In the story “The Lesson” By Toni Cade Bambara, a group of kids take a trip to the toy store with Miss Moore, their adult supervisor. On their way to the store, Miss Moore is lecturing them about life as usual, and just like every other lesson Miss Moore tries to drill in their heads, it goes through one ear and out the other, especially Sugar and Sylvia. When they get to the toy store, they window shop and marvel at the expensive toys until they lay their eyes on the $1000 toy boat. At this point, their astonishment turns into confusion. They ask who even purchases these toys when there are cheaper alternatives. Sugar starts to compare the price of the toy to how much her family spends on food and realizes it’s not even close to the price of a meaningless toy. Sylvia is almost uncomfortable with this harsh truth as she tries everything in her power to stop the discourse between Sugar and Miss Moore. Earlier that day Miss Moore tried to tell the kids about how the current state of the economy makes it unfair for people like them to get ahead, and since Sylvia dislikes Miss Moore, she hates the fact that a lesson is actually starting to resonate with her when she initially disagreed with her theories, but sugar was more understanding.
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