I would pick Sylvia and Sugar because they are the most appearance in the story and two and the first two out of three mentioned first. In the Schwarz toy store Sylvia(main character) was the first one who read the “Hand-crafted sailboat of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred ninety-five dollars.” From my understanding, Syliva is like a leader in this team(Sugar, Mercedes, Flyboy, Junebug, Rosie Giraffe, and etc…) because in the scene Miss Moore hands Sylvia the cash and ask her to pay the driver “five-dollar bill and tells me to calculate 10 percent tip for the driver” this tells you that Miss Moore trusted Sylvia like a child adult. Sugar is a very funny girl because her first strong appearance was in the Schwarz toy store to saying if we can steal “Can we steal?” Sugar asks very serious like she’s getting the ground rules squared away before she plays.” a very funny and unforgettable line, shows she’s still a child.
Daily Archives: February 20, 2022
For this discussion I chose the characters “Flyboy” and “Mercedes” as they appear to be on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their response to the high prices of toys. For one thing, I noticed how Mercedes attempted to knock the poorer kids down a notch by mocking the improvised toys they resorted to. There also appeared to be a tension amongst the group in regard to Mercedes prompted by her jaded and inconsiderate comments. Meanwhile, Flyboy observes silently for the entire time until they enter the store. Flyboy carries this mature, old soul personality that shows that he’s been exposed to the harsh realities and injustices of life perhaps far too soon. That being the case, He has a deeper understanding of the value of a dollar and allows him to truly see the absurdity Miss Moore had been trying to show them. And the cherry on top is how while everyone was learning a deep lesson Mercedes was just concerned about when her father is going to buy the toy for her.
While reading The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara the two characters I chose to compare their experience by visiting the FAO Schwarz toy store were Sugar and Miss Moore. Sugars experience compared to Miss Moore was very different because once Sugar arrived to the toy store she began to create ideas on how she can be able to steal certain things from the store and get away with it meanwhile Miss Moore is the instructor and she’s trying to keep careful of what they do so that they do not get in trouble. While Sugar was going around the store screaming at the toys she wants very bad Miss Moore caught up to her trying to make sure she was not doing anything she’s not supposed to but Sugar did not want to hear any of It and hoped she would leave her sight already. The comparison I got from the two characters was that Sugar was just trying to cause trouble and Miss Moore was going around trying to stop it from happening.
In, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia and Sugar have two very opposite reactions to the toy store. Sugar comes to a very astute realization about the inequalities of democracy. This can first be seen in her line, “Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it” (Bambara 6). In this line Sugar begins to understand the reality of the difference between the rich and the poor. She also shows an openness to learning that her peers do not have. Sylvia learned in a more emotional way which is seen right before they entered the shop. She begins to have a deep-seated feeling of shame and disgust while in the shop. This feeling allows her to understand the line between her and the kids who can actually shop at the store. Her inferiority also comes out as she starts to take out her feelings on her friends.
Langston Hughes’s “Salvation” begins with a twelve-year-old Langston delighted to be saved by Jesus. According to Langston’s aunt, when you were rescued, “you saw a light and something happened to you on the inside!” Langston believed his aunt and the stories he had heard from others about what happened to those who are saved. He waited peacefully in the church for Jesus to approach him. Langston waited a long time to see Jesus, and he stood there and watched as all the young people rose to their feet and were saved. He was the final person remaining who waited for Jesus to come and save him, but he eventually gave up hope. He recognized he would not be saved and was embarrassed, but he rose and lied. Langston was moved to tears by the revelation that he had lied to his aunt and misled the congregation about his salvation. Langston, twelve, went from being overjoyed to be saved by Jesus to questioning whether there was really a Jesus anymore.
In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia and Rosie Girafee both had two different point of views upon arriving the FAO Schawrz toy store. When everyone first arrived to the doors of the toy store with Miss Moore, Sylvia was nervous about entering, waiting for sugar to lead the way. Meanwhile, Rosie Girafee shoves her way in along with Mercedes and Big Butt. Contiuing the short story, the kids are admiring the toys, knowingly they are unable to afford them. Sylvia becomes jealous over the fact that Sugar runs a finger over the boat, wanting to even strike her or anyone in general. Meanwhile, Rosie Girafee is looking at the price tags on the different items in the shop and claiming white people are crazy due to the fact that the prices were so immensely high at the toy shop. Rosie left only skimming the surface of the real issue.
