...In the short story, “The Lesson,” author Toni Bambara illustrates how there is an economic inequality between white and black Americans. In the story, Bambara writes about and educated black woman named Miss Moore. Miss Moore would often take the neighborhood children on daytrips that would turn into educational lessons. In “The Lesson”, Miss Moore takes Sylvia and some of her friends to a toy store in New York. During the day trip to the toy store, Miss Moore’s argument is how there is not an equal democracy between white and blacks. Miss Moore’s first strategy in proving her claim as to how white and blacks do not live in an equal democracy was by asking the children if they knew what real money was. Miss Moore’s first approach to her claim was ineffective. Sylvia, one of the children, stated, “And Miss Moore asking us do...
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...Vo 1 Vo 2 Steven Vo Hensley Honors English 11/ Second Period 27 January 2017 The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara The Lesson, is about the author Toni Cade Bambara and her past experiences growing up in Harlem, New York. The Lesson takes place on a regular day in Harlem, in the 1960's. The story starts off with a woman named Miss Moore. Sylvia is narrating the whole story and she sets the tone as being sarcastic and bitter. Sugar is Sylvia's? cousin. Miss Moore does not have a first name and is described as very spooky and weird. The kids are Sylvia, Sugar, Big Butt, Fat Butt, Flyboy, Junebug, and Mercedes. The parents of the children would make them as presentable as possible so they can travel with Mrs. Moore and take them to a educational...
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...The two prompts for Intervention #4 that I have chosen are: 2. What is the “lesson” in “The Lesson”? 4. Find examples of foreshadowing in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." What is the “lesson” in “The Lesson”? I believe that lesson in the story "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara is of social inequality and the lack of quality education for children living in the inner city. This short story is told in the first person by a young black girl growing up in Harlem. The lesson unfolds as the young children growing up in poverty are exposed to life lessons by an educator Miss Moore. Miss Moore creates an environment to help the children discover and succeed in learning some very important issues about their immediate world around them. Miss Moore’s actual...
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...Moreover, language plays a key role in identifying an individual’s background but so does their economic wealth. "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara is a story about one African-American girl's struggle with her growing awareness of economic inequality. Not knowing where her teacher Miss Moore was taking her she grew more and more impatient, to later find out she’s in a high class toy store. Here, Sylvia acts as if she’s uninterested in what’s around her but at the same time knows everything that’s going on, for example, “Then we check out that we on Fifth Avenue and everybody dressed up in stockings. One lady in a fur coat, hot as it is. White folks crazy.” (Bambara pg.305) From the tone of her voice one can already tell she knows the difference...
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...The Lesson Since the start of slavery there has been a large problem with poverty, equality, and social class with Caucasians and African Americans. African Americans have been through a rough past, for the most part they are generally looked down upon, and are said to be of lower class. They are the same people as you and I, but not in everyone’s eyes. In “The Lesson”, by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore takes on the roll as the children’s teacher, or in other words their instructor. The one thing Miss Moore wanted out of all of it, was to teach the kids a lesson. She wanted the children to know that they need to be goal oriented and work hard in everything that they do, and that education will lead you to success no matter who you are, or where you come from. She wanted them to know that the race they were wasn’t going to change who they would be in the future, or lower their chances of success, because you can do anything when you work hard and set your mind to something....
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...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 a lot of money. They begin to wonder why the sailboat costs way more then their own homes, but Sylvia feels uncomfortable in the store. Her uncomfortable feeling reminds her of the time when she made a noise in the Catholic...
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...Right from the start of the short story “The Lesson”, written by Toni Cade Bambara, one could notice the high tension that Sylvia and Miss.Moore have. It is made clear from the start that Sylvia is already a troubled young lady that is at a constant war with herself. Building up to this experience Sylvia is pushed over the limits when she finds out that not only Miss.Moore moves into the neighborhood but is also going to take the children's summer away. Sylvia seems to not like Miss.Moore because she is scared that Miss.Moore will take her spot and or show the kids that Sylvia is not all that she seems to be. In the beginning of the story, it is evident that Sylvia seems to have an attitude problem with other people. Sylvia says, “back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right” (Bambara #).One could notice that Sylvia say me and Sugar instead of the saying Sugar and I. Which shows that Sylvia has this demeanor of everything has to be around her. Or it could be taken that Sylvia does not care about school and she does not pay attention in school. Maybe that is why Sylvia has such a hatred for Miss.Moore. However it is clear that Sylvia...
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...“The Lesson”, by Toni Cade Bambara, she shows that Sugar shows that she easily understands the point of Miss Moore’s lesson, but it does not affect her in a meaningful way. After the day full of activities, most importantly the trip to F.A.O Schwarz, the kids have a discussion with Miss Moore about their experience and thoughts about the store. Sugar talks about income and money, and her opinion about both. She says, “I think… that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”. This shows that Sugar understands the reason that Miss Moore took them to the stores and to a different part of town. The value of money was very different between where Sugar...
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...Self-revelation can come to someone when they least expect it. When someone gets exposed, they begin to see the world around them differently. In a world of billions of people, some shared similar experiences. “A&P,” by John Updike is of a young man named Sammy, who works at an A&P grocery store and three young ladies who seem, upper class, intrigued him to venture outside of working at A&P. “The Lesson,” by Toni Cade Bambara is about a young girl named Sylvia, she is assertive in her neighborhood but when she was taking on a trip to an upscale toy store on Fifth Avenue she was timid, and left with a lot to think about at the end of the trip.“A&P” and "The Lesson" They both have a contemptuous male and female character who have a low socioeconomic...
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...Plato’s Truth in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara Imagine a prisoner who was born in a cave and have never seen anything besides a wall is one day released. When he leaves the cave and approaches the light, his eyes hurt and “he is not able to see anything at all of what are now called realities.” This metaphoric example shows that when a person is placed in an uncomfortable situation, he is first in denial. He doesn’t want to accept things that he sees as reality, continuing to live according to his old false perceptions. As he looks longer at the sun he slowly starts to realize that his perceptions could be wrong. He now sees the light and a new world, which he never thought exists. Sylvia, the heroine of the short story “The Lesson” by...
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...short story “The Lesson” written by Toni Cade Bambara. There are many ways that the main idea of “The Lesson” could be...
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...Jaclyn Karpiak English 101 12 April 2012 Short Story Analysis: “The Lesson” Toni Cade Bambara, a Harlem-born author, embraces culture, community, and background through her short story “The Lesson”. She has the main character Miss Moore discuss the struggles African Americans have with Caucasians involving social class, poverty, and equality. For many years after the abolition of slavery, African Americans were still looked down upon and considered a lower social class in certain societies. Bambara uses language as a powerful tool for describing America during the 1960s through the eyes of a young girl named Sylvia, a proud, sensitive, tough girl who is far too smart to ignore the realities around her. Bambara uses language to establish a cultural setting and Miss Moore to teach her students how to be successful, no matter their race. This story reflects Bambara’s ethnic background and pride by using the same dialect that she used growing up in Harlem, New York. According to Bambara, she spoke African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a trait that imparts to Sylvia. African American Vernacular English adds realism and humor to Sylvia's narrative because it describes her ethnicity without directly expressing what it is. It is common for African-American writers to use AAVE to emphasize their political and social commentary, so it is appropriate for Sylvia to be speaking the dialect because the story takes place in the ghetto of New York where Sylvia spends her childhood...
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...the right and wrong ways of dealing with this. “The Lesson,” by Toni Cade Bambara, does not necessarily have to do with the racial oppression King describes, as Bambara tells a short story expressing how a group of children living in poverty view the richer lifestyle, but some of King‟s categories of dealing with oppression can be seen in how Bambara‟s characters react to what they are observing. At the start of Bambara‟s “The Lesson,” Sylvia expresses her dislike and almost hatred for Miss Moore. This is made obvious by many of the statements she makes when introducing the characters and story: “I‟m really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree,” and “though I never talk to her . . . I wouldn‟t give the bitch that satisfaction.” Hatred is often the first step in acting violently, one of King‟s ways of meeting oppression. While Sylvia, or anyone else at any time during the story, does not actually act violently, their thoughts and feelings show signs of possible violence in the future. Not only do Sylvia and the children show a tendency of hatred towards Miss Moore, but to each other as well—especially aimed at Mercedes. The reader can gather that Mercedes‟s family has a little more money than the rest of them and Mercedes has no problem rubbing that fact in. When standing outside the store, Mercedes brags that her father would buy her the expensive toy boat if she wanted it, and Rosie responds by showing her some hostility: “Your father, my ass.” While the...
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...Nguyen English 1301 March 7, 2015 The Lesson “The Lesson” is among Bambara’s best-known stories, and I really love it. It combines her focus on social justice with her interest in telling stories about children maturing. One of the most provocative elements of this story is Sylvia’s opaque response to Miss Moore’s lesson. The Schwarz angers her, she does not understand why, and cannot decide whether to direct that anger at Miss Moore, at Sugar, or at white people. Yet despite her initially rebellious response to the excursion, Sylvia’s chance to witness the vast disparity between rich and poor seems to inspire her to work harder. Interestingly, the children seem to resent those with different income levels than themselves, regardless of whether that person is of higher or lower class. For example, they berate Mercedes when she talks about her stationery, and push her out of their circle when she talks about returning to the store. However, they also become irritated at the way that Flyboy frequently mentions the fact that he is homeless. This persistent animosity, combined with everyone’s distrust of Miss Moore, speaks to the insularity of their community, and a general distrust of foreigners. People find ways to separate themselves, whether by race, income, or geography. In “The Lesson,” Bambara seems to endorse Miss Moore’s opinion that economic inequality is symptomatic of a flawed society. However, the lesson does not arise organically from the children’s...
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...Our children’s education plays an important and vital role in their future success. Children however, sometimes make no attempt to acquire much knowledge, primarily because they do not realize the necessity of a proper education. Moreover, the issue of poverty prevents children from acquiring an effective education. In the literary work "The Lesson", Toni Cade Bambara describes the difficulties of growing up as poor children. She goes on to point out the power of education for them. Education is empowerment for children living in poverty because it helps them to understand the disadvantages of their poor life in comparison to the rich and shows that effective knowledge is the way to overcome poverty. Additionally, a proper education can inspire children to strive even harder for their success. In “The Lesson”, the author reveals to the reader the disadvantages of poverty in relationship to wealth through Ms. Moore's lesson. Ms. Moore chooses to take a group of children to the luxury FAO Schwarz toy store in order to show them the difference between rich and poor lives. She knows that the trip is only a chance to let children see another side of life in the same city and helps them realize the disadvantages of their poor life. Through the narration of Silvia, a leader of the group, a reader can imagine the low quality of the children’s lives. At the beginning of the trip Moore talks to the children about the value of money. She discusses the amount of money their...
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