In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade it discusses a lady by the name of Ms.Moore that take the children in her neighborhood on a trip and teach them a “lesson” which was showing them the socioeconomic difference that they are not used to. Teaching them this lesson is very important because it causes the children to be aware of how unequal money distribution is. Now prior to this lesson the children were not too fond of Ms.Moore. However, what I want to highlight is how the use of language and how it helps develop the story. The language and use of AAVE give the story a sense of familiarity and relatability to me because we can see how close minded the narrator was originally to her eventually grasping the lesson at hand. The narrator uses insults and explicit language to get her irritation across which helps the readers understand the narrators emotions and annoyance. The title I would give this essay is “AAVE and Economic Disparity”.
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2 thoughts on “Lucille L. Discussion 4”
Hi Lucille. I agree with you! I liked that you bringed the use of language that the narrator of this story used to develop itself. I also agree when you said that this language helps us as readers to understand how close minden those kids were too. I thought the same when we were reading the story. The language is very explicit and in some ways a characteristic of the place where these kids lived (which is Harlem I believe). About your title, very accurate with what happened in this story, it is a good title in my opinion.
Lucille, yes, this idea of African American vernacular would make a great topic for an essay. Yes, it might touch on socio-economic issues, but there is lots to say just about the language itself and how Sylvia wields it. She is a smart, witty, sarcastic one, really good with verbal irony.