Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

I chose to write about "the Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara. This short story caught my attention because Bambara focuses on the economic injustices of African Americans. "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara should have been included in ENC 1102 because her work was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalist movements in the 1960's. It detailed the struggles and injustices African Americans had to endure during that time. It showed social inequality amongst the underprivileged.
Toni Cade Bambara was born Miltona Mirkin Cade in 1939, in Harlem, New York. She was born during the end of the Harlem Renaissance. She took an interest particularly in literature, music, and the visual arts. Bambara speaks about how education can help

"The Lesson" described the difference between poverty and wealth. In the article, "The Lesson." Introduction to Literary Context: American Short Fiction," It is believed by Champion, that the story; "was packed with social implications, in which wealth was not equally distributed." (Champion 117). Champion argues that all the children came from the same impoverished living conditions. She states the story portrays the children as a social group, whom all live in the same area and engage in the same type of activities. In “the lesson” we can see the children’s attitude towards everything they were experiencing and learning at the toy store. They all display a very negative attitude. Some of them like Sylvia feel anger that the wealthy have no care, they waste money on material things, that to them have no value. They seem to feel disappointed because all they are familiar with is struggle. Throughout the story, the author shows us that the kids are not on an equal balance as most of the society. She shows us all through the story, that wealth is not equally distributed. This can be seen when the children arrive at the store and see the prices of the toys, at that moment they begin thinking; trying to understand why the toys are so expensive and how can people afford them. They even question why would people even pay all that money for things that seem irrelevant to

She states that the goal of focusing on economic injustices and social inequality was clearly expressed in Bambara's story. Korb re-evaluates the story and its meaning. She breaks down each part of the story. She analyzes the characters, their behaviors, and attitudes towards the injustices of the world. The children are able to see for themselves, how society has failed them. How unfairly they are treated. It is displayed not only because they come from an underprivileged society, but also because of the color of their skin. In the story, the kids all have unique personalities, for example Sylvia; she was rough. She had attitude, dislike Mrs. Moore. You can see she was a tough one to crack. At first, she didn’t care for anything the Mrs. Moore was trying to teach them. Had this story been added to the course, it would had offer the opportunity for each student to express their own ideas and meanings of the story. It would had given everyone the chance to interpret the story, especially since we all come from different