Katrina Nicholes-Shults
Mrs. Livingston
English 1102/S.E.1.3
February 6, 2014 Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson: The Impact of Poverty on Education
Toni Cade Bambara’s short story The Lesson told in first person by a character named Sylvia. Sylvia is a poor student who resides in the ghetto of New York with her friends and family. The story begins in the summertime in New York, where the children are out of school, playing and having fun; but when a new neighbor Miss Moore move in, things change. Miss Moore is an educated African American woman, who embarks on an educational journey with the children. She realizes that the children lack experience and knowledge of a world outside of poverty, so she takes them on a trip outside their element. According to Marchino’s critical analysis, the goal is that they “realize wealth is unfairly and unequally distributed (2)”. In doing so, Miss Moore have the children figuring cab fare, tips, prices of toys, evaluating unnecessary spending, and diversity.
Sylvia recalls her youth by stating “‘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 385). According to Sylvia, community elders did not know anything, but that she had all the answers. She appears to be an intelligent, smart mouth and disrespectful youth because of her tone throughout the story. Her foul language throughout the story appears distasteful and unwarranted. However, to someone who understands where she come from and shares similar experiences this maybe normal. Most children who live in the ghetto are rude, sassy, disrespectful, and they lack the proper resources for an education. The children’s parents trust Miss Moore to care for them because they dress and groom them every weekend before sending them off with her. “Our parents would yank our heads into a sort of style and