The astonishment in the children’s faces when they tour the toy shop in the company of Miss Moore works to show that they are from a poorer background. When going through the store reciting the exorbitant toy prices, they wonder if people could spend that much on mere decorations. In one instance, the protagonist asks, “Hand-crafted sailboat of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred ninety-five dollars?” (Bambara 4). The shock in her query is critical in portraying the less fortunate situation of the slum children. The kids cannot understand how a person would buy a toy for approximately one thousand dollars. What they do not know is that they belong to a lower economic cadre, whereas the whites live in a higher social class.
This tour changes Sylvia into a new person committed to achieving economic success in life after learning about the dire economic situation of her community. Due to this reality, she thinks deeply of their wanting economic condition, wondering what she could do to enjoy the things she encountered in the toy shop. For instance, she asks herself “What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it?” (6). These endless queries mark the start of a reality check about her situation in life. As the narration ends, she portrays some salient traits of a person determined to flee herself from the economic bondage to a material-sufficiency future. She says “We start down the block, and she gets ahead, which is O.K. by me cause I’m going to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through.” (7). The remark shows that the tour is successful since it Sylvia’s mindset towards focusing on how she can change her economic situation for the better in the future.
