Toni Bambara The Lesson Essay

811 Words2 Pages

Deeply rooted in the American dream is the impression that anyone who works hard can move up economically regardless of his or her social circumstances. Author Toni Bambara uses her story The Lesson, to demonstrate these social inequities among a group of African American children who live in New York. She underlines the problems of economic inequality and social injustice, while empowering a group of young children, who are “all poor and live in the slums” (Bambara 457), to realize their full potential. Miss Moore, a college educated black woman, attempts to teach the children basic life lessons about equal opportunity, but does not teach them using conventional methods; instead, she uses real world experiences to show the children another …show more content…

Sylvia displays her bitterness and hate towards anyone, or any situation that aims to make her come to terms with reality. Instead of being receptive to Miss Moore’s lesson that “poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie” (Bambara 461), Sylvia uses her pessimistic attitude, “I’m really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree” (Bambara 457), as a way to escape from dealing with the present situation. Furthermore, Bambara’s use of her character’s dialogue and diction throughout the story symbolizes the lack of education that exists within poor black communities; for instance, the intentional words and statements such as “it’s purdee hot” (457), and “the somethinorother in a speck of blood” (458) indicates the set back that Sylvia suffers from because she is poorly …show more content…

The purpose of the toy store is to teach Sylvia, and her friends, a lesson about how money is valued differently in varying communities. As the children “just gaze at the prices tags” (Bambara 461), they are surprise to learn how much money some people spend on toys. However, when they all enter the toy store, Sylvia decides to “hangs back” (Bambara 460). This is because, for the first time, she “feels funny”; she feels “shame” (Bambara 460). Sylvia begin to connect her feelings to reality and starts to question “who are these people that spend that much for performing clown and $1000 for toy sailboats?” (Bambara 461). Sylvia also uses the experience of the toy store to become more aware of herself; thus, wondering “what kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it?” (Bambara

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