Analysis Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

Upon reading The Lesson, by Toni Cade Bambara, the reader cannot help but feel empathy towards the narrator Sylvia and her friends, as they are introduced to the realization of unfairness distribution of wealth in society, the diverse democracy. The lesson is taught by a lady named, Miss Moore, who moves into Sylvia’s neighborhood block. Miss Moore is a college educated women who shows the reality of the economic inequality to Sylvia and her friends by taking them on a field trip to a fancy toy store called, F.A.O. Schwartz. As the children look through the window of the toy store, children began to realize high prices of things, the difference between the fancy world and the slum world that they come from. At the end of the story, Sylvia

This film made me think about how relevant this theme is to the society we live in today as it is hard for poorer people to have the same opportunities and experiences as wealthier people because they can't afford it. Instead of everyone being equal, there is still imbalance within our society as money separates us. John Key, who is the New Zealand prime minister is a good example of this as he only caters to the needs of the wealthy people which he instead should be catering to the needs of poorer people. Poverty is a huge issue in New Zealand, which can be a result of not having enough money to buy food. Children go to school hungry and don't have the brain food to focus and work to the best of their abilities. Because of this they are likely to get a lower paid job and it is like a circle like in the film of the rich people staying rich and the poor people staying poor. John Key recently invested 26 million

Imagine living your whole life thinking you had it good, a house, toys, etc. However, one day you find out that to some people your life seems like poverty. In the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, the main character Sylvia, a 14-year-old New York native, is introduced as tough hard-headed character who lives in the ghetto. In order to survive the ghetto Sylvia had to act and be tough causing here to develop into a hard-headed individual. Miss Moore, an educated takes Sylvia and her class on a field trip to visit a toy store unlike anything they had ever seen. The reason why she does this is because she knows that the kids can relate to toys and loves playing with them; however, her main purpose is to use toys as a way to teach a lesson. After visiting this toy store, called F.A.O Schwarz, the children’s view of the world is changed especially for Sylvia. She learns that the world she lives is un fair because not everyone is seen as equal. She learns that inequality exists and its happening to her.

"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.

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

To progress in society, one needs knowledge to further themselves. If one does not gain a good foundation for that knowledge, society will leave them behind. There are certain obstacles that prevent others from pursuing an education such as an inability to access a place of learning, not getting good education from teachers, or just flat out quitting school to make easy money by joining a gang. In Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool,” seven delinquents quit school to engage in rebellious behavior and in Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” a teacher takes several underprivileged children to a high-class toy shop. By using point of view, diction, and symbolism, Gwendolyn Brooks and Tone Cade Bambara show the reader why it is important to learn

In "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara, the narrator is Sylvia. She is a young African-American girl who has the capacity to see the truth in the reality around her. Her point of view explores the issues that minorities face every day. In the way she thinks, speaks, and feel in situations. Sylvia is able to present a broad view regarding her community; the lack of proper education, the need for involved parents, and the inequality between rich and poor in the United States.

“The Lesson” is a very well written fragment of the past. This is a story from New York’s inner city of Harlem where children did not have substantial education much less the money to obtain it. Not only is this story about a poor girl out of place in an expensive toy store, it is also a social commentary that teaches readers an amazing life lesson. The character Miss Moore introduces

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.

Maya Angelou is an amazing American author, poet, entertainer, actress, playwright, producer and director, historian and civil rights activist. She is best known for her portrayals of strong African American women.

Milton Mirkin Cade was born on March 25, 1939 in New York City. As a child she spent most of her years with her mother, Helen Brent Henderson, and her brother, Walter. She and her family moved often but she came to call the communities of New York City and New Jersey home. (www.answers.com)

The negative effects can be seen in that competition for jobs in American society is so competitive that author John Michael Roberts asserts that people, "Work for free" (28). While Americans tend to believe that competition brings out the best in people, the Marxist theory states that it actually brings out the worst in people such as greed, selfishness, and unethical actions. This can be seen by how the characters of "The Lesson" and Callie's family are living in extreme poverty despite being in the richest nations in the world. Danzinger and Danzinger assert, "The child poverty rate in the US is high in relation to the rate in other industrialized countries" (57). This high poverty rate can be seen in "The Lesson" and it shows how competition can leave some people at the bottom even in New York, one of the richest states in the United States. Miss Moore sees that it is unjust for kids to be living in such poverty and says, "Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven" ("The Lesson", Bambara 151). While some people get rich off competing, some get left behind and many times the ones that do get ahead had to do something unethical. Sylvia notices all of the unethical practices it takes to get ahead in a competitive society and as a result, when Miss Moore gives Sylvia money

Inequality is an extremely prominent issue in today 's society, but typically goes unnoticed by the younger generation. Alice Walker’s short story “Nineteen Fifty-five” and “The Lesson,” by Toni Cade Bambara, both share stories of two innocent minds that are made aware of the racial split through personal experiences. In “Nineteen Fifty-five,” Traynor, a young white boy, receives fame and fortune from a song that was written by a black woman named Gracie Mae Still. Traynor and Gracie Mae form a close bond that exposes the young artist to the hardships the writer faced while trying to follow her dream of being a singer. In “The Lesson,” Miss. Moore, a college graduate, takes responsibility upon herself to teach and guide all the poor, young children in her town. She takes them to New York City, despite all the negativity from the kids, and allows them to realize the extreme economic and racial inequality in society. Both of these stories show young kids being stripped of their innocence when experiencing the sad reality that lies outside of their sheltered world. The kids of “The Lesson” are not voluntarily exploring the city whereas in “Nineteen Fifty-five” Traynor is curious about the background of Gracie Mae thus leading him to discover the inequalities of the world. Despite the different reasons, both stories allow the groups to realize not only the social differences between whites and African Americans but also the economic gap which, although may be initially harsh,

She pointed all the main objectives of the text, exploring it in a very clear and formal way. However, she could have gone deeper into the story and presented more of its symbolism; meaning. For example, she could have exposed the language Bambara always uses in her texts and why she does it like Janet Ruth Heller did in her article “Toni Cade Bambara’s Use of African American Vernacular English in “The Lesson”. There, Heller talks about the historical background the characters of “The Lesson” were immersed in and the uses of AAVE to express “self-confidence, assertiveness, and creativity as a young black woman.” (Sylvia). In addition, she could have presented the emotional side of these children; living in an unfair place, with some mothers not demonstrating much care with them as it shows in this passage of Sylvia “(…) she got saddled with me and Sugar and Junior in the first place while our mothers were in a la-de-da apartment up the block having a good ole

The Lesson is a short story about a family of African American children. The children are cousins to each other, living in a low class neighborhood. Miss Moore is the tutor to these cousins. None of these from the family of cousins cared for Miss Moore. One day all children with Miss Moore hired a cab to Fifth Avenue. All these were gathered outside a toy store looking at the toys. All the children were confused and feeling out of place. Miss Moore asked the children about their experience. Sugar, one of the children commented on the amount of food consumed by all in one year that equals the price of one sailboat toy at the store. Sylvia, another important character does not like Sugar's comments and tries to stop her until Sugar pushes Sylvia off. Sugar believes that there is no democracy in the country in the presence of such inequity. The main aim of the story was to show economic inequity in the society in the 1960s.