Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

Toni Cade Bambara is an African American woman who lived in the United States from 1939- 1995. The particular circumstance in which Bambara grew up put strenuous stressors on her personality due to the fact that the United States was extremely prejudice during the twentieth century. These character alterations appear throughout virtually all of her writings and depict the differences between whites, who dominated the upper-class, and blacks, who lived in poverty a majority of the time. “The Lesson” is a short story that is a portion of a greater set of stories called Gorilla, My Love, written in 1972. The plot of “The Lesson” is driven by a summer field trip headed by an older lady who lived in the neighborhood, Miss Moore, who took the responsibility

In the given situation, the neighborhood kids are thought to be underprivileged and inhabiting what would be considered lower-class citizens. Miss Moore, however, moved into the community after having attended a college and obtaining a degree, and took it upon herself to educate the children so that they would not have to spend the rest of their lives in their current predicament. An author for BookRags wrote a summary of “The Lesson,” and stated that, “[t]he story's theme focuses on education: the need for education and the results of knowledge” (par. 1). This is easily revealed as the main character cherishes the five dollar bill given to her by Miss Moore, yet the price for all of the toys in store ranged from several dollars to thousands of dollars. Although this is not merely enough evidence to support the claim that education is a theme for the story, Miss Moore’s focus on education throughout the course of the trip as she shows the overpriced toys to the children suggests that with an education, such toys could possibly be attainable. Miss Moore is portrayed as an old nagging lady in the beginning of the story; however, the reader’s impression changes as he or she realizes the method behind her madness so to speak. Bambara sought to convey the importance of education by making it the focal

Bambara’s particular ethnic background sparked within her a fire for revealing the travesties of prejudice society. This cannot be clearer in “The Lesson” due to the fact that the story revolves around an impoverished group of children who witness the privileges of upper-class society. Janet Ruth Heller of Western Michigan University remarked that, “Bambara's fiction reflects the perspective of her black contemporaries” (par. 3). With this statement, Heller has noticed the same phenomenon of how Bambara’s past arises in her work. The distinct setting in which “The Lesson” takes place refers to the author’s past multiple times. Written in 1972 and being perceived as modern society, this time period signified distinct separations between groups of people based on race and income. Bambara mentions how Miss Moore stated that, “money ain’t divided up right in this country,” and then she goes on to say how all the kids are, “poor and live in the slums” ( Bambara 463). In this sense, Bambara is placing herself into the identities of the children. The audience is made to feel compassion for the children and their economic situation. Although Miss Moore has taken up the responsibility of providing education for the neighborhood children, she takes advantage of that authority and opportunity to instill into them the ways of the world and how society is