Toni Cade Bambara The Lesson Analysis

The narrator in "The Lesson" is a young girl named Sylvia who tells the story in first person. Through her we get a picture of the difficulties experienced from growing up in a poor

“The Lesson,” by Toni Cade Bambara is a narrative told by a young black girl named Sylvia. Sylvia is a young African-American girl who was raised and lives in a rough, poor neighborhood. She is quite disrespectful to Miss Moore and well as her friends and cousin. She says that she hates “this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree,” which shows that she has no respect for those who are older than her and those who are educated. When interacting with others, Sylvia and is getting physical by pushing her friends and steeping on her cousins toes. She is also quite competitive and believes that “ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” In the beginning of the story Sylvia and her cousin Sugar seem very alike. Sylvia and Sugar engage in the same activities and

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.

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 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.

In the story it is summer time and Sylvia is on summer vacation, “And school suppose to let up in summer I heard, but she don’t never let us” (Bambara 147). Summer vacation for Sylvia is spending time at the park, at the show, and at the pool, and as Sylvia proclaims “its puredee hot” (Bambara 147). Sylvia's first thought is further reflected in her desire to “go to the pool or the show where it's cool”(Bambara 147), where she would just let life happen to her, and never get worked up and angry over the social injustice created by class distinctions. When Sylvia did not got the satisfactory answer from Miss Moore for the price of real boat her anger was spotted, “if you gonna mess up a perfectly good swim day least you could do is have some answers” (Bambara 149). This emphasize that she want the answer of every injustice that she is facing in her life. Just as Miss Moore is trying to create a feeling of “ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin” (Bambara 151), she is also trying to provoke the anger which is necessary for the children to get motivated.

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

Toni Cade Bambara’s short story The Lesson told in first person by a character named Sylvia. Sylvia is a poor student who resides in the ghetto of New York with her friends and family. The story begins in the summertime in New York, where the children are out of school, playing and having fun; but when a new neighbor Miss Moore move in, things change. Miss Moore is an educated African American woman, who embarks on an educational journey with the children. She realizes that the children lack experience and knowledge of a world outside of poverty, so she takes them on a trip outside their

Originally, in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia shows signs of detachment towards Miss Moore due to

While the United States government is proclaimed to be a democracy, it consists many of the imperfections demonstrated in the story written by Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson”. The protagonist as well as her friends are enlightened as they explore a new environment, a toy store that contrasts greatly with the slums they ventured from. Although the difference between the wealthy children and the youth described in the story is missing, the injustice is displayed by their surroundings in addition to the interactions they have with each toy they find. Through these expensive gadgets, the children are shown how defective their democracy is, observing the many injustices inflicted on them and their families. In a rights based society, there should

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 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

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

In "The Lesson" it talks about a group of children who lives in the slum of New York City in the 1970s. Sylvia the main character is ignorant, rude and stubborn. In the summer all she wanted to do is have fun with her friends however, Miss Moore a well educated black woman took it upon her self to take Sylvia and her friends to a toy store called F.O.A schwarz in manhattan. On the trip Miss Moore is trying to show them a different world , the "real world" something the children are not accustom to seeing. She's helping them to figure their identity and how they are as a person. At the end Sylvia realizes that she is a strong and intelligent individual.