Preview

Bambara In The Lessons Analysis

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1181 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bambara In The Lessons Analysis
Thao Trinh
English 1B
Basic Outline Structure
I. Introduction:

A. Historical Background Information / Historical Context
From the 1950s through the 1970s, movements for civil and social rights, equality, and justice swept the United States.
Racism and ethnic discrimination in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era and the slave era.
In addition, racism which had been viewed primarily as a problem in the Southern states, burst onto the national consciousness following the Great Migration.
Black Americans faced many disadvantages during the 1950 's. In short they were discriminated; from public services, and restaurants. After the American Civil War in 1865, black people in the American south were no longer
…show more content…
For example, socially-progressive Beneatha (Bennie) studies to become a doctor, despite the financial strain it puts on the low-income family.
b. Walter works as a chauffeur for a white man, but he dreams of opening a liquor store with his buddies and making more money for his family.
c. we learn that Ruth is pregnant, which only complicates the family situation. The family is not affluent enough to provide for another life, so Ruth prepares to abort her child. B. Transition + another main point that supports your argument in your thesis: In The Lessons, Bambara reflects the racial injustice and socio-economic inequalities life of African American.
1. Children in The Lessons are black and poor
a. The story is a lesson and a window for the reader into Bambara’s reality, as much as it is a lesson and a window for the young female harlemite, Sylvia, who is the main character.
b. The Lesson” is a first person narrative told by a young, poor, black girl growing up in Harlem in an unspecified time period known only as “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just
…show more content…
Reflection (Comment on how support relates to your main point and thesis. Make a direct connection):

C. Transition + another main point that supports your argument in your thesis:
a. In The Lessons, The story is a lessons and a window for the readers onto Bambara’s reality, as much as it is a lesson and a window for the young female marmite, Sylia, who is the main character…
b. The children see how much a particular boat cost, and they are all jaw-dropped and astonished. The children realize how precious money really is sometimes, and how scarce it is for people of their community to have what they own. Bambara states, poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie´ (13.) Therefore, the children learn that money does not just grow off trees. It does not matter the color of your skin or where you come from, people have to work hard for the things they want in life.
3. Support from literary criticism about the story (provide quotation OR paraphrase). You can agree or disagree with the criticism:

III. Conclusion
Restate the thesis to the reader. Elaborate on historical context. Leave him/her thinking by explaining how this issue and these works are important to American society today.
Restate the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Despite his respectfulness to the white man, his boss chastised him for wanting to learn and asked him if he thought he was white. Richard witnesses countless “Jim Crow” racism throughout his life all so the white man could feel superior to him and his race. At one point he witnesses his boss and twelve year old son beat a black woman and when she ran to a white cop he accused her of being drunk. Richard was searched for being in a white neighborhood, cursed for looking at an attractive white woman, and was forced to forge a white mans signature to receive books from the…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    3) Thesis Statement: In one or two sentences, state your opinion by taking ONE side of the issue. Be clear and concise.…

    • 2420 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The short story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara is about a group of young poor children as they venture downtown to a toy store. They gaze upon all the toys in wonderment, but mostly they are shocked by the price of the toys. They feel out of place in such an upscale establishment and do not know how to act. Upon leaving the store and heading home, they reflect on how unfair society really is. There are people who are so well off they can afford toys that could feed a family for months, and other people like themselves that barely have enough money to get by. The central idea of the story is the examination of wealth and poverty in America.…

    • 210 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bambara had an early start at a successful career “whose output was small, but whose impact was great” (Sussman). Even though she was a writer who studied mime, film and theater, “what connected all her activities was her keen sense of social injustice and a commitment to work for change” (Sussman). Bambara took on the responsibility to tell truth in a time when truth was lost in all of the oppression. She uses genuine vernacular, to depict the time period as well as the setting to tell an organic story. Anne Tyler describes, “what pulls us along is the language of [her] characters, which is startlingly beautiful without once striking a false note… It’s only that the rest of us didn’t realize it was sheer poetry they were speaking.” (Sussman). In “The Lesson”, Bambara illustrates the time period with hints of social issues happening all over the United States, however, focusing on everyday Black communities while implementing a lesson to be taught.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sylvia’s initiation in the short story The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara, is striking because Miss Moore gives the opportunity to the children to evaluate the difference between the fifth avenue and their poor neighborhood. However, one of the story’s main themes is that innocence is a handicap and the political and moral innocence that are represented from the beginning to the end of the story brings the main character to many reflections. This idea is revealed as Sylvia’s ignorance towards the different social classes, Sylvia’s questions on the purpose of wealth and the hard realization of the true facts of inequality. Due to the children’s lack of political and moral knowledge,…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Warriors Don't Cry

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The theme, never give up shows up many times through Melba’s actions in school and outside of school Melba wanted to give up many times but she, kept her word by praying to God and talking to her grandma. Whenever students beat up Melba, she would say I am never going to that school but the next day she would get up and go back to school. When she was bullied, she reported to the staff but no one would believe her. Even though they did not believe what she said, Melba continued to do her best in school and outside of school. She never gave up on the things she did outside of the school either. She still cherished her friendship and tried to make her life as normal instead of just giving in. If she gave in the segregationist would win, and if she did not make her life as normal as possible she would have never made it through the year. Despite the difficulties, she never gave up.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Lesson”, by Toni Cade Bambara is about a girl named Sylvia. She expresses her feelings over her experience at an expensive toy story that her teacher, Ms. Moore, takes her and her friends to. This trip was designed to teach them the reality of the world and to show them the things they cannot afford in life. Not only why they cannot afford them, but to show them that they can be the types of people that can. She aims towards showing Sylvia and the other students how to achieve a better lifestyle. They do not have to be limited by being black in America.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aminata decides that as a slave it is her responsibility to retain information. While on board the slave ship, Aminata defines her life purpose to assume the role of being a djeli, or storyteller. Aminata’s motivation cannot be suppressed because she continues to fight for who she believes she is (74). Unlike Fanta, Aminata does not submit to confusion or panic, and is therefore difficult to be easily controlled. While working on Robinson Appleby’s indigo plantation, Aminata continues to draw motivation from her father, demonstrating her ability to stay true to who she is (151-153). Aminata’s commitment to self awareness is revealed in the first things she wishes to teach her daughter: where Aminata comes from, who Aminata and her daughter are as it relates to the world and how to read and write (365).…

    • 2108 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    BON Essay Topics

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages

    4. “Personally, I concluded that no place in the world was entirely safe for an African, and that for many of us, survival depended on perpetual migration”. Discuss how the concept of perpetual migration was essential to the survival of Aminata and others in the novel.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Saefasfd

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    better? Explain what a tragic hero is and how this character fits this mold. Support your answer with analysis with quotes and events from the play.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    HistoryLesson

    • 1157 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. At first, Natasha Trethewey is giving a description of a girl on a beach in Mississippi with her grandmother, all seems normal. Its only when you reach towards the end, that it gives you the change in feeling. The date was 1970; the perspective changes completely, then showing the struggles of equality.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke had a unique way of giving an educational storytelling and a historical research of Abina and the Important Men. These authors give Abina a voice throughout the entire book. Getz and Clarke had ways of breaking down the life of Abina into a pictorial translation, a transcript of her trial, and many more documents that make it easier to comprehend and teach the history behind the story.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    3. How is the racial issue – a main theme of this book – clearly introduces in Chapter 1?…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism is an ongoing problem in America and in the rest of the world. Sometimes it is overlooked today as only happening many, many years ago but that is not true. Globalissues.com defines racism as “The belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others” (“Racism.”). Racism is when people think that someone with a different skin color or culture is different than them or even inferior to them. This is not the truth and it is not what the Bible says to be true. Racism has caused many cases of violence, discrimination, and many other horrible things just because of skin color. It started a very long time ago in American history but it still just as much of a problem today than it was then.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tambu's journey into womanhood and towards freedom is shaped by the women in her family who are at various places and stages with their statuses as women in a patriarchal society. Dangarembga doesn’t change her portrayal of the divergent belief systems of Babamukuru and his brother Jeremiah, and she shows both men behaving rather irrationally. Jeremiah foolishly endorses a shaman’s ritual cleansing of the homestead, while Babamukuru’s belief in a Christian ceremony seems to be rooted in his rigid and unyielding confidence that he is always right. As Tambu becomes more fixed and established in her life at the mission school, she begins to embrace attitudes and beliefs different from those of her parents and her traditional upbringing. Nyasha, ever the voice of reasonable dissent, warns Tambu that a wholesale acceptance of supposedly progressive ideas represents a dangerous departure.…

    • 512 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays