Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” is a story about a group of children living in the slums of New York City around the 1960s and 1970s. They seem to be content living in poverty in some very unsanitary conditions. Miss Moore, the children’s self-appointed mentor takes it upon herself to further their education during the summer months. She feels this is her civic duty because she is educated. She used F.A.O. Schwarz, a very expensive toy store, to teach them a lesson and inspire them to strive for success and attempt to better themselves and their situations. Although the use of language tells the reader a great deal about Sylvia’s background and environment, what is important is the use of foul language which takes us deeper and …show more content…
The use of non-standard American English words as in “But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin” (Bambara 419) shows the use of language being used by Sylvia, which helps the reader understand the background and education of the narrator. However, when Sylvia states, “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup” (Bambara) you are first introduced to Miss Moore as being well spoken; as evident in Jerome Cartwright’s article review of “The Lesson” he states, “‘This lady,” significantly named Miss Moore, has been to college and, of her own volition, has taken on the responsibility for the children’s education. Her distinguishing quality is that she knows more than the children” (Cartwright 62). We can see the use of words that the narrator is not using standard American English in this story as she chose to use African American English (AAE) as seen in an article by Katy M. Wright, “Toni Cade Bambara chose to embrace the language of her culture and community” (Wright 73). In fact, the use of non-standard English helps the reader understand that the narrator is from an African American …show more content…
The use of words shown in this story can help the reader understand that the narrator is from a lower class neighborhood with little guidance from adult figures which is seen when she says “She was black as hell,” “Boring-ass things,” “Dumb shit foolishness,” and “Sorry ass horse” (Bambara 414). The use of foul language shows that the narrator is an Adolescent teen that has grown up in a rough neighborhood. In Wright’s article she says, ‘“Damn,” “shit,” “ass,” and “hell” all make multiple appearances, and though this sort of language is absolutely not limited to or characteristics of AAE, it situates the African American adolescents in their economically disadvantaged urban environment” (Wright 75) this helps to show the narrator’s use of foul language to be from an adolescent that lives in a low-class
Allison Joseph asks many questions in this poem bring a black American and how someone of the black community is expected to speak. Some of these questions include, “Was [she] supposed to sound lazy, / dropping syllables here and there/ not finishing words but/ slurring their final letters/ so each sentence joined/ the next, sliding past the listener?”(34-39), and “Were certain words off limits, / too erudite for someone whose skin/ came with a natural tan?” (40-42).
The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.
No matter where one is from or where one finds themselves today, we carry with us in some way or another a specific heritage. Certain events and circumstances can lead to someone trying to forget their heritage or doing everything in their power to preserve that heritage. Alice Walker’s “EveryDay Use” was published in 1973, not long after the civil rights movement, and reflects the struggles of dealing with a heritage that one might not want to remember (Shmoop). Alice Walker is well known as a civil rights and women’s rights activist. Like many of her other works she uses “Everyday Use” to express her feelings on a subject; in this case African American heritage. Through “Everyday Use” it can be seen that Alice Walker has negative feelings about how many African Americans were trying to remove themselves from parts of their African American culture during the time of the short story’s publishment. This idea that Walker was opposed to this “deracinating” of African Americans coming out of the civil rights
This piece of autobiographical works is one of the greatest pieces of literature and will continue to inspire young and old black Americans to this day be cause of her hard and racially tense background is what produced an eloquent piece of work that feels at times more fiction than non fiction
Geneva Smitherman of the Afro-American Studies department at Harvard University wrote in her paper “God Don’t Never Change”: Black English from a Black Perspective that English scholars and teachers should stop trying to correct “Black English” for being grammatically incorrect and assess the content for intellectual accuracy. She believes that no matter how different the grammar is from “White English”, “black English is still understandable and should be treated as if it is written correctly. Smitherman sites many examples throughout literary history highlighting moments where “Black English” has been battered for being incorrect, most notably using the story of a Wayne State freshman student who had a paper returned to them for being written in “Black English”. The student was told that the paper was grammatically incorrect and needed to be corrected without any further commentary. While Smitherman makes a strong argument for the equal treatment of “Black English” in literature, her writing is full of pathological bias and resentment toward her fellow English scholars causing her thesis to be overshadowed.
“The Lesson” and “Gorilla, My Love” were written in the 1970’s by Toni Cade Bambara, a female African American writer. In both “The Lesson” and “Gorilla, My Love” the stories are told in first person narration by young black girls who tell the story of their struggles. Sylvia in The Lesson is about twelve or thirteen years old. She comes from an urban neighborhood in Harlem and is being raised in a single parent home, as her mother finds more interest in hanging out with her friends leaving Sylvia to raise herself with guidance from the streets. One summer day Miss Moore, an educated black woman in the community who believes in the value of education takes the children on an educational outing to F.A.O Schwartz in hopes of teaching them the importance of education, economic inequality, socioeconomic class and the value of working hard to achieve their goals in life. On the other hand, Hazel in “Gorilla, My Love” is about a eight or nine years old. She comes from a middle class neighborhood and is being raided in a two parent home. Hazel hits a hardship when she is betrayed, once by her uncle as he decides to no longer be referred to as Hunca Bubba, but instead by his given name Jefferson Windsong Vale, and secondly when she anticipated seeing a movie called Gorilla My Love which had nothing to do with gorillas, instead what was playing was King of Kings a movie about Jesus.
The racial slurs in this book include “nigger” , “whore-lady”, “damn”, and etc. These terms are rather harsh, but are not just found in this book. The “N” word is a popular word used in lots of r&b, hip-hop, and rap music. This term is used in racists context in music that is popular with teenagers. Profanity appears in many television shows that air on television that are popular with teenagers,preteens, and even elementary school children. An example of some of these shows are “Gotham” and “Pretty Little Liars”. These were common terms used in this time period as well. Mrs. Lee was just staying true to the time period.
"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 nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree" (307), represents more than the everyday dislike of authority by a young adolescent. Sylvia has her own perception of the way things work, her own "world" that she does not like to have invaded by the prying questions of Miss Moore. Sylvia knows in the back of her mind that she is poor, but it never bothers her until she sees her disadvantages in blinding contrast with the luxuries of the wealthy. As Miss Moore introduces her to the world of the rich, Sylvia begins to attribute shame to poverty, and this sparks her to question the "lesson" of the story, how "money ain't divided up right in this country" (308).
The story is about racism experienced by young girls but with a twist. The first fact that the author shows us is that the brownie troops at camp seem to be either an all-black or all-white, no mixed race troops. The black girls in the story were being raised in a racially segregated environment. “When you lived in the south suburbs of Atlanta, it was easy to forget about Whites. Whites were like those baby pigeons: rean and existing, but rarely seen or thought about” (page 5). Because they have so little contact with whites, the black girls seem to be extremely cautious about the differences between themselves. In the extent of racial segregation, although there were no doubts about if Brownie Troop 909 did make the racial slur or not, it is no surprise that the confrontation is full of misunderstandings between the two
The narrator of the story is a young, black girl name Sylvia and the story is also told from her perspective. The setting is not clear. Perhaps it started in Harlem and then to downtown Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and the time of the story took place is also unclear. Bambara uses a great deal of characterization to describe the characters in the story. For example, Bambara describes Miss Moore as “black as hell” (Bambara 330), “cept her feet, which were fish-white and spooky” (Bambara 330), and “looked like she was going to church” (Bambara 330). She later tells us that she’s been to college and her state of mind is she believes it’s her responsibility for the children’s education. The plot started when Miss Moore rounded up all of the children by the mailbox. Then she gets the kids in a cab and took them to Fifth Avenue to a big toy store where the rich people would shop. The story then continues with the children and Miss Moore in the toy store and the kids looking around and noticing they can’t afford anything. Which will soon end the plot with a lesson that society is not fair, “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to purse happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”(Bambara 330). Hence, the lesson Miss Moore is trying to teach these
The lessons that are taught through experience are usually the ones that stick with children for a lifetime. In Toni Cade Bambara's “The Lesson”, Miss Moore, a prominent character in the story, teaches a lesson to underprivileged children growing up in Harlem. Bambara's work is described as “stories [that] portray women who struggle with issues and learn from them.” (Vertreace, Par. 48) Bambara uses Miss Moore and her characteristics to teach Sylvia and the other children about social inequality and the idea of pursuing personal aspirations regardless of social status. Miss Moore has many admirable characteristics; she's intelligent, patient and caring.
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 shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody" (Bambara 604)—offers an indication as to why she is so hard-pressed to concede her substandard socioeconomic standing in the larger scheme of things. Sylvia is forced to finally address the true state of her place in society, however, when she observes firsthand the stark contrast between the rich and the poor at a fancy toy store in Manhattan. Initially furious about the blinding disparity, her emotionally charged reaction ultimately culminates in her acceptance of the real state of things, and this acceptance in turn cultivates her resolve to take action against the socioeconomic inequality that verily afflicts her, ensuring that "ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin" (606). "The Lesson" posits that far from being insurmountable, economic and social injustice can be risen above, but it is necessary that we first acknowledge the role that it plays in our lives, and then determine to take action against it; indifference, and the inaction that it breeds, can only serve to perpetuate such injustices.
The subject of equality and inequality are a sensitive and controversial topic. Both equality and inequality were portrayed in the short story, “The Lesson.” In this short story by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore, a well known woman in the neighborhood, gives the children in her local area a lesson about the brutal inequalities that are in existence within the socioeconomic status system. This leads the children to ponder about the equality and inequality that exists within society. Toni Cade Bambara uses her short story, “The Lesson” in order to shed light on the injustices and racial inequalities in society. The goal of the story is to not only fight for racial equalities, but socioeconomic equalities as well.
In 'The Lesson'; the character, Sugar undergoes a realization of the world around her, through her teacher Miss Moore, Sugar notices that there is a better way of living in the world besides, her own little world with her friends. Sugar says, 'You know, Miss Moore, I don't think that all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs,'; (Bambara 452). Miss Moore is an African American woman who has broken through the expectation that society has placed on her class and on her color. Bambara presents Miss Moore as a very educated and intelligent woman, who has a college degree. With her knowledge Miss Moore sets out to educate the deprived and lower classed children and teach them of the world around them. She sets out to open their eyes, as well as their knowledge of the world around them. Miss Moore says, 'Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think?,'; (Bambara 452).
There were many aspects in which African Americans were treated with great discord in the United States, pre-civil rights. One of the most common being derogatory names that were used. The writings “What’s in a name?” by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and “Finishing School” by Maya Angelou show how impactful the usage of one’s name or lack thereof is. Similarly, the stories themes are built around the treatment and names used to berate African Americans however; the settings and characters show some striking similarities and differences.