Analysis Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

The major theme of the story was creating awareness in adolescents about what life has to offer. The nature of human beings of accepting the realities of life to such an extent that apathy and lethargy sets in, is what proves to be destructive for the social fabric of today’s world. In this stagnation, Mrs. Moore provides the impetus required for people to realize their god given right to something better. We are told that Mrs. Moore has a college degree, is well dressed most of the times, and has a good command on her language. She seems to be a kind of a person who has seen the world. She has experienced life, and wants to use that experience in providing the children with an opportunity to broaden

Toni Cade Bambara addresses how knowledge is the means by which one can escape out of poverty in her story The Lesson. In her story she identifies with race, economic inequality, and literary epiphany during the early 1970’s. In this story children of African American progeny come face to face with their own poverty and reality. This realism of society’s social standard was made known to them on a sunny afternoon field trip to a toy store on Fifth Avenue. Through the use of an African American protagonist Miss Moore and antagonist Sylvia who later becomes the sub protagonist and White society the antagonist “the lesson” was ironically taught. Sylvia belong to a lower economic class, which affects her views of herself within highlights the

"The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara is a short story set in the inner part of New York City that gives the reader an opportunity to briefly see into the lives of children living devoid of wealth and education. It takes place in the early seventies, following the civil rights movement and during a time when the imbalance of wealth in terms of race was immense. Bamabara, through the use of narrative point of tone, symbols, setting and characterization, brings out and develops what I believe to be the two main themes of the story: materialism and social inequality.

In the article, "Stupid Rich Bastards", the author, Laurel Johnson Black, gives an insight on her life and upbringing in a "poor" family, the effects it had on her, her life goals, and dreams. Black’s article was published in the book This Fine Place So Far from Home: Voices of Academics from the Working Class in 1995. Throughout the article, Black gives an explanation of the conditions in which she and her family lived in, which include her parents having to take on various jobs such as her father being a plumber, junk man, car salesman and her mother—a cook, school crossing-guard and a McDonald 's counter worker as well. With all these jobs, Black also mentioned that the income was still inadequate. Being that her family 's way of living was not the best, her parents decided that one of their children has to make it or go to college, and Black was the one who was going to be the one to do that. She did this with hopes that she would earn more money, be able to make a better life for her and her family, maneuver along with the "stupid rich bastards", talk like them, learn their ways but not be like them, and explain to her family about the lives of the same "stupid rich bastards", people who had or made more money and had better lives or felt better than others. Along with her telling her story, the main purpose of Black’s story is to bring to our attention that she is trying to “keep the language of the working class in academia” (Black 25).

Some experiences can change people as individuals and how they view things. The process of people growing up can take time but when a transformation occurs it  can be difficult to handle. Sylvia, the narrator in Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," learns a lesson about social class how the rich are different from poor ,she realizes that the money rich people spend for their kids toys can feed a whole household of poor families.In the process, she loses some part of her pride that characterizes her childhood because she thought she was living a good life  till she realizes that rich kids toys can feed her entire household so she  begins to look for hints  or ways of being wealth so that she can  have better life than her family. She

"The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara is not just a spirited story about a poor girl out of place in an expensive toy store, it is a social commentary. "The Lesson" is a story about one African-American girl's struggle with her growing awareness of class inequality. The character Miss Moore introduces the facts of social inequality to a distracted group of city kids, of whom Sylvia, the main character, is the most cynical. Flyboy, Fat Butt, Junebug, Sugar, Rosie, Sylvia and the rest think of Miss Moore as an unsolicited educator, and Sylvia would rather be doing anything else than listening to her. The conflict between Sylvia and Miss Moore, "This

Toni Cade Bambara wrote the short story, The Lesson, in 1972. The Lesson is considered by the Literary Canon to be a wonderful work of fiction because of its use of language, humanistic theme, symbolism, and non-genre plot. Two essential elements that add to the depth and enhance a reader?s comprehension of The Lesson are Bambara?s use of symbolism and theme.

Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson" revolves around a young black girl’s struggle to come to terms with the role that economic injustice, and the larger social injustice that it constitutes, plays in her life. Sylvia, the story’s protagonist, initially is reluctant to acknowledge that she is a victim of poverty. Far from being oblivious of the disparity between the rich and the poor, however, one might say that on some subconscious level, she is in fact aware of the inequity that permeates society and which contributes to her inexorably disadvantaged economic situation. That she relates poverty to shame—"But I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be

The theme in "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara appears to be a lesson on

I believe the hardest thing to be in America is black, we are constantly stereotyped and born into categories we don't even know we're in, which makes it impossible for us to get out. The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara uses conventional symbolism to show the kids on the block how bad of a hand they were dealt and its up to them if they want to keep that hand or draw a new one. The first thing that stands out to me about this short story is the way the narrator initially describes Ms.Moore, " the lady with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup" (Bambara 110). Her name itself says she wants more, whether its for herself or the children on her block. She is like a guardian angel, she watches over the kids while their parents are out doing their

“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara is a short story set in the part of New York City. In this story, the plot takes a journey from the place like a ghetto to F.A.O. Schwartz, an expensive upscale toy store. The children live in an African-American neighborhood, in Harlem, NY. They travel to upscale stores, on Fifth Avenue in midtown, which is a much more expensive part of New York City. The story is narrated by a young girl named Sylvia, as she explains an afternoon she spent with an educated neighbor named Miss Moore. Miss Moore wants to teach the neighborhood children about the world outside of ghetto and around them “the lesson she wants to impart is the economic inequality that exists in the

"Puppy" by George Saunders and "The Lesson" by Tomi Cade Bambara are both stories that show the ugly side of poverty. In "Puppy" the main character Marie and her kids are well off because of Marie's husband. However, the other family in the story which include Callie and also Callie's husband and her kids live in poverty. Marie goes to Callie's house to check out a puppy her kids are interested in. When Marie gets there due to the class differences Marie cannot understand why Callie does things the way she does and also why her house is the way it is. Furthermore, because Callie is living in poverty Marie looks at her as less of a person. In "The Lesson" is narrated by a girl named Sylvia who has an impoverished up-brining in Harlem. In this

Toni Cade Bambara's The Lesson is a very well written piece of history. This is a story from yesterday, when Harlem children didn't have good education or the money to spring for it. Bambara's tale tells about a little girl who doesn't really know how to take it when a good teacher finally does come along. This girl's whole life is within the poverty stricken area and she doesn't see why she must try hard. The teacher, Miss Moore, shows them what it is all about by taking them to a rich toy store, one in which a single toy costs more than year's supply of food.

Throughout The Lesson economic class was deal with among the children in F.A.O Schwartz toy store. Sylvia mentions what Miss Moore have been saying about the economic barrier she states “how money ain’t divided up right in this country. And then she gets to the part about we all poor and live in the slums, which I don’t feature” (643). Even before the children were on their journey they were being made aware of the economic gap. A gap in which there were those who had more money than others. This was a reminder of the conditions in which they lived compared to others who had the money. Some of the children on the trip identified with the economic gap among themselves. While some had a desk and a stationary “I do…I have a box stationary on my desk” (644) says Mercedes other did not even have a desk. June bug states “I don’t have a desk” (644). Some of the kids had things that the others did not though they were all from the average working class family. Economic class was then identified as Sylvia was

Some of the most important things in life will be learned by experiencing different situations that will mark us forever. “The lesson” was written by Tony Cade Bambara. This story narrates a trip that a lady made with a bunch of kids to teach them a lesson about how the economy and life work. She takes them to a toy store where they see an expensive toy that is worth a year of food for a family and some of the kids learn a lot from this. “Commencement speech, Kenyon College” was written by David Foster Wallace. This is a speech that he gave to a college. In his speech, he talks about several things of life, how we view ourselves as the center of the universe and how everybody is living their own story. Everybody in the world has different priorities, most of people will see themselves as the center of the universe and one of the most important things is to learn to understand the others.