Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson
Toni Cade Bambara's The Lesson was a story told through the thoughts and wisdom of Sylvia, a young girl who lives in a lower class city. Throughout the story, Bambara used a combination of symbolism and reality techniques. While a young girl tells the story, he demonstrates how smart Sylvia is in the world she lives in - having to tell strong languages she has come to learn from her environment, and yet being able to show depth of wisdom about the societal conditions people faces (specifically, when Sylvia was brought to a shop of expensive toys).
The Lesson is a literary piece perhaps intended to build good comprehension and perception to the readers. Through the character of Sylvia, Bambara was able to achieve this. Sylvia was characterized as a girl who may be young and living in a quite unpleasant setting, but has the awareness about…...
ambara, 1981) the author Toni Cade ambara presents, at the superficial level, from a child's perspective, a visit to the F.A. O Schwarz Toy Emporium in Manhattan, of the protagonist and her friends led by the resident gadfly, busboy and self-appointed educator Miss Moore. The protagonist Sylvia, and her comrades -- Sugar, Junior, Rosie Giraffe, Mercedes, Flyboy, ig utt, Q.T. And Junebug are African-American children growing up in the poorer neighborhoods of New York.
In order that their children might imbibe some culture and learning, the parents willingly "give their" children over to Miss Moore. On this particular day, they are bundled into two taxis into downtown Manhattan. After some window shopping, they are led into the store. The children realize immediately that any of the store's inventories is way beyond their economic means. Sylvia actually considers various necessities that her mother might prioritize rather than purchase a 35 dollar…...
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Bibliography
Bambara, Toni Cade. "The Lesson." Gorilla, My Love. 1st Vintage Books New York: Vintage Books, 1981. 177.
Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara tells the story of a college-educated woman who moves to the African-American neighborhood of the unnamed story-teller, her friend Sugar, and her friends and cousins. To the children it seems that Miss Moore puts on air, speaking "proper" English, always dressed as if she were going to church, and taking the children on educational field trips. The children resent it; school is out, and they want to spend the summer going to the movies or to the pool.
While Miss Moore organizes all kinds of outings for the children, Miss Moore herself is the lesson. She is the concrete example to the children that they can do well in school, they can go to college, and, by inference, that they can get a good-paying job. Miss Moore has enough money to not only pay her rent and provide for her necessities but to share experiences…...
Toni Cade Bambara's short story "The Lesson," a newcomer to the neighborhood named Miss Moore, a woman obviously better off than the rest of the families in the neighborhood, takes children on a field trip into midtown Manhattan, where they visit FAO Schwarz and gradually realize that some people have a great deal more money than they do. Miss Moore is trying to teach the children to make sure they understand that wealth is not evenly divided but that they can have more if they work for it. The incidents in the story, narrated by an unnamed child, show that the narrator's best friend, Sugar, has begun to learn the lesson Miss Moore had to offer them, but the unnamed narrator may not have.
The lesson in economy is emphasized by the name of the teacher, Miss "Moore." She dresses better than others in the neighborhood, and has money to…...
For example, Sylvia takes offense when Miss Moore says they live in the slums. Bambara writes, "And then she gets to the part about we all poor and live in the slums which I don't feature. And I'm ready to speak on that, but she steps out in the street and hails two cabs just like that" (Bambara). Sylvia and her friends are not afraid to talk back to grown-ups, express their opinions, and be sarcastic to each other. To make them meek, mild, and educated would ruin the meaning of the story. Just as Miss Moore has to be a certain way, the children have to be a certain way for the story to be effective. There has to be conflict between the children and Miss Moore for the ultimate "lesson" of the story to sink in. Sylvia learns it, she just will not acknowledge it, and that…...
Lesson and "Hunters in the Snow"
Moments of realization are predominant in the short stories, "The Lesson," by Toni Cade Bambara and "Hunters in the Snow," by Tobias olff. Both stories reveal an element of human nature by focusing on individuals that we can believe in when they find themselves in difficult situations. As a result, each author illustrates how different individuals can choose to solve their problems when confronted with uncomfortable situations.
For example, in "The Lesson," we watch Sylvia as she tries to deal with the fact that she is poor. Her situation is a positive one, although it causes her discomfort in the beginning. Because she is young, she does not readily understand the lesson that Miss Moore was trying to teach her and the others. For instance, we see Sylvia realize the depth of her poverty as the groups enters the toy store. She says that she…...
Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson"
Theme in Bambara's "The Lesson"
Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson" is a short work of fiction about a group of children in a working class African-American neighborhood who learn a valuable lesson. Through her descriptions and use of dialect, Bambara establishes the nature of her characters, especially the narrator, Sylvia, and the outsider, Miss Moore. Bambara then places the characters in a situation that showcases the chasm between the children, who live in poverty, and the world just blocks away from their homes on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The distinctions the author draws between her characters and those with money create the story's theme. Yet, Bambara does not let it rest there; she makes the message clear to readers that the children in the story can improve their lot in life.
The narrator and primary character is Sylvia. She is a young lady with an attitude…...
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Works Cited
Bambara, Toni Cade. "The Lesson."
Hargrove, Nancy D. "Youth in Toni Cade Bambara's Gorilla, My Love." Women Writers of the Contemporary South (1984): 215-32. Gale. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.
Korb, Rena. "Critical Essay on "The Lesson" Short Stories for Students 12 (2001). Gale. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
A&P and the Lesson
The short stories A&P and The Lesson John Updike and Toni Cade Bambara explore the perceptions of young people as they stand at the threshold of adulthood. Updike's story, set in a grocery store in a small New England town, is about Sammy, a young white male cashier. Bambara's takes place in New York City outside the famous F.A.O. Schwartz Department Store, and is told from the perspective of Sylvia, a young African-American female.
A&P was published in 1961 at a time when the beliefs and values of the status quo were beginning to be questioned by the next generation. Rock n Roll was relatively new and the beat generation was a precursor to the hippie movement. The counter culture was yet to go main stream.
Briefly, Sammy is working at the cash register when three young ladies came into the store in their bathing suits. While parading about…...
aymond's un" by Toni Cade Bambara [...] what Squeaky learns in the story, and how her life will be different because of her experiences in the story. Squeaky learns many things in "aymond's un," from dedication and perseverance to how to gain respect. Squeaky is wise beyond her years in many ways, so some lessons are beyond her. However, her most important lesson is really about friendship, and how real friendship is not based on fear, but on respect and mutual ideals and goals.
Hazel or "Squeaky" is a girl with an attitude who takes care of her "not right" brother aymond, and exudes confidence. She says "no one can beat me and that's all there is to it" (Bambara 21). However, this confidence, and her overprotective attitude about aymond do not win her many friends. She learns dedication and perseverance can lead to success. She says aymond's playing is…...
These girls are not bad, they are just growing up and testing their limits, like all young people do. They rebel because they want to see how far they can push adults, and where the limits are. They also rebel because they are strong and strong willed, and they believe in themselves.
These girls could be sisters, because they are very much alike. The stories end differently, but they both end on a happy note. Squeaky learns how to make friends and respect other people. She thinks, "It's about as real a smile as girls can do for each other, considering we don't practice real smiling every day, you know, cause maybe we too busy being flowers or fairies or strawberries instead or something honest and worthy of respect...you know...like being people" (Bambara). She learns a lesson, and so does Jing-mei, who learns to respect her mother and how her…...
Justice
The singular theme that stands out in all three texts of The Stolen Party, The Garden Party and The Lesson is the negative impact of class distinctions. In Heker's The Stolen Party, we see the painful awakening to the realities of class distinction of young 9-year-old Rosaura who believes that she is completely accepted as a friend of Luciana, the daughter of her mother's employer. It is only when Senora Ines offers her money instead of a leaving present at Luciana's birthday party that she wakes up to reality and receives a blow to her idealism and pride. Heker goes onto make an even more powerful comment on social class distinctions when she concludes her narrative with Senora Ines standing with her hand outstretched and the observation, "...didn't dare draw it back...shatter an infinitely delicate balance." (Heker, 123)
Bambara, too, makes a statement on the negative effects of social boundaries that…...
Teenagers usually exhibit a mixture of childishness and maturity as they evolve into adults. Often a striking event or experience will catalyze an adolescent's intellectual growth. Toni Cade Bambara's short story "The Lesson" fuses the dual themes of economic disparity with coming of age. A group of inner city minorities observe the exuberance of Fifth Avenue, triggering feelings of anger in the narrator. Sylvia, however, retains her self-centered childishness while she witnesses her best friends' maturation. Sugar is the character that truly comes of age in Bambara's "The Lesson."
The story opens with insight into the narrator's peer group dynamic. Here are teenagers who still cling to their mischievousness and childishness. Sylvia, the narrator, is especially put off by Miss Moore's attempt to instill in the teens morality and life lessons. Because Miss Moore is an educated woman, the community bestows respect on her, and she serves as a surrogate teacher.…...
Miss Moore is trying to teach the children the value of a dollar. In today's society, that is a very tough lesson for our youth. Many teenagers think nothing of spending $175.00 on a pair of shoes. That is, until they have to actually pay for them themselves. Children need to learn from a young age: nothing is for free and one needs to work hard, go to school, and make a good living to survive in today's world. That is all Miss Moore is trying to teach these children.
The poem "Golden Retrievals" is written from the point-of-view of man's best friend, a dog. It is a dog's way of seeing the world. Golden retrievers are vey high maintenance dogs, that are very much people-pleasers. In this poem, the dog explains his day when he goes for a walk. He loves running and chasing balls, fetching sticks and sticking…...
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Bibliography
1. DiYanni, Robert (2007) Literature: Reading Fiction and Poetry. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Publishing
In keeping with the theme of individuality highlighted above, each of the main characters in the assigned readings struggle to define his or her identity in terms of the dichotomies in the society they observe. Each point-of-view differs according to the person's stage of life and background, and each person seeks to establish an identity by means of the cultural and social tools they have at their disposal. At times these tools comprise family members, friends, or teachers, and at others they are something much more focused and personal, such as the intellect or determination.
Sylvia, the main character of "The Lesson," establishes her identity in terms of the financial contrast between her own social construct and those who can spend $1,000 on a toy. For her, the concept of financial security provides a platform for constructing an identity. Her determination to contend with the rich for a place in the…...
" (Pettersson, 2006) Oral and written verbal art languages are both used for the purpose of information communication as well as information presentation with the reader and listener receiving an invitation to consider the information.
The Narrative & the Symbolic
The work of Abiola Irele (2001) entitled: "The African Imagination: Literature in Africa & the lack Diaspora" states that Hampate a "...incorporates the essential feature of the oral narrative at significant points in his work in order to reflect their appropriateness to situations and for special effects. Their conjunction with the narrative procedures sanctioned by the Western model thus enlarges their scope and give them an unusual resonance. At the same time, although he writes with conscious reference to this Western model, he does not feel so constrained by the framework of its conventions that he is unable to go beyond its limitations. His departures from the established codes of the Western…...
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Bibliography
Aggarwal, Kusum. Amadou Hampate Ba et l'africanisme. De la recherche anthropologique a l'exercice de la fonction auctoriale. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1999.
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