Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”, readers read through the perspective of a young black girl named Sylvia. She, along with her cousin and a few friends, are taken on educational field trips with an educated African American woman named Ms. Moore. Sylvia believes she just wants to prevent them from having any fun and finds Ms. Moore to be odd person because she makes it clear that she wants an involvement in their lives. It is an involvement that is seen as a total nuisance. Yet as their teacher, she tries to give them an education that is hard for them to achieve due to their families’ financial status and how the color of their skin affects their position in the world. The story begins when Sylvia talks about a day in which Ms. Moore

However, they are held back and cannot put their mind in focus to just open the door. Sylvia recalls a time where she and her cousin were dared to crash the catholic church. When they got in, they could not muster up the courage to do what they originally planned. The fact that they were not raised with that religion made them feel like outsiders and allowed them to realize how they were badly out of their element. The girls had nothing in common with the people that sat inside and that is how they feel trying to go into a store. They could not share their prayers that people believe in the church and they cannot share the same goods that others their age can afford in the store. The store is a foreign world and being exposed to the unknown prevented her from having the confidence to open the door. The rest of the children do not ponder too hard about going in and do not think of it twice. They all tumble through the entrance to look at the rest of the toys. Sugar and Sylvia are being cautious and trying not to touch anything, just as they were when they found themselves surrounded by holy instruments in the church. As Sylvia is shamefully walking through the mazes, she sees a toy clown that does tricks priced at $35. She says that she could herself asking her mother for it as a birthday gift. In response, she is sure her mother would be informing her that that amount of money could be spent on getting new bunk

Moore asks the kids about the thoughts they have over the store. Sugar replies, “You know, Miss Moore, I don't think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs.” She tells the students to picture how someone has the money to meet such a grand expense for only a toy and how another family must spend that expense for survival requirements. Sugar also comments, “"... this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don't it?” Sylvia becomes even more angry than she was before. She does not like touching this subject because she has begun to understand what this lesson consists of. This is what Ms. Moore wants them to recognize the reality of the world. She aimed towards provoking curiosity, envy, and anger itself in hopes of demonstrating that there is a path to be in this social class. To reveal the disadvantages that they battle and inspire them to chase after an aspiration that could alter their life through equal opportunities They do not have to encounter a future that is not different from the present. They do not have to live the way they are accustomed into their