Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

Toni Cade Bambara was the author of three short stories “Gorilla, My Love”, “Raymond's Run”, and “The Lesson”. Throughout these three short stories she wrote from the perspective of teen or young girls that were African American. Within these short stories the girls each learn a new lesson in life, that is sometimes harsh and hard to understand. Toni Cade Bambara wrote all from experience, and her work centers on the emerging identity of the black woman. Bambara’s stories also reflect on how life was for an African American girl and how sometimes they faced a lot of struggles. Each story is about the life a young, witty, resourceful and courageous girl who are just trying to find their place in society and in the world. Through the development of characters in her short stories, “Gorilla, My Love”, “Raymond’s Run”, and “The Lesson”, Bambara shows how experiences reveal societal truth. Bambara made a highly perspective means for exposing the contradictions of capitalist society. Hazel , the main character in “Gorilla, My Love”, is a young, African American, girl that is in love with her uncle but

In the story Sylvia is portrayed a girl that takes everything for granted. In the story Sylvia and her sister Sugar are taken to a very expensive store and are told to look around and look at the prices. As Sylvia is looking and walking around the store she kept her head filled thoughts such as “But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody”. (Bambara 74) Sylvis was keeping a thought in her head like that because she was ashamed. Her shame comes about when her sense of inferiority, of not belonging in such an expensive store. (Hangrove 6) The lady that took Sylvia and her sister to the store main purpose was to show them a highly perceptive means for exposing the differences of a capitalist society from poor society. (Willis