While an AI generated essay on “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara would be about socio-economic and broad social issues, I found the narrator, Sylvia, and the start of her growth to be more interesting. In the beginning of the story, Sylvia found Miss Moore to be an annoyance. She hated the way Miss Moore looked, and the constant lessons she would try to teach the children. Sylvia called the teachings boring, and would much rather have gone to the pool. I interpreted this as Sylvia normalizing the way life was, and not caring about Miss Moore’s lessons. Once they headed to the store, Sylvia’s behavior changed. Once the realization hit her that people spend more money on pointless toys than her family spends on life essentials, she finally started giving it some thought. However, it wasn’t a complete 180 from before. She shut down when Miss Moore specifically asked her what she learned, and didn’t wanna hear Sugar realizing it too. It’s almost as if Sylvia didn’t want to believe what she learned, and was taking it out on the people around her. After all, Sylvia was a child, and growth takes time. I found the first step in her path to seeking a better life to be the most fascinating part, as it’s subtle change was realistic. As for the title of the essay, I think “The First Stage of Grief” is fitting, because Sylvia was essentially in denial of her reality even though she knew better.
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One thought on “Jakob Yacker Week 3 Discussion”
Jakob, your proposed title is very interesting. And I think your focus here is also an interesting one in its exploration of Sylvia’s evolving comprehension of what Miss Moore is actually showing her. It is one of the most fascinating facets of Sylvia’s development, I think, that she resists the truth at first and is angry at Miss Moore for breaking into her bubble but in the end, internalizes the lessons and decides that she is going to change her life.