The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara - 1346 Words

â€Å"The Lesson† by Toni Cade Bambara is not just about a sassy, defiant, ungrateful poor girl that is out of place in an overpriced expensive toy store. â€Å"The Lesson† is a short story about a young black girl who is struggling with her increasing awareness of class inequality. When Sylvia’s new neighbor, Miss. Moore, a smart college educated woman introduces the reality of social inequality to Sylvia and her group of friends, they become cynical. Sylvia has always known in the back of her mind that she was poor, but never really let it bother her until she sees her disadvantages in glaring contrast with the luxuries of the wealthy. Sylvia’s life in the story â€Å"The Lesson† brings me back to my own childhood in many ways. As a young girl I grew up in an uneducated, low income household. I too, knew as a young girl, we were poor. I never let it bother me, I never thought there was something wrong with being poor. Living in low income apartment housing with many children just like myself was the norm in my world. We ran the neighborhood, had tons of adventures, and yet we were content with our lives just the way they were. As I grew older and began spending time with my Aunt Julie, she helped me realized there was a whole other world out there I knew nothing about. As I became older I would stay with my Aunt almost every weekend. She would take me to do many things I never did with my parents such as going to the movies, eating out at nice restaurants and shopping. She was my Miss.Show MoreRelatedThe Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara992 Words   |  4 PagesThe Lesson: Summary/Response In the story The Lesson, author Toni Cade Bambara shows us a view of life from a black girl who lives in a poverty-stricken community just outside of New York City. In the story, there is a teacher whom takes the responsibility of teaching Sylvia and her friend group important lessons not only for a better education but to better understand life in its entirety. I believe the story is used as a tool to teach others about the lack of education in our nation in the seventiesRead MoreThe Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara1552 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout the years knowledge and culture has been passed down within generations. Elders within the community often teach life lessons to the young adults growing up in the neighborhood. This idea still holds true today, especially in low-income communities. People from different socioeconomic backgrounds live different lifestyles they also have different opportunities made available to them. Because of this idea, people with a higher social stand ing have an advantage over those in lower classRead Morethe Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara1428 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"The Lesson† From The Mentor Whenever there is a civil rights movement going on, there are always 3 parties involved. One the Oppressor, second the Oppressed and lastly the Activist or the Mentor. The Activists usually always emerges from the Oppressed. That is when the Oppressed intellectuals feel that it’s time to standup to defend the identity of their people and make them strong enough to make a name of their own. This is what happened during the early 20th century within the African AmericanRead MoreThe Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara968 Words   |  4 PagesThere is a lesson in every situation no matter if you choose to accept it or not. A lesson can sometime guide you in the right path that is needed in your life or maybe it can just be for a certain situation. In the short story â€Å"The Lesson† by Toni Cade Bambara, she relates teaching a life changing lesson to the character Sylvia. Sylvia is a very strong willed young lady who is challenged with poverty in her neighborhood. The story begins with Miss Moore, an educated black woman who moves in theRead MoreThe Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara1429 Words   |  6 PagesUpon reading The Lesson, by Toni Cade Bambara, the reader cannot help but feel empathy towards the narrator Sylvia and her friends, as they are introduced to the realization of unfairness distribution of wealth in society, the diverse democracy. The lesson is taught by a lady named, Miss Moore, who moves into Sylvia’s neighborhood block. Miss Moore is a college educated women who shows the reality of the economic inequality to Sylvia and her friends by taking them on a field trip to a fancy toy storeRead MoreThe Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara850 Words   |  4 Pagesideas into the readers’ minds. Readers often begin reading a work with a biased opinion of the contents of the story. The superficial theme of a story is obvious, but the less obvious theme can have the most powerful message. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, â€Å"The Lesson,† the apparent t heme is poverty and wealth, but the true theme is the misapprehension of everything not being as it seems. The first physical description of Miss Moore gives the reader the impression that she is a woman of littleRead MoreThe Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara638 Words   |  3 Pagesthe hardest because the kids just want to play, goof around and don’t listen. Elementary teachers have hard time teaching young uneducated students just like Miss Moore with her uneducated children from the neighborhood, in the story â€Å"The Lesson† by Toni Cade Bambara. Miss Moore teaches the students how to take the first step toward a better education just like elementary teachers, her teaching method were to show how the upper class lived in comparison to the children but she could have though themRead MoreThe Lesson, By Toni Cade Bambara881 Words   |  4 Pagesthe story ‘The Lesson’, Sylvia and her friends’ receives a chance to take a look at the upper side of town and compare how the two communities differ from each other. The author uses social conflict to explain the r acial and social divide between the white and black community. In the story, the reader sees how social classes effect how adults and even children see the world. The author, Toni Cade Bambara, compares how blacks and whites live these times. In the story, â€Å"The Lesson†, a woman by theRead MoreThe Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara1830 Words   |  8 PagesThe Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara is a short story set in the inner part of New York City that gives the reader an opportunity to briefly see into the lives of children living devoid of wealth and education. It takes place in the early seventies, following the civil rights movement and during a time when the imbalance of wealth in terms of race was immense. Bamabara, through the use of narrative point of tone, symbols, setting and characterization, brings out and develops what I believe to be theRead MoreThe Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara2703 Words   |  11 PagesCaroline Bergsagel Professor Reichardt English 1101/1102-681 14th April, 2015 In the story â€Å"The Lesson† by Toni Cade Bambara, the author uses symbolism, irony, setting, and black vernacular diction to show the children -the â€Å"other side of the street†- and the economic disparity and inequality they face. When a well educated teacher takes the the children on an allegedly fun and frivolous field trip to a toy store, it is there she shows the children the disparity they face in their neighborhood. By