The author and literary work that I am focusing on for my research essay is Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson.” My thesis statement is: In “The Lesson,” Bambara uses the setting of a toy store in Manhattan to illustrate the economic and social inequality between the privileged and marginalized characters, highlighting the barriers to social mobility that exist for lower-class Black individuals in America and emphasizing the power of consumerism in perpetuating inequality and the myth of the American Dream.
To support my thesis, I plan to use secondary sources that analyze the themes of economic and social inequality, racism, and consumerism in Bambara’s work. I am also interested in exploring the historical context of the story, particularly the impact of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement on the experiences of lower-class Black individuals in America during the 1960s.
I have explored the BMCC databases JSTOR and Project MUSE to date and have found several articles that analyze the themes of economic and social inequality in Bambara’s work. One article in particular, “Toni Cade Bambara’s Use of African American Vernacular English in “The Lesson”” by Valerie Babb, analyzes Bambara’s use of language in the story to convey the experiences of lower-class Black individuals. This article will be particularly useful in supporting my analysis of the language Bambara uses in “The Lesson” to highlight the stark contrast between the privileged and the marginalized characters.
3 thoughts on “Week 10 Discussion Tony Ng Wu”
I love your thesis statement because it’s powerful and it’s a perfect analysis of what the story is really about. I’m interested by the fact that you also want to explore the impact of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement on the experiences of lower-class Black individuals in America during the 1960s and how that will relate to your overall analysis of the story. Also, I think the language Bambara uses definitely serves to highlight the contrast between the privileged and the marginalized characters.
Intrigued by the fact****
Tony, your thesis statement is too long and goes far beyond the bounds of the story. You need to narrow down your thesis to focus on a literary element in the story. This is literature class, not sociology or history class. You secondary source should be a literary critique of the story, not a broad study of The Black Power Movement or the Civil Rights movement.