Thomas Bambara The Lesson Summary

If you live in America your life should be better, fuller and richer for everyone, but if you belong in the working class or the poor class, this might still be impossible. You might be able to have a job, a place to live, but you will not be able to have all the other resources the upper class has. For example, time off from work, vacations, education, or even afford you own house, this might be the biggest struggles for working families. This paper will examine how minorities in, “The Lesson “and “Volar” deal with the difficult effects of socioeconomic class. In “Volar,” Judith Cofer presents us with the image of the little girl dreaming about changing her appearance.

In the short story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, I believe Miss Moore, a well-educated black woman, who wants the children in her neighborhood to be exposed to the more cultural aspects of life. I think, however, all these black children have hopes and desires just like other kids their age. Just because these kids live in poverty doesn’t mean that they are stupid or lack the desire to become something more in life. However, my thoughts are that Miss Moore wants to show the students so that they can make changes in their future, by seeing how important education is and what their lives could be like instead of living in poverty. Miss Moore has the students use math skills in figuring tips, the cost of cab fares the prices of the toys,

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 American Dilemma (1944), Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish sociologist, writes about the economic conditions that plagued the Negro race in 1944 during World War II. According to Myrdal, “except for a small minority enjoying upper or middle-class status, the masses of American Negroes, in the rural South and in segregated slum quarters in Southern and Northern cities, are destitute. They own little property; even their household goods are mostly inadequate and dilapidate. Their incomes are not only low, but irregular. They live from day to day and have scant security for the future” (Katznelson 29).

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

Toni Cade Bambara’s story in “The Lesson” is about an African-American girl, who fight with her growing consciousness of social inequality. The story examines the comprehension of economic imbalance in the 19th century. In Bambara’s story "The Lesson", Miss Moore is seen as an unpleasant and an unwelcome person in society. Someone who makes both Sylvia and the society uncomfortable.

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.

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

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.

“The Lesson” by Bambara really does have a lesson at the end. This lesson that is really shown to the kids is that life is not what it really seems. The kids thought that they had an alright life but after going to that toy store, they got to how life really is. While the kids were at the toy store they didn’t understand why the prices were so high when you can get the same thing at a knockoff store, but that’s when they realized the expensive stuff cost more money. So the real lesson learned in this short store is life is not what it seems and you really have to work to get what you need in life. Now you see how Miss Moore

In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” she encourages Sylvia to look society in the eye and change what is expected of her. She exposes the inequality present within the United States’s society through the perspective of young African American children. Often, many are unwilling to acknowledge that they are a victim of poverty, leaving them in a state of ignorance, that will not promote any change. The story revolves around Sylvia, a young black girl, who finally has her eyes opened to her disadvantaged economic status. Real learning often occurs after a state of discomfort and confusion. Bambara takes Sylvia through a journey enlightening her through an uncomfortable juxtaposition of Harlem and Manhattan, her and her friends, and who she actually is and who she wants to be.

Economic oppression against blacks occurred out of white’s prejudice for African Americans. Most economic inequality between races advanced from an unequal opportunity in the labor force. This was because African Americans were not given the same chance as whites for similar jobs. In the 1950’s at least 75 percent of African American men “in the labor force were employed in unskilled jobs.” A few of these jobs included janitors, porters, cooks, and machine operators. However, only 25 percent of white males had jobs which did not require many skills. The disparity between women was also significant. 20 percent of black women were paid service workers while only 10 percent of white women maintained the same job. The two most significant l reasons African Americans were economically oppressed was because they were denied access to numerous jobs and the

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

Without the proper guidance and knowledge of how to apply for jobs and not being given jobs for nearly a century, this causes one to learn to live on the bare minimum to survive. Poverty among African Americans was exceptionally high compared to

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