Write an argumentative on a the play Piano Lesson. I will attach the details in the detail box. Paper #3: Argumentative Research Essay —The Piano Lesson

PAPER DUE in hard copy in Word, Open, or .pdf format(1000-1500 words, 3-5 pages): Thursday, August 10, by the beginning of class, in Dropbox.

Matter and Form: In the title of his play The Piano Lesson, August Wilson seems to pose a question: What is the piano lesson, and how does learning it prevent tragedy? (Consider why tragedy does take place in Antigone, in which Creon seems, in Johnny-come-lately style, finally to be learning a lesson, but only when it is too late.)

In this argumentative research paper, you are to pursue an answer to the question and to argue for it by explaining your interpretation, your reading of the play, with a bit of support from outside sources. Your main source, as always, is the text under consideration, in this instance Wilson’s play. Your thesis statement will need to state the argument and how it helps to connect the parts of your answer.

Here are some student-sourced questions you may want to think about and answer in order to make an approach to the larger question of what the piano lesson is:

• How does the piano lesson affect the family?

• How does the piano affect the family?

• What is the story of the piano?

• What is the significance of the piano?

• What themes does the story convey?

• How does the piano affect the characters’ relationships?

• What do the characters have to do with the piano?

• How does the piano affect the family?

• Why does the piano have to be played?

• What is The Piano Lesson teaching you? How does it impact you overall?

• Why does Boy Willie want to sell the piano? Why does Berniece want to keep it? What if they never had the piano?

• Does Maretha have the same power as Berniece when playing the piano?

• Who really deserves the piano?

• Were Doaker and Wining Boy always aware of the piano’s curse?

• What did Sutter’s ghost want the family to do with the piano?

• Why did the author bring Sutter’s ghost into the story?

• Did Boy Willie really care about what the piano meant to the family or getting money and land?

• Why did Berniece push to keep the piano if it brought so many problems?

• Was the piano always haunted, or did Sutter haunt it?

• Why was Berniece’s playing the only thing that calmed the ghost?

• Why did Boy Willie fight the ghost?

• Why wasn’t Avery’s exorcism successful?

• What did Sutter’s ghost want the family to do with the piano?

• Why doesn’t Bernice tell Maretha about the history of the piano?

• Why is Boy Willie willing to give up the piano if Bernice gives lessons on the piano?

• Why are the carvings on the piano so important ?

• Are the carvings the reason why this piano is irreplaceable?

• Did Boy Willie consider the carvings on the piano before he thought about selling the piano?

• Why was Sutter’s ghost haunting the family?

• Why were the events that occurred at the end able to persuade Bernice to play the piano after all that time?

• Were Doaker and Wining Boy siding with Bernice because the piano’s history is closer to their generation?

• Why did Boy Willie still want to sell the piano after Doaker and Wining Boy shared their family history with Lymon?

Your essay should be about seven paragraphs:

I. Introduction (one paragraph): the opening sentence should state your question; the thesis statement at the end of the paragraph should state your answer and the outlines of your argument. (Remember, a paragraph should have at least three sentences.)

II. Body (about five paragraphs): this develops the logic of your answer, each paragraph stating one of your reasons for answering the question as you do and connecting it to the other reasons.Three musts: 1) At least one paragraph needs to be spent on Antigone, and 2) at least one at the end on a counterargument, as you’ve done twice before, and 3) at least three outside sources must be used, a) one of them being Toni Morrison’s essay on The Piano Lessonposted on Blackboard; b) the other two must come from BSU’s Thurgood Marshall Library. Only critical and scholarly sources may be used – no websites that simply grind up the plot and tell you everything you should know about the play by reading it yourself, and absolutely norecycled papers or ChatGPT on-demand material. The use of any of the latter constitutes plagiarism and will result in an F for the paper.

III. Conclusion (one paragraph): this includes a refreshing restatement of your main idea and argument.

General Advice for Writing: Look closely at what you have chosen and try to show its deep significance for the whole. In doing so, do not be vague, do not overgeneralize, but rather show that you grasp the purpose of your pursuit, even if you have not yet firmly grasped the thing you are pursuing. That is, know what you do not know, so that you get closer to finding out about it in the course ofyour inquiry. Make your paper a piece of thinking in motion. Learn something as you write – that’s the point of doing it! Follow the rule of reason in pursuing your subject; explain, i.e., give reasons for your claims by offering evidence from the text(s). If you have a half-formed idea to begin with, shape it into a question that your paper tries to answer. A well-formed question can be an excellent basis for a paper. Do all you can to get your paper done on time, but whatever you do, do not allow panic to tempt you into cheating. Own what you write, however humble. No one ever need be ashamed of offering up the fruits of honest labor.

Mechanics: The format should be as follows: number your pages starting with the second page. Use Times New Roman font in twelve-point type. Double-space your own text, single-space and indent quotes of five lines or more. In the upper corner of the first page, in single-spaced lines, give your name, BSU, English 102, Prof. Stull, and the date. Below this information, in the center of the page, underline the title for your essay, which must be of your own making. It must not be the title of the work about which you are writing, nor just a generic Arguing from a Question . . . . Come on, folks. A little pizzazz can help! Indent paragraphs and allow no extra spaces between them. For this paper, there is no need for endnotes or a Works Cited page, unless you refer to something outside the work under consideration, which you are under no obligation to do and which I discourage you from doing unless you are supremely confident that such a reference is indispensable. In order to cite Baldwin, simply put the page number of your reference in the text in parentheses. [Sample citation may be seen above in the questions: (1.2, p. 27)]. Above all, do your own thinking and writing. If you use anything that is not your own and you do it without attribution, such use will be an act of plagiarism, the result of which you may expect to be an F for the assignment and possiblythe course. To prevent such unpleasantness, if you cannot help using a secondary work, give full credit by quoting and noting, according to MLA convention.