333-353.
Pederson, J. 2018. Trauma and Narrative, In: Trauma and Literature. Kurtz J. (Ed.) Philadelphia: Drexel University, pp. 97-109.
Rich, F. 1987. Stage: Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. The New York Times. P. C25. [Online]. Available at:https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/10/theater/stage-wilson-s-piano-lesson.html (Acessed: 23 Oct. 2018)
Salam, W. 2016. The application of trauma theory to the Post-World War I writing of Ernest Hemingway, Laurence Stallings and Harry Crosby. PhD Dissertation. University of Texas.
Sotero, M. 2006. A conceptual model of historical trauma: implications for public health practice and research. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 1(1), pp. 93–108.
Starman, H. 2006. The juridical unconscious: Trials and traumas in the twentieth century, by Sh. Felman. Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 4 (1), pp. 1-4.
Stove, R. 2009. ‘1914 and Christmas: what might have been’, New American. [Online]. Available at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4670-1914-and-christmas-what-might-have-been (Accessed: 22 July 2018).
Tian, J., & Li, N. 2018. Symbols and functions of two kinds of ghosts in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 31(4), pp. 272-275.
Visser, I. 2014. Trauam and power in postcolonial literary Studies. In: Balaev, Michelle (Ed.) Contemporary approaches in literary trauma theory. Chennai, India: Palgrave McMillan, pp. 106-129.
Whitehead, A. 2004. Trauma Fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University.
Wilson, A. 1990. The piano lesson. New York: A Plume Book.
Willis, W. B. 1998. The Adinkra dictionary: A visual primer on the language of Adinkra. Washington, DC: Pyramid Complex.