"I hope he's right about the stair of light," said Boy Willie.

"Because it's a big world and we ain't seen it all," said Boy Willie.

"That was some time ago, mark you," said Boy Willie.

"We expected a lot of carousing in a big 'all," said Boy Willie.

"That's why we've lived such a long time," said Boy Willie.

She also suspects her husband died because he was in Boy Willie's little gang.

Seeing himself as equal to the white man, Boy Willie refuses to listen.

'We ought to take just small stuff,' said Boy Willie at last.

At one point, people did not believe that Boy Willie was responsible enough to go back to the South and buy land.

For Boy Willie, the piano is a stake to the freedom his father wanted him to have.