Preview

Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
578 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara
Coping With Life Challenges Toni Cade Bambara, born March 25, 1939 in New York City; her mother was Helen Brent Henderson Cade. Bambara adopted that last name when she discovered it on a sketchbook her great-grandmother had. Bambara spent the first ten years of her life in Harlem, New York. In 1973, she published and essay in Redbook explaining what she liked about her mother. Bambara is an activist, novelist, writer, essayist, and a filmmaker. Bambara was influenced by her work as a social worker in the 1960’s. Bambara knew how the black community had been neglected and abused in the American society. Bambara became devoted to her community; she wrote primarily for her black community and in black dialect. Toni Cade Bambara wrote several short stories, one specifically was “The Lesson,” in this short story; she speaks on how to overcome struggles and stereotyping in the black community. In “The Lesson,” Toni Cade Bambara, uses characterization, style of language and setting; she also shows how she felt about how unfair the American society was through the eyes of a black woman. …show more content…
In “The Lesson” Bambara developed a strong and positive character who could teach us about valuable lessons in life. This character was a strong black woman named Miss Moore, who taught all the children in her community how to overcome the struggles in their community. Miss Moore first took the children to a store on Fifth Avenue, this store was the most expensive toy store the name of the store was F.A.O. Schwartz. The first life lesson was an expensive handcrafted sailboat, “Hand-crafted sailboat of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred and ninety-five dollars.” (Bambara) This lesson was to show the children the value of money, and how to value what they have and not what they

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Worry is to be conscientiously or emotionally blocked by fear . This is how Manuel felt in Gary Soto’s “La Bamba” although he should have been relaxed Gary Soto’s theme for this story is that you should relaxed over things that are just for fun. He expresses this through Manuels emotions, Other character’s reactions and Manuels private thoughts. Soto shows our theme by including characters reactions to Manuel’s performance to develop feeling in the characters contributing to the theme. Soto states in La bamba “Funny.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "The motive that these women have on the male characters is a significant one. Gaines eloquently depicts Tante Lou and Miss Emma, both African American women. They were a big part in many of the male characters' lives. Whether it was being house maids at the Henri Pichot's house, or becoming surrogate mothers for our protagonist grant, they were important to those in their immediate community.…

    • 103 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory 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

    something of you. A Lesson Before Dying shows what it is like to accept what is given to…

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Grant Wiggins recalls the outcome of a trial. He says that he was not there, but he knew what the verdict would be. He pictures the courtroom, the judge, and the attorneys. He pictures his aunt, Tante Lou, sitting beside the defendant’s godmother, Miss Emma, both watching the proceedings with solemn rigidity. Grant can picture the back of Jefferson’s close-cropped black head as he sits at the defendant’s table.…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Winnie Tabor of the Liberty Christian Academy provided many inspirational in motivational techniques to be a successful Christian leader. Regardless of the educational setting Christian or public, the principle must lead and live by example. As a Christian principle you should process the knowledge and understanding of the leadership related aspects that are built on a foundation of Christianity and the mission and vision of the school. Ms. Tabor provided several examples of an effective Christian administrator. Values and teamwork are the ingredients to build a solid foundation. Therefore, knowing your core values and beliefs determine your leadership philosophy and style that set the pace to achieve goals of your staff and students.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Lesson is a short story written by the writer Toni Cade Bambara in the late 1970’s. Sylvia, the narrator of the story is a young African-American female who receives a lesson in class inequality. The setting story of begin the slums of Harlem, New York and is dated as “back in the days” which is described in the opening of the story. Throughout the story Sylvia, realizes its world outside of her neighborhood, not as similar has she once thought. I chose the article, “Sylvia and The Struggle against Class Consciousness in Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson” this article analyzes the Sarah Wiktorski writes the article and she analyzes the struggle against class-consciousness and sets the mind of the reader to think about some of the consequences of class-consciousness. It contributes to the study of literature because it helps us understand the book, “The consciousness” by Toni Bambara changes the way the reader thinks and attempts to re-conceptualize his or her understanding of representation of class-consciousness. The writer hopes to present to the world a real picture of disadvantaged minorities and shows how on should change the world and…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better 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

    Many of her stories are told from the point of view of young African American girls, and her essays and lectures seek racial and gender equality (Champion). Moreover, Bambara was a political and social activist, participating and leading events and organizations that aimed to promote equality in terms of gender, race, and class. Although "The Lesson" primarily explores classism, it also exposes racism and serves as a fine example of the types of political and social issues that were prominent during the time. The Lesson" is packed with social implications. One major point of the story is the criticism of a capitalist society, in which wealth is unequally distributed.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 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

    Democracy implies equal chance for all. Such is not the case for the black children of the ghetto, as we learn through reading Toni Cade Bambara 's "The Lesson". During the course of the story the narrator, Sylvia, develops as a character due to the trip that Miss Moore takes her on. Miss Moore, an educated black woman who comes to the ghetto to give back to the children, takes children from the ghetto of New York to F.A.O Shwarz which is an extremely glamorous toy store. She does this to make the children aware of their social and economical situations by forcing them to face the difference between them and the people who would purchase toys from such a store that would sell a toy sail boat for over a thousand dollars. The theme of this story is very similar to the lesson Miss Moore is trying to teach the children. It is that through the loss of innocence and naiveté that poor black children can have a chance to stand up and fight for their piece of the pie. In "The Lesson" all the children come from poor families. They live in apartment buildings where drunkards who reek of urine live in the hallways that reek of urine from the drunks who pee on the walls; they live in what Miss Moore would call the "slums." The children 's families, however, exhibit somewhat of a varying degree of monetary security. For example, Flyboy claims he doesn 't even have a home whilst Mercedes has a desk at home with a box of stationary on it, gifts from her godmother.…

    • 922 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Essay

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the short story "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara, a group of African-American children from the projects of New York are confronted with social class differences for the first time during a trip to F.A.O. Schwartz. Thomas Cassidy, author of an article in Critical Survey of Short Fiction, describes that the short story is “structured in an oral form that allows for meaningful side issues with the aim of being clear the central point to her audience” (Bambara 652). One can learn right away that Sylvia, the story 's narrator, is not fond of Miss Moore and could care less about the trip to the toy store. Bambara illustrates this by the tone and language of Sylvia 's narration. Her use of slang and curse words clearly indicates where she has grown up and her dislike of Miss Moore. She even conjures up a plan “to jump out at the next light and run off to the first bar-b-que we can find” (Bambara 653). It is kind of ironic that Sylvia feels this way, considering this trip had the most dramatic impact on her as she learns a powerful lesson. Miss…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When reflecting on history, it is evident that there has been much struggle for Black people, especially woman. The poem, “I am A Black Woman,” by Mari Evans, portrays a relationship between Black women of our history and today’s society. By the usage of vivid and inspiring words, Evans is able to capture the reader’s attention. It is clear that the speaker is a very strong black woman. She portrays this in a way that she describes moments where she has struggled and when other black women of history have struggled as well. She implies that those hard times have made her the person she is today, which is the main point of this poem.…

    • 877 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    to get them but Billie is hiding in a tree to escape from some of the bigger boys. His sister steps…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays