When I first read the short story “The Lesson” I immediately was drawn to the character Sylvia. She is obviously the most outspoken and dynamic character in the short story, however, I saw more to her than a first glance read of an angry, bitter, and cynical girl. Partly I saw more to where she came from, because I understood that on a personal level. I also saw underneath and believe that under that hard facade is someone whose circumstances truly shaped their life whether they were aware of it or not. From looking at the sociological effects of poverty on children it is now even clearer to me that Sylvia’s less than pleasant demeanor was a result of the circumstances she was born into.
In a perfect world everyone would be on a level playing
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These kids feel out of place and do not know how to act because they are out of their element. Sylvia could hardly walk through the front door when she got there and once they were all in there Sylvia says they all were “walkin on tiptoe and hardly touchin the games and puzzles and things” (Bambara 59). This “geographical separation of the poor from the rest of an area” is an example of residential segregation within “The Lesson.” The segregation of neighborhoods usually carries a “racial connotation as well” (Ferris and Stein 206), keeping black neighborhoods separated from white ones in the nineteenth century. Sylvia’s chance to demand her “share of the pie” (Bambara 59) is now harder just because of the separation and lack of equality that surrounds …show more content…
In most cases parents from poor families are preoccupied with needing to work, or may be suffering from irritable or depression symptoms that they do not find time to enrich children with learning or cultural experiences within the home. Sylvia only makes a point to mention her family, particularly her mother a couple of times in the entire short story. From what I did read I can only infer that Sylvia’s mother is around but not present in her life. Sylvia talks about how her and Sugar were under the watch of her Aunt Gretchen “while our mothers were in la-de-da apartment up the block having a good ole time” (Bambara 55). Sylvia not having a strong sense of family support could have caused Sylvia’s relationships outside the home to be strained as
It is easily perceptible that Sylvia’s father was abusive, and “grinded her gears”, which is then revealed she is a victim of
The story is told from the point of view of the protagonist, first person narrator, Sylvia. Sylvia is a preteen African American girl, strong willed, intelligent, and the obvious leader of the pack. The story's plot involves a college educated black woman who comes back to an economically disadvantaged neighborhood on weekends and takes the local children on field trips of a sort. On this particular trip she lets the children experience their first ride in a taxicab to a toy store in Manhattan. It is played out through a chronological series of events from the time they leave their neighborhood, until the time they arrive back there.
During the nineteen sixties, African Americans experienced an immense amount of changes such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Prior to these changes, African Americans faced racial segregation. Segregation was prevalent in housing, transportation, education, medical care and even in the United States Armed Forces. In the poem, History Lesson, the speaker recalls a memory on a beach in Mississippi regarding segregation with her grandmother in the 1930’s. A comparison of the speaker and her grandmother shows both the belief in segregation in the 1930’s compared to the desegregation in the 1970’s. By utilizing historical criticism, History Lesson by Natasha Trethewey can be analyzed from a historical point of view.
"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).
Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and education is presented with a glimpse into our higher education system. Despite the significant expansion in the number postsecondary institutions, and an increase in overall enrollment of low-income students, they are more likely to enroll in two-year, rather than four-year institutions, and privileged student attendance in highly selective institutions is increasing (Banks & Banks, 2013). The unintended consequence of the expansion of higher education institutions is an increase in class inequality, rather than a decrease, as more privileged students seek admittance to more selective institutions, locking less privileged students out (Banks & Banks, 2013). Greater access to the best universities helps privileged students maintain their class status, independent of their individual qualities. Consequently, privileged students have greater access to higher quality resources than do less privileged students attending less selective institutions, thereby inhibiting movement up the social class ladde...
In the short story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore is moving into an apartment in the same block as Sylvia. Miss Moore is unlike any other African American in the neighborhood because she always dresses so formal. She is volunteering to take Sylvia and her cousin Sugar to educational events for their benefit. A few days before Christmas, Miss Moore takes the children on a field trip and she starts off by talking about how much things cost, what their parents could earn, and the unequal division of wealth in the United States. The children see so many expensive, yet valuable items outside of F.A.O such as: an expensive paperweight, a microscope, and a sailboat that costs $1,195. They begin to wonder why the sailboat costs way more
One of the main feature of societies is that they are socially divided. Different social groups can be able to get access to different amount of power, wealth, and influence. Societies are divided by the inequalities between different social groups and these things determine the life chances of individuals. The moment in which character Sammy imagines the scene in "Queenie's" parent's living room in the short story A&P by Updike and the passage in which character Miss Moore asks about the children's desk at home in Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson" were drawn the realistic pictures of social divisions.
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.
Claude Fischer the author of Sweet Land of Conformity erroneously makes the claim that, “Our culture consists that if you marry… you are signing an explicit or implicit contract to cooperate and conform.” We feel that as Americans, people tend to stray from this ideal; this is portrayed through divorce and infidelity. In today’s corrupt society, when you marry, you are expected to be loyal based on an, “explicit or implicit contract.” But as time goes by and people become less interested and involved with their partners, we see that this claim is not true. The twisted love triangle that occurred between Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Pitt in 2005 demonstrates an example of infidelity which led to divorce. While Brad Pitt was married
Sylvia, not yet a woman, is at the threshold of womanly changes. As a child she has no “need” yet for a man. She has been taken out of the city into the backwoods where she has no need for societal norms and she is still developing (in all sense, ...
...he refused to let white society stand in her way. Sylvia made up her mind and would strive to get what she wanted.
This article, “An Examination of Potential Attractions of Women’s Marital Infidelity,” was published in 2014 in The American Journal of Family Therapy. The purpose of the article is to examine the process of infidelity and the steps that women take in order to cheat on their spouses. The question regarding what defines infidelity is widely debated in today’s world, particularly with the growth and use of technology. Because marital infidelity is on the rise, this article serves to examine the reasons that it occurs in order to help solve the problem. Women were interviewed about the process of infidelity and reported that three factors largely influenced their behavior. These factors that contribute to cheating are the developing of an extramarital
At the beginning of the story, the author gives us the feeling that a child is narrating this story. She also shows that the child, Sylvia, is at that age where she feels that adults are silly and she knows everything. “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 470) Sylvia also tells us about her environment while referencing Miss Moore. “And we kidna hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who cluttered up our parks and pissed on our handball walls and stank up our hallways and stairs so you couldn’t halfway play hide-and-seek without a damn gas mask. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block without a first name.” (Bambara 470) This is our introduction to Miss Moore. She is an educated, well groomed person and the children resent her because she is different and their parents force them to spend time with her in the interest of education.
Infidelity is depicted as an extremely negative thing in the United States, and is often blamed for trust issues, psychologically damaging the spouse and their children, tearing apart marriages and families and more. People who commit adultery are often shamed and told how wrong what they did is and what a terrible person they are for doing it. According to the Journal of Martial and Family by the Associated Press, however, 41% of “marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional.” Clearly, while infidelity is generally viewed negative by society, many people either decide that it is not as negative as it is portrayed, or do not care and do it anyway. “The Lady with the Pet Dog” and “The Storm” both go against the typical view of adultery being a negative thing in a relationship by showing that it can actually have a beneficial outcome and leave some, if not all people happier.
There was a time when more smart-conscious decisions were made relating to sexual relationships. In particular, sexual relationships within a marriage. However, times have changed. The pillars that hold up our individual sexual values have started to crumble. It is estimated that two out of three marriages fail due to infidelity. This is a scary statistic considering that people believe a marriage can survive infidelity. This brings us to our first myth: Everyone has affairs.