In “The Lesson” the secondary main character is a black woman named Miss Moore. She has a somewhat jumbled appearance which lets the townespeople feel justified in making fun of her. Unfortunately, eventhough she is college-educated, as a result, she tends to spend her time with the kids of the town. She invites any and all the kids with their vastly differing lives and backgrounds. Most of the kids don’t exactly enjoy their time with her and call her boring. As naive as kids are, they don’t understand the reason for her bringing them to these places. When in reality, she is trying to educate them on the economic inequalities of the town and how far it reaches. On the other hand, probably her most inexperienced child, Mercedes, is a young girl with a wealthy family. In turn, she was more happy and more well-off. She didn’t exhibit the kind of bitterness the other kids did as she didn’t have a reason to. I liked the example of the paperweight. One of the kids pointed out an expensive paperweight not knowing its purpose of it. Mercedes not only tells the kids that she has her own desk but with other goods on top of it… along with the paperweight.
Daily Archives: September 18, 2022
The two characters I choose from “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara are Mercedes and Sugar. Mercedes is the only one of the eight children that doesn’t seem fazed by the insane prices at the toy store. She barely even talked when visiting the toy store that I forgot she was a character until she finally said something. When she did start talking it was to join the conversation about the paperweight and desks and unlike the other children she has a desk and stationery. When entering the store she is the only one able to walk into the store and act normal. After the day is over and everyone is asked what they thought about the store she is the only one who actually wanted to go back to buy something. Sugar’s experience is different as she went from a child who would yell about wanting this and that. She then like the other children was surprised about how expensive everything was and felt out of place when in the store. When asked about her experience only her and the narrator Sylvia understood what exactly Miss Moore wanted to teach them about inequality.
“The lesson” is a story which shows how some young people are aware of socio-economic inequality. There are two characters, Sylvia and Sugar, that show the difference in their understanding of socio-economic equality their thoughts and actions when they visit FAO Schwartz. For example, Sugar said “You know, Miss Moore, I don’t think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs.” This statement of hers clearly shows that she has some understanding of finances as she knows that the amount of money spent on one of her and her friends’ necessities is inconsequential to those who shop at FAO Schwartz. Therefore, it shows that she is aware of the socio-economic inequality that she faces. On the other hand, Sylvia is angry at the situation but is not able to put it into words. “And I’m jealous and want to hit her. Maybe not her, but I sure want to punch somebody in the mouth.” Sylvia is angry at the fact that the sailboat cost a lot but is unable to communicate why she is angry at this particular situation. This clearly shows that Sylvia is not as knowledgeable as Sugar regarding socio-economic inequality.
The passage, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, teaches children about the different viewpoints in the world, and how in certain circumstances we all see different things, more specifically our financial circumstances. The children in the passage were taken to the FAO Schwarz Toy Store. The prices in the toy store were remarkably high, which taught the children to learn more about money and purchases, that not everyone has access to everything, and more importantly, to be grateful, because what may seem a reasonable price to you, may not seem the same way to someone else. Sylvia is the main character in the story, she explains to the readers what she sees, hears, and thinks. Sylvia is a very observant young lady and kept detailed notes in her head about the people she comes into contact with, as well as what she does. She explains her hatred for Ms. Moore at the beginning of the passage by explaining how she always assigned them boring activities. When she arrives at the toy store, she immediately belittles the prices and was stunned by the items that was being sold. She kept on complaining about ridiculous they were. On the other hand, Mercedes was another student that did not seem too bothered by the prices and the items that were being sold. She explains that she would like to pay a visit to the FAO Schwarz Toy Store again when she can get her birthday money. This immediately explains that, financially, her life was more stable than the other children’s. Her family had money, and whatever she asked for she had probably gotten without any hesitation. She immediately stood out to me, because of her enjoyment and agreement at the store, while other students were complaining around her.
“The Lesson” is a very interesting story by Toni Cade Bambara. In this story, there are two people named Mercedes and Sylvia and they both visited the “FAO Schwarz Toy Store”, they both had different experiences. When they first arrived, Sylvia realized the area they are in is dressed in expensive clothing. It made her upset and annoyed by it, and I think it’s because she came from a family that wasn’t very wealthy. Throughout the whole time, Sylvia was thinking how the money people are using to buy these expensive toys could be used for her family with rent, and more important things. On the other hand, Mercedes came from a wealthy family and was surprised by all the expensive toys and how the world is sort of different in the expensive toy store. She was sort of motivated and wanted to go back to the store with her own money to purchase. Mercedes had a complete opposite “impulsive” reaction that Sylvia had to the toy store. Mercedes was not bothered by the store, while Sylvia on the other hand was completely bothered and made it clear she did not like the place.
