The piano is an image present throughout All the Living. There is perhaps little, or even nothing, that Aloma loves more than the piano. In the novel the piano acts as more than just an instrument for making music; instead, Morgan uses the piano as a method of examining Aloma’s character, and how she processes the ideas of lack and hope.
Soon after Aloma enters Orren’s house for the first time, she examines the piano. After discovering that the sound “was spoiled like a meat,” Aloma “slapped the fallboard down” (5). The piano is uncared for and out of tune, eliciting an angry and aggressive response from Aloma. Several months later, after Aloma and Bell grow closer in their relationship, Bell takes Aloma to see the piano at his house. When Aloma plays four notes and finds out they are “sagging and unclean,” Bell says, “Been a long time since it was tuned" and "laughed a laugh that threatened her temper suddenly” (135). Aloma is upset to find out that this piano also has not been tuned, and Bell’s lightheartedness about the situation irks her even more. Both Orren and Bell’s pianos demonstrate lack. Neither are tuned, so both are lacking the ability to produce music, and both are lacking care that perhaps Aloma feels she would have provided. Aloma’s expression of frustration and anger after playing the pianos exemplifies how Aloma processes lack, especially when lack affects what she loves the most.
The piano not only provides insight into Aloma’s handling of lack, but also into how hope affects Aloma. When Aloma learned that her school offered piano lessons for six students, “she was choked with desire for it” so much so that on her application for lessons she wrote the word “PLEASE” so hard that she tore the paper (14). Before Aloma even learned to play piano, she was so hopeful to take lessons that she exerted a large amount of effort to earn one of the six lesson spots. Later, after Aloma has been playing piano for the church for several weeks, she decides she wants more practice. “She had not lost the desire to resurrect some of her better pieces to use as audition material to get into a piano program” (98). Because of her desire to get into a piano school, Aloma begins practicing at the church until she is practicing at the church several hours every day of the week. For Aloma, playing piano represents her hopes to leave Kentucky, go to a piano school, and change her life. Aloma’s optimism towards her own skills on the piano and towards her future consistently drives Aloma’s actions and has since she was in school. Whereas Aloma is angered by lack, she is motivated by hope and allows hope to decide the course she takes in life. The piano serves as an object of beauty and lack, but it is but also a symbol that offers an understanding of the novel’s main character.
The piano also provides Aloma with an escape from a life she is not happy with. She spends her days trapped in a house she doesn’t like with a piano that doesn’t play. It is very common for musicians, I can speak from experience, to find an escape from the pressures of reality in the music that they make. Out of the whole book, Aloma’s dedication and obsession with her music is what I relate to the most.
ReplyDeleteThe old, useless pianos almost mock her by saying that she will never be able to break free from a dull life, no matter how hard she tries. It might look pleasing on the outside, like Bell’s piano, or in disarray like Orren’s but both are in no condition to be played and just sit there collecting dust. Until Aloma finds the job playing piano at the church she felt like she was collecting dust. She begins play at the church and listens to the congregation sing, and even though they are out of tune and their voices clash with each other Aloma still finds it pleasing. It’s different from the silence at home and it’s natural, not modified by anything to make it “beautiful”. I completely agree with your statement that the piano represents her hope to leave Kentucky and change her life. She can either physically leave or even mentally leave by escaping into her music.
Sophie,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your proposition that Aloma sees her future within the piano. This is demonstrated by her reconsideration of her future’s with Bell and Orren after seeing how they have treated their pianos. However, I think there is something significant about how after Aloma and Orren get married she states, “Let’s get rid of this piano” (195). While we never find out if they actually get rid of the piano, Aloma’s admission is somewhat confusing to me. At the end of the book, I find it promising that Aloma and Orren will repair their relationship. However, I can’t help but wonder if Aloma is finally settling for Orren. By suggesting they get rid of the piano, is Aloma finally giving up on her dream to move away and learn to play the piano? A few pages earlier, Aloma tells Orren she quit her job but has enough money to rent a piano and teach to continue to earn money (192). All of this occurs after their marriage, so I can’t help but feel that it symbolizes a loss of Aloma’s naivety. She is finally ‘growing up’ and seeing that her dream is currently unattainable due to their lack of money. Teaching Piano is more practical than becoming a famous pianist, and now that Aloma is married and truly becoming an adult she is creating a different future with the piano.