In Act One, Scene Two of The Piano Lesson, August Wilson uses tone and pace to attract the readers attention to certain characters in this passage. In the context preceding the quote, Boy Wille talks a lot about his opinions regarding how the piano should be handled based on his experiences in the past. In one of his longer talks to Bernice, he mentions, “You can’t make more than that. Now I want to get Sutter’s land and I can go down and cash in the crop and get my seed. But that piano don’t put out nothing else. You ain’t got nothing working for you. Now, the kind of man my daddy was he would have understood that. I’m sorry you can’t see it that way. But that’s why I’m gonna take that piano out of here and sell it.” (51)
The author inserts a hopeless tone for Bernice when Boy Willie mentions his strong motives about selling the piano. This hopeless atmosphere that was created will make Bernice resist anything that happens to the piano, all the more. After all, this is a case where, whatever happens, someone is going to benefit from what happens to the piano. In addition, the author also gives Boy Willie a sense of empathy when he mentions how nothing is working out for her and the piano which counteracts this hopelessness that he gives her.
Near the end of the quote, the author speeds up the pace in order to make the impression on the reader that Boy Willie’s decision with regards to selling the piano is final and could not be changed. It also gives the reader a chance to foreshadow what might happen with the piano and how Bernice is going to react to this kind of response by Boy Willie. So, overall I see that the author uses tone and pace in Boy Willie’s speech to make it seem as if one character is impacting another in an assertive way.
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