Uprising

Content Warning: This section refers to wartime violence and death.

Lidia’s piano is a symbolic representation of the old life that Lidia used to live. The author introduces the piano in the first few pages of the text, as Lidia uses it to play music poorly to annoy Mama. Then, after returning to Warsaw, Lidia laments the loss of her piano, noting that it is the “only thing [she] value[s] in [their] entire house” (31). Lidia’s entire life before the war surrounded her love of the piano, as her family moved to Warsaw for her to attend school for it, and several characters—like Stefan—remember her playing music within the community. However, when her family loses their home, she is forced to let go of her piano. She must leave behind her old life and, with it, the joy and beauty she experiences playing the piano.

The novel initially portrays the piano as something extraneous, a representation of the irrelevance of art in a country being torn apart by war. In this way, it symbolizes the comforts and joys in Lidia’s life that she is forced to leave behind to fight in the resistance. However, in a conversation with Gray, Gray emphasizes the importance of the piano and its relevance to life.