The short story ‘’The Lesson’’ by Toni Cade Bambara brought me many reflections of my childhood, as I also grew up very financially limited, and in an emerging country. Therefore, as a child I’d usually get upset for not understanding why I could not have the toys I’d seen on the TV advertisements, or at my trips to the mall with my mom. However, as time passed and I started to enter my teenager years, my family started to grow financially and we could finally afford the things we wanted. Based on that, from all the eight kids that Miss Moore had taken on the toy store, the ones that called my attention and that I was able to emphasize the most were Mercedes and Sugar.
Mercedes presented herself as someone who had a different lifestyle from the other teenagers. She was the only one who had a studying space with a desk, and stationary itens on a box. Also, Mercedes didn’t seem surprised by the price tag on the toys, instead she seemed hopeful that she would have money enough to come back and pick something for herself as a birthday gift. In addition, Mercedes seemed to be the only one who did not understand the purpose that Miss Moore was trying to reach by taking them to the store, and the reason for that is because she was financially privileged enough to not need to.
Meanwhile, Sugar seemed to be the most upset about the prices, or on the fact that her family was not financially able to provide such things for her. Sugar manifested her incomprehension about wealth and social inequality as rage towards Mercedes, the system and Miss Moore. Moreover, one could argue that the reason why Sugar resented Miss Moore so much was a way to project her insecurities since Miss Moore had gone to college and was different from the people on her social circle. These reasons are shown in many ways, for example when she and Sylvia wonders how much her family could buy with $35 dollars, or when she decided to ask Miss Moore how much a real boat costs. In contrast with Mercedes, Sugar did learn a lesson from the trip to the toy store — even though she wanted to unconsciously deny it.
Finally, we see that the difference between Mercedes and Sugar was on the privilege that one had, and the other one did not. And how inequality affects us all, despite the age.
3 thoughts on “Hayra Fabri Guimaraes, Discussion 4”
Hayra, I like your choice of characters here—Mercedes and Sugar. Mercedes learns nothing from this excursion to the toy store, except perhaps that she wants to come back again. Sugar realizes some very practical things. She realizes the depth of economic equality in the U.S. and questions what “democracy” means as long as this disparity exists. It’s Sylvia who has an even deeper response, but I know you are focusing on Sugar and Mercedes.
You’re right. Sylvia definitely had a much deeper view of their existence in a capitalist society and democracy.
I feel like Sugar, meanwhile, reacted with rage and lack of understanding but at the same time a certain inquietation about the subject.
Thank you for your output, Prof!
Hey Hayra I enjoyed reading your response a lot what stood out to me the most was how you compared the toy store experience to one of your own experiences as well. I also can relate to what you wrote about Sugar because I had the same idea for her too as she was not able to afford much or anything in the store so she tried to come up with certain solutions that would benefit her in some sort of way.