“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara is a narrative told by a young black girl named Sylvia. The main theme of the story is social inequality for African-Americans. Miss Moore is an educated laby who lives in the same neighborhood that Sylvia lives in. Miss Moore’s intelligence and education allows her to take the children out for educated lessons. One day Miss Moore takes the children out to the city to visit the toy store F.A.O Schwartz‚ in an attempt to show the children something that they would
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Toni Cade Bambara’s short story‚ "The Lesson‚" takes place in inner city New York. The main character‚ Sylvia‚ is a fourteen year old African American girl‚ who tells the story in a first person narrative. Sylvia mentions Miss Moore‚ a teacher who felt that it was her duty to help underprivileged children learn. Miss Moore felt there was a lesson to learn at FAO Schwartz‚ a very expensive‚ upper class toy store in downtown Manhattan. The reason Miss Moore brings the children to FAO Schwartz is captured
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The Lesson is considered by the Literary Canon to be a wonderful work of fiction because of its use of language‚ humanistic theme‚ symbolism‚ and non-genre plot. Two essential elements that add to the depth and enhance a reader’s comprehension of The Lesson are Bambara’s use of symbolism and theme. The Lesson takes place in New York’s inner city. The fictional story begins with a group of poor‚ uneducated‚ lower class city kids standing in front of a mailbox‚ preparing themselves for another day
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not afford anything in there. The trip helped Sylvia realize that she could be more than what she was. I bet it gave her many thoughts of what she could be and what she deserved in life. Miss Moore is trying to teach them various lessons in this story. One of the lessons is that poor people need to get up and work for what they deserve “poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie”. She wanted them to understand that they needed to get out of the dump they lived in and fight for a
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The short story‚ “The Lesson‚” by Toni Cade Bambara‚ portrays one of the most interesting themes in literature‚ the initiation story. The story illustrates a group of kids who live in the slums in New York city. They are unaware of their environment‚ and Ms. More is conscious of this situation. In a basis‚ she teaches the kids life lessons to help them strive for success and attempt to better themselves and their situations. In this occasion‚ she brings them to a toy story‚ but not just a common
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Within The Lesson‚ written by Toni Cade Bambara‚ the question of inequality and poverty arises in response to the juxtaposition of the two neighborhoods in the story‚ Harlem and Manhattan. Bambara introduces children as the most important occupants of a typical New York slum‚ mainly in regards to their ability to escape the constraints of their own environment. As highlighted in the story‚ the elders of this African American community have accepted the social inequality and the economic conditions
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Essay on The Lesson A short story by Toni Cade Bambara 01 May 2007 On Action and Change Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson" revolves around a young black girl’s struggle to come to terms with the role that economic injustice‚ and the larger social injustice that it constitutes‚ plays in her life. Sylvia‚ the story’s protagonist‚ initially is reluctant to acknowledge that she is a victim of poverty. Far from being oblivious of the disparity between the rich and the poor‚ however‚ one might say
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Toni Cade Bambara uses her story “The Lesson” to point out that America is still not an equal society because of the different income level between rich people and poor people. She considers that the different income levels people have build up the different environment they live in‚ and where people are born may cause who they are if Americans keep ignoring the unequal facts appear around them. (253-259) Bambara’s story gives readers a good view from poor people to look at the differences between
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Jura Kim Eng 102 The Lesson Bambara’s “The Lesson” takes place during the 1960s and focuses on elements of economic inequality and education. A voluntary‚ unpaid instructor‚ Miss Moore‚ aims to teach an invaluable lesson to several impoverish students living under the bottom class of economy. In an effort to encourage their academic development‚ Miss Moore exposes her students to reasons for education while shining light on her statement‚ “Where are we are is who we are‚ but it don’t necessarily
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children who have to experience the real life around them. The short story “The Lesson” by Toni Carde Bambara‚ shows seven poor children who experience where they are a level of economy the hard way. Even though it hurts for the seven children to force the lesson down their throats‚ such lesson become the lesson that is necessary and valuable for them to change their life in the future. Bambara’s short story "The Lesson‚ starts out with seven children: Sylvia‚ Sugar‚ Junebug‚ Fat Butt‚ Mercedes‚ Rosie
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