Book Analysis: The Lesson

The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara is a story of a (disobedient) little girl and her group of kids who were bundled up one summer day to go with Miss Moore to a toy store. Sylvia and her cousin Sugar are with Fat Butt, Rosie Giraffe, Mercedes, Q. T., Junebug, and Flyboy, not their real names but nicknames given to them by Sylvia. The names came from their most obvious feature, Fat Butt for his liking for food, Mercedes for her fancy tastes, Q. T., is the youngest, and Rosie Giraffe is always ready to kick asses. One may guess Sugar is for her being the exact opposite of sourly Sylvia.

Miss Moore wants to educate the kids about money, specifically, how much of it can buy what. Her goal really is to make them see how much they cannot afford compared

Schwartz may also be significant as there is a sense that they may feel ashamed of who they are (poor and black). They feel out of place centered purely on their class and the color of their skin. Coming by F.A.O. Schwartz Sylvia and Sugar do not feel worthy enough to shop or even go inside. It is only when the other children push them in that they actually enter the store. This pushing action may be significant as it could suggest progress in numbers. Just as an individual might have to join other people to protest in mass also the action of the children pushing their way into the store suggests something almost the same. There is power in numbers. Bambara also manages to highlight the innocence of the children especially when it comes to Flyboy who does not know what a paperweight is. The fact that most of the children don’t have a desk to work on or to do their homework may also be important as Bambara could be using the desk as using physical things to show big ideas or feelings for learning. Something that Miss Moore is trying to help increase/show in a good way between Sylvia and her friends. The homemade sailboats made by some of the children, who either sink or don’t work may also be symbolically important as Bambara may be using the sailboats as symbolism for a state of being unable to move. Correspondingly as boats cannot cross-massive bodies of waters just as the children’s lives could be alike of

Bambara may be suggesting that in order for black people to overcome racial and money-based differences they have to help each other. Even if an individual may not be a churchgoer like Miss Moore. Toni Bambara comes up with outlining onto the real world rather than the mystical throughout the text and could be implying that change not only comes from helping each other but also by being concerned with matters of fact. There is no sense in the story that Bambara is using religion as a tool for progress. Somewhat it’s Miss Moore’s own teaching that’s being used to help children so they can learn from her past mistakes. Whether each child realizes it or not, though one thing that’s clear is that Sylvia has been sufficiently affected by her trip to F.A.O. Schwartz that she initiates to think differently. The costly toy store made Sylvia begin to think otherwise because of the effect the trip had on her personally, which can be seen as progressive on her part. At the end of the trip, Miss Moore and her efforts to instruct the local children have had a result on at least one child. Whether she knows it or not, it’s almost as if Sylvia understands that by being apart of the trip that there’s a lesson to be learned so it will take her a period of time to answer what the lesson might truly