In the article “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, There are two characters that have different personalities and experiences when it comes to the F.O.A store. One character is Mercedes and the other is Sylvia. These two characters have both visited the F.A.O schwarz store and different ideas on how it was. The F.O.A is an expensive store that sell high priced toys. Sylvia was close to the poverty bracket and only one was surprised that there are toys that are this expensive. Sylvia was thinking about the toys and how one toy clown was $35 and she was saying that she can do so much with that for her family like visit her grand daddy Nelson in the country. But with Mercedes she couldn’t wait to get into the store and come back to buy something with her birthday money. These 2 characters have different morals because Sylvia would want to use the money for her family when Mercedes would just want to buy toys. Mercedes was interested and asked the employees of the shop questions about the toys. As you can tell Mercedes has more money than Sylvia or Mercedes is just not responsible with money.
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4 thoughts on “Justin John Discussion 4”
Yes, it is clear Mercedes comes from an upper-class family, she has things the other students don’t have, like a desk. Mercedes isn’t bothered by the expensive toys. This isn’t the case for Sylvia, because as you mentioned she comes from a lower-class family and is clearly taken back from the price tags and she thinks that there are better ways to spend money. Sylvia and Mercedes are juxtaposed against each other to show the level of economic inequality between the children.
I agree with your point, in the article each kid seems to be in a different state of maturity, Sugar was able to notice the unfairness of the democracy that we had since not everyone had the same opportunity to rise in society and they were trapped in the small neighborhood they grew up in. Of course most of the kids were all trying to just buy new toys they saw for themselves, but Sylvia and Sugar were different from the rest.
Justin, yes, we can see the differences in Mercedes and Sylvia with respect to their economic situation. You make a good point too when you point out that the girls have different values and very different ideas about what money means and what it can do. But what is the difference in the way the two characters receive Miss Moore’s “lesson?”
Yes, I also agree that Mercedes has more things than the other students and seems to come from a family with more money than the others. I also said the same about Mercedes saying that she also seems to be the smart one in the group. I did not write about Sylvia but I can also agree that she seems more considerate with the money, when she says that she can use that money to visit her grandad or just use it for her family.