The lesson by Toni Cade Bambara is a narrative about children who, with the help of their teacher, learn a lesson about the social problems of society. The reader can see that children live in a bubble, not comprehending the daily challenges they and their parents must endure. Nevertheless, even after the trip to the expensive toy store, the children have different responses to such experiences. Sylvia, the narrative’s main character and narrator, is a young Black girl. She is a defiant youngster who takes pleasure in her individuality. Sylvia also struggles with rage, and it is first aimed towards the teacher, Miss Moore. However, as the story continues, she starts to better comprehend the teacher’s lessons on economic injustice and discrimination. The girl recognizes that specific individuals are prosperous while others, such as her own relatives, struggle. The last phrase of Sylvia can be quite meaningful: “But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin” (Bambara 96). It could mean that after the trip to the toy store, Sylvia will fight for her comfort and well-being in the future. Thus, the excursion was mind-changing, and Sylvia started to divert her rage away from Miss Moore and against the affluent toy store consumers. Sugar is Sylvia’s companion, and she is almost the complete opposite of her friend in the end. She and Sylvia appear to share the same interests and opinions at first, even their dislike for Miss Moore. However, Sugar begins to drift away from Sylvia as the novel progresses. It is initially seen when she touches the plastic sailboat at FAO Schwarz and subsequently when she speaks up on what she learned on the excursion to the toyshop. However, while Sylvia’s anger prevents her from successfully understanding and vocalizing her concerns, Sugar is ready to comprehend Miss Moore’s teaching […]
Daily Archives: February 16, 2022
In ”The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, the themes that the story develops are appearance, fairness, social class, embarrassment, and education. The story unfolds through a young African-American woman named Sylvia. Sylvia is a restless and very stubborn young woman who wants to take her life into her own hands. Although Sylvia has a very special character, despite stealing Miss Moore’s money, she has a good analytical mind and a strong sense of justice. This is reflected in her anger at the unequal treatment of the toy store and her comments about her mother taking advantage of Aunt Gretchen. The worst thing about her is that she’s always quick to criticize other people’s faults, but she seems to be particularly concerned with gullibility and hypocrisy. In ”The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Mercedes’ character is one of the children of the Harlem community that Miss Moore decides to accept as her protection. This role shows that she has more understanding and maturity than other children. Also, she behaves differently than others. According to Mercedes’ comments, her situation is somewhat encouraging because, unlike the other characters, her financial situation is a bit better.
In the short story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, the narrator allows insight into the realization of a child’s own poverty through various characters. One character, Mercedes, who has a somewhat more fortunate background represents a social class where hope is not a luxury. For her, the situation is less angering because, as we can learn through her reactions, her financial situation is slightly more fortunate than the rest of the characters’. It is not enough to get her out of their neighborhood but it still sufficiently affects the way she views her own poverty and her possibilities of getting a toy from FAO Schwarz. The narrator, Sylvia, however, is less optimistic. She is a smart girl, quick on her feet and seems to have a rather realistic understanding of life itself. That being said, the bliss of not having the most sorrowful parts of reality rubbed in one’s face is always sweet, therefore she is rather fed up with the forced reality check that having to visit the toy store is for her. She is angry at everything and everyone because, odds are, she understand the unfairness of it all more than any of her friends. Facing such disadvantage at life itself is a beyond heavy weight to have to carry around at 12.
Sylvia, the narrator, is hesitant to walk into the FAO toy store just from taking a glance at the prices of certain toys. “I could see me asking my mother for a $35 birthday clown…you wanna who that costs what? she’d say”. This quotes demonstrates the fact that Sylvia’s mother wouldn’t even think about buying a toy for that much money. Sylvia continues to lists things that could be bought for the price of $35, things that are more important than a toy such as bunk beds, rent, and bills. She is shocked that people would buy toys that cost so much money. On the other hand, Mercedes seemed to enjoy the trip to the toy store and even states she would like to revisit when she gets her birthday money. Unlike Sylvia, Mercedes seems to have the privilege to be able to afford such expensive toys and even states that her parents would by her anything if she asks for it. Which is why Sylvia and Mercedes had different experiences while in the toy store.
The story takes place in what some people might call the projects or the gusto but, in this case, it’s called the Slum by Miss Moore. Miss. Moore starts and finishes by telling them “What things cost and what their parents make and how money ain’t divided right in this country” which is already part of the lesson Miss. Moore is trying to come across. I feel that Miss. Moore kept an eye on Sylvia the most than Sugar, Junebug, Flyboy, Rosie and Mercedes because Miss. Moore wants to get the message through to Sylvia, plus Sylvia is the one who influences Sugar and the other kids. When they arrived on Fifth Avenue that was when Sylvia and Sugar realized that the society, they are surrounded by is nothing like the one they live in. To me, Sylvia might have been kind of intimidated by her surroundings on Fifth Avenue that’s why she hesitated to go into F.A.O Schwarz. “So I and Sugar turn the corner where the entrance is, but when we got there I kinda hung back” that was the line that gave me the impression. Sylvia Sugar and the rest of the kids get a taste of society on Fifth Avenue, but it was missed. Moore gives them the chance to experience it for themselves. Society is often perceived as a rich and fashionable social class depending on how you want to put it, but to the characters in the story of “The Lesson” They are naive, they are experiencing something new, and it would be understandable if they didn’t get Miss.
Hello, my name is Daniel Machover and I am a business administration major. This course is one of the requirements that I will need for a specific job that I am trying to get and also it counts as a graduation requirement for me. After graduation, I plan on trying to start my own business and also helping my friends with their businesses. Some of them already have very prosperous social media influencing pages but just need someone to help manage their schedules and finances. That is where I hope to come in and be of use to them. I also do look forward to what I’ll be learning this semester. When I was younger and had more free time, I used to love reading novels and science fiction literature. It was one of, if not my favorite, hobbies as a kid, and the chance to do it again in college at a higher level really excites me.
This story takes place in Harlem, I am going to compare to of the children being Sylvia and Mercedes. Sylvia seems to be the leader of the group. When she says to do something, they do. When the go to F.A.O, Schwarz toy store they are amazed by everything in the window. As the look at the window MS Moore pushes them to enter the store, Sylvia and Sugar just stand at the door as if they couldn’t move or enter the store. It is like Sylvia is out of her comfort zone and didn’t know how to react. They are pushed aside by the other children to get in. Once inside Sylvia is just looking and seeing the prices on how people would spend money on this stuff and acted like nothing. Mercedes on the other hand acted refine and spoke pleasant and was saying how she had things the others didn’t. Slyvia had a disdain for Ms. Moore and couldn’t wait to leave whereas Mercedes was enjoying being there.
“Salvation” by Langston Hughes left a bitter taste in my mouth after realizing that his family putting him on the spot and forcing him to lie on the stand indirectly caused him to fall away from religion later on in life. I’m not religious but it’s kind of sad to hear and I’m sure these kinds of situations happen a lot more often than people want to admit, I really enjoyed reading this one because it reminds me of when I got baptized, I was waiting for something cool to happen then as well.
The two characters I am going to compare are Flyboy and Mercedes and their responses to visiting the FAO Schwarz toy store. Flyboy is always calling someone out and ends up being wrong or he will cut someone off to jump to another topic. He can be sarcastic too. Mercedes is more so not like the other characters, she’s not I guess you can say disrespectful in the way she responds to a question. She seems to talk a lot too and has a bit more knowledge than the other kids. Flyboy does not seem to understand why some of the toys are the price that they are and he makes remarks, Mercedes seems more open and not as quick-witted as Flyboy. Mercedes seems more mature too, when they were all asked what they thought of the toy store Mercedes says she would like to go back there when she gets her birthday money, and Flyboy disregards the question altogether saying he’d like to shower since it was a tiring day for him.
