Essay on Knowledge and Poverty in 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 setting of the poor inner city helps us realize how unevenly the pie is split up between members of society. As close as the inner city is to Manhattan, they are worlds apart in terms of social class and wealth. The lesson that the children take out of the field trip with Ms. Moore directly related to the fact that these children have been raised less fortunately that some, and to get out of oppression and poverty, they will have to work. The children realize the value of money and how unfair it is that there is so much wealth in Manhattan and a stone 's throw away in the inner city, there is extreme poverty. The children learn social gaps are very wide, and by leaving their ghetto area they some to she that in comparison to Manhattan, they are all receiving the small slice of the American pie. Miss Moore and the Manhattan trip help the children realize that poverty is not found everywhere, and that education can give them the power to elevate their status.

When Ms. Moore, Sylvia and the group of kids were in toy store the kids perspective about social class changes, the prices of toys were so expensive it makes the kids to begin to think about life as evident said by Sylvia  “...we start down  the block and she gets ahead which is O.K.by me cause I’m

"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.

In stark contrast with her earlier disregard for economic and social injustice, Sylvia is now incensed by it. Her anger is further incited when Sugar speaks on the implications of these newly perceived inequalities: "‘I think,’ say Sugar pushing me off her feet like she never done before, cause I whip her ass in a minute, ‘that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?’ […] I am disgusted with Sugar’s treachery" (605). In concretely addressing the existence of socioeconomic inequality and its effects on their own lives, Sugar cements its realness in Sylvia’s mind—she can no longer

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

Growing up as sharecropper her whole life, Fannie Lou had faced the struggles of a black sharecropper since the age of six, where she was tricked into picking cotton (Myers Asch, 54). Her family has a home of their own and animals when she was twelve, but soon lost it due to white farmers sabotaging them by poisoning their animals (Myers Asch, 55). Moving on, Lou had an education of her own, where she “[s]he had been a solid student at the local school, winning spelling bees and doing well in reading” (Myers Asch, 55). In addition, she raised two children while living in the Hamer home, where she tried her best to make condition for their sharecroppers “decent” by doing outside jobs (Myers Asch, 58). Due to these conditions and events in Lou’s

The first thing learned is that poverty is a way of life for these children. Although they know they are poor, it doesn't bother them because everyone there is poor. It's okay to be without when there isn't any competition. An example of this is seen when the children talk of their study areas at home. Only one of them actually have a desk and paper, and the others think nothing of it. Instead they tell her to shut up about it. The children are proud of themselves and of their life.

I recall growing up when my mother would lecture me prior entering a store. My mother would say, when we go in the store, do not touch anything because she did not have money to pay for broken items; or do you have the money to pay for it? I grew up poor, on welfare, and lived in the projects, so I can relate to Sylvia. However, my mother instilled in me that being poor do not define me, but that education is vital for survival. Just because one the lack resources for a better education, do not mean one must give up; perseverance and determination make you strong. If you think it, you can achieve it was my mother’s motto.

To Sylvia, being educated means seeing things as they are. Sylvia and Miss Moore both have a considerable amount of pride. Sylvia thinks Miss Moore shows disrespect when she describes their neighborhood as a slum and their families as poor. Bambara has indicated that Sylvia 's family is striving for better conditions through the mention of the piano rental. Miss Moore views the children 's acceptance of their economic condition as ignorance and their ignorance as disrespect for their race. Miss Moore wants to change this attitude and encourages the children to demand more from the society that keeps them down. By the end of the story, both of these characters have made their points. Sylvia realizes

Although America is often called the land of the free, where everyone has the opportunity to achieve greatness. There is a deep set system of inequality and unfairness a lot of people are born into. The majority of people, whether or not the inequitable case burdens them, choose to turn a blind eye. Nevertheless, the characters in “The Lesson” are born into this lifestyle and begin to realize it’s unfortunate and enraging complexion on their journey. In the short text “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara the children of the story experience firsthand the system of inequality they have been born into.

In Toni Bambara’s piece “The Lesson”, we are given a sort of personal memoir of an experience she had with a childhood teacher in F.A.O Schwarz. Miss Moore, a college degree holding neighbor that educated children she lived near took a group of students to one of the biggest toy stores in New York. On the way to this toy store, Miss Moore was speaking a lot about money and what it truly is, how it adds up, etc. Upon entrance, Bambara writes about feeling unsettled about trying to go in the door. She writes further about her experiences and starts to sort of suggest her uneasiness and even anger about the cost of the toys she saw. She continues to list all of the different things that a $35 dancing clown could do for her family and starts to hint towards the idea of inequality between classes. Bambara mentions how Miss Moore talks about who you are is where you are and “waits for somebody to say that poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie” (78). Looking back now, Bambara probably sees exactly that Miss Moore was saying it isn’t fair that people can spend all their money on flashy toys when people are struggling for food although at the time she admits they had no idea what she was talking about.

It is consist of six kids including Sylvia, Sugar, Fat or Big butt, Flyboy, Junebug, Mercedes, Q. T.,and Miss Moore. The narrator is Sylvia who is an angary young African American girl whose age is not specified in story, but it was only mentioned that her friends and she are young kids. Also, Miss Moore, the kids' teacher, is an educated African American single woman who lives in the slums in a poor African Americans neighborhood; she likes to take the kids to a field trip to teach them a lesson every week. Miss Moore was described by Sylvia saying "And our parents would yank our heads into some kinda shape and crisp up our clothes so we'd be presentable for travel with Miss Moore, who always looked like she was going to church though she never did" (73). This implies that although Miss Moore lives in a poor neighborhood, but is not a poor woman and always dressed nicely. In about the middle of the story, Miss Moore and the kids split into two groups and take two cab cars to go for the field trip to this week to F. A. O. Schwarzto, which is a famous toy store on the Fifth Avenue of Harlem city. Miss Moore gave Sylvia five dollars to pay for the cab ride and asked her to calculate 10 percent for the tip. When they arrived to the toy store, Sylvia kept the four dollars the change with her and did not tip the cab driver and said "And I decide