Rosalia Mayancela Discussion 4

The two characters from “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Mercedes, and Sylvia clearly show contrast in their experience and point of view in response to the visit to the FA0 Schwarz toy store.  I associate Mercedes with a wealthy family(one little portion of the society) when she emphasizes that the price tags of the toys were not much of a surprise for her and whenever she wishes to have one, she can get it. On the contrary, the rest of her classmates were stunned by every piece in the store, especially by the price tag which didn’t make sense to them since similar products were found in a different location at a way cheaper price. Sylvia was one of my classmates and all she could think of was who would pay for those insane prices.  She expresses her anger by asking Miss Monroe “Watcha bring us here for, Miss Moore?” but later on everything falls in its place and the lesson of the experience is revealed. At the end of the trip, everyone was overwhelmed to know that there is a part of society that lives differently from what they used to see and live.  When did Miss Monroe ask what did you learn from the class? Mercedes responded that she will return when she has her birthday money while the rest of the class including Sylvia thought that price tags could equal to the rent or feed six-seven family expenses. The inequality gap between poor and rich was huge that so the lesson was “poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie” and change the system.

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