After reading the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, there is a relationship between Ms. Moore and the children. Even if it might be a love/hate relationship, Ms.Moore does a great job teaching the kids a lesson. I would title this essay ” How My Teacher Taught Me a Lesson”. Being that their are many lessons of the story that can be interpreted, the children have different interpretations of the “lesson”. The children have different reactions to the world that Ms. Moore portrayed to them. Some of the kids responded well, while the other kids felt angry and embarrassed. Some of the children felt misplaced and nervous because they haven’t experienced anything like where they were. Ms. Moore wanted to show the children that there is more to life than the ” ghetto”. The relationship between the children and Ms. Moore is important because it shows how most children miss out on life because they are ” stuck” in the life they’re in.
Daily Archives: September 17, 2024
“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, the title does an excellent job explaining what the material is about. If I were to write an essay on the subject I would title it “My Glass Balloon”, the theme of “The Lesson” reminds me of a loss of innocence or a shattering of reality. The story has an unappreciated guardian who takes it upon herself to enlighten the children of her neighborhood. To the guardian, at least one child must understand their situation to break the generational cycle. The child who grasps their situation’s reality is now stripped of their rose-colored glasses. While this will change the child forever possibly creating a resentful mindset, if the child can process this and seek guidance there is no doubt that they will grow out of their environment. It will be a challenge relating to friends who do not realize their situation or resentment to their family for putting them in the situation in the first place. This can be quite isolating, it takes a strong personality to use this to make a positive outcome.
After reading ‘The Lesson’ by Toni Cade Bambara I can see how a writer would focus on economic disparity, lack of equal opportunity, racial inequity, and other broad social issues. However, what caught my attention the most was the relationship between Miss Moore and Sylvia. I would title my essay ‘The Relationship’ Miss Moore saw something in Sylvia that she didn’t see in the other children. Sylvia was smart and wise. We get to see this when Ms. Moore trusts Sylvia with the $5 for the cab ride. Sylvia seems to have a strong dislike for Miss Moore, and I believe it’s because Miss Moore actually challenges Sylvia when asking her questions and giving her responsibility. At the end of the story, Ms. Moore asks “Well, what did you think of F.A.O. Shcwarz?”, and was pleasantly surprised when Sugar responds. I guess because she didn’t expect a response from Sugar but from Sylvia instead. Which leads to Miss Moore looking directly at Sylvia when asking ‘Anybody else learn anything today?’ She really wanted Sylvia to engage because she knew Sylvia was in fact paying attention and had an opinion.
Reading “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara if I wrote an essay on it I would title my essay, “The Realism of The Lesson : Growing up in Harlem”. I felt a connection to the reading because I am from Harlem . When it came to Sylvia’s slang, the nick names for her friends around her block, even down to the relationship with Miss Moore I was able to relate to her character based on how I grew up. Nevertheless, I would use quotes from the source to further explain how the reading represented a reality by portraying the everyday life of a group of kids growing up in Harlem. In Conclusion, I would compare the deeper “Lesson” of the reading from the trip with Miss Moore to the community I grew up in and give examples of my “Miss Moore” back in the day. Growing up in the projects we had several community activities to keep us out of trouble and instead of “Miss Moore” being a family friend, our community leader was my cousin Sandra and outside of taking us on excursions out of the “Hood” we had to go to church every Sunday. Subsequently, my essay will break down the realism of the reading in comparison to my upbringing.
In my essay named “Perception”, i would focus on how, in the end of “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia says, “And something weird is goin on, I can feel it in my chest. “Anybody else learn anything today?” lookin dead at me. I walk away and Sugar has to run to catch up and don’t even seem to notice when I shrug her arm off my shoulder”. Upon reading that line, i thought to myself just how much and deeply that trip to F.A.O Schwartz affected her perception of reality. In my essay i would dig deep into the mental status of the narrator and how she viewed life before and after seeing the prices of the toys in which also might have been a representation of so much more than imagined. I believe she had she struggled with opening up to people seeing as how she was an orphan. Miss Moore, was indeed so important to the lives of these young children and it was a particular knowing that she had with Sylvia. Perhaps she wanted to prepare her for what she could potentially do to change things in the future.
