Text analysis of the short story Piano by William Saroyan

Piano by William Saroyan Text Analysis Saroyan, William (1908–1981) was a successful playwright. The eccentric, spirited author was born in Fresno, California, where his Armenian parents were fruit farmers and where he worked at odd jobs before gaining fame as a short‐story writer. He came to playgoers' attention with My Heart's in the Highlands but became famous with his much lauded The Time of Your Life , which won the Pulitzer Prize, although Saroyan noisily rejected it. His later works included Love's Old Sweet Song (1940); The Beautiful People; Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning and Talking to You ; Hello, Out There; Get Away Old
Further on, something like a melody highlights his status as an amateur rather than a professional, one who trusts his instincts. A repeated mentioning of the immediate time: 2 minutes is just another way of saying that the time spent in front of the piano flies too fast for him. The young man’s passion increases substantially, and his sadness at his approaching depart is felt in the music, which suggests the fact that he plays from the depth of his heart, rendering his feelings through the music: before he was through the music became quiet and sorrowful and Ben himself became more and more please with the piano. Ben and Emma then go to a little restaurant and order sandwiches and coffee. These details and the previously mentioned financial situation make the reader think that both persons belong to an average social class of people, the sort of people who have to consider making enough money for a living and postponing the realization of their dreams. Ben explains, by means of flashback, the origins of his passion and its evolution. He touches upon the theme of money. The simile he smiled the way he did when e stood over the piano looking down at the keyboard shows that he likes Emma, that she is another of his passions and this makes her happy: Emma felt flattered. This fact points out the reciprocity of their relationship. This latter idea is reinforced some time later by she smiled