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Street Smart Theme In The Lesson

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Street Smart Too often kids growing up in the projects are not given the opportunity to learn there is more to life than what they are involved in. Running the streets, stealing, getting into fights, and getting in trouble are all activities these children participate in. Most of them think they do not have a chance to get out in the world and have more. Also, most of them do not try to be better and make something out of themselves. This is something Miss Moore is trying to teach a certain group of kids: how to be better and do something special with their lives. Although several themes are present in “The Lesson,” Bombara focuses on the importance of the education about life Miss Moore gives the group of ghetto children. Education on …show more content…

These kids need to have knowledge of the rest of the world. Consequently, they need to learn there is more to life than just the project lifestyle. Miss Moore continues to show the kids how much they do not have by allowing them to wonder around the rich, white people’s store. The kids are walking around the store and see a microscope. The narrator, Sylvia, says, “Miss Moore ask what it cost. So we all jam into the window smudging it up and the price tag say $300. So then she ask how long’d it take for Junebug and Big Butt to save up their allowances”(171). Miss Moore shows the kids how much things can cost. She tries to inspire them to want and do better with their life so they can one day have these things. Miss Moore has trouble getting through to them. Cartwright says, “The story is essentially about Miss Moore’s efforts to teach the children and their resistance to learning anything”(508). C. The kids might not think about their own well-being and lifestyle right now, but they are slowly realizing how much they do not have and how much they could have. Although Miss Moore shows the kids need an education, the kids themselves also show they need an education through the way they talk and

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