1. Miss Moore is a college educated African American woman who lives amongst the poor and teach their youth. The lesson Miss Moore wants the children to learn is about wealth and poverty and the facts of social inequality. Miss Moore is stimulating the children’s critical thinking skills. Taking the narrator Sylvia and the other children to a toy store where the toys are sold for money that their families could live off. It is clear that she wishes to motivate them and open their minds to the world and their potential.
2. The indication of the children’s socioeconomic status is where they are from, their financial status, and how they are raised. Sylvia, the narrator, is influenced by these factors. It is important for the reader to understand their economic status early in the story because the narrator, Sylvia has had a socioeconomic awakening after going to the toy store. She lives in the slums and her parents are nearly never around.
3.
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They looked in the windows of the toy store before they went in and examined each toy and noticed the prices. Only the very wealthy can shop in F.A.O. Schwartz. Social differences is the reason they hesitated to enter the store. She was intimidated by her surroundings. The store separated them from the people that shop their, which is Caucasian people.
4. During the trip to F.A.O. Schwartz toy store, Sylvia feels as much an outsider as she did when she and Sugar crashed the Catholic church. The children’s behavior, their way of thinking, and their sense of humor contributes to the theme of the story.
5. Sylvia realizes Miss Moore’s lesson, but she rebels. I believe her stubbornness and anger tells the reader she will hold herself back from being all that she can be.
6. Bambara creates the mood of the early 1970s by the urban culture in her characters and dialogue. The children speak of how “crazy” white folks are.
7. Prior to Sylvia taking a taxi, she had no concept of money. Miss Moore is trying to teach Sylvia the value of