Preview

Toni Bambara The Lesson Analysis

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1199 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Toni Bambara The Lesson Analysis
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 …show more content…
The writer presents a young adolescent who is in her initial stages of life. Initially, she does not know that she is poor, but from her interactions with Miss Moore and the other rich kids, she becomes aware of her environment. She is however reluctant to accept that she is disadvantaged which a positive character is. It is surprising to note that believes she is the best despite realizing that she is disadvantaged. She portrays a positive character when she says, “aint nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” She is different from many people who would feel this affects their ego. She is focused on remaining upbeat that she is the best among all of her

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    All Junior has ever known is poverty, but he is able to recognize that his situation is bad. Junior analyzes his situation saying “it sucks to be poor, and it sucks even more to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor (13)”. Junior is aware of the fact that he…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Lesson” by Bambara the author's method of recreating the narrative in the present tense allows for a greater emotional link towards the main character. While in “The Chase” by Dillard the memory is vividly retold in the past tense which creates a gap between the reader and the main character. Thus, for Bambara, the dialect in the story is concurrent with what she would have heard and said in the past, for example, “...she was black as hell, cept for her feet, which were fish-white and spooky, ” and consist of slang as well profanity. The specific use of jargon, misspelled words, and even the name of the students, establishes the culture and community that Bambara was in. This throughout the story allows the voice to create a deeper…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The central idea of Toni Cade Bambara's short story "The Lesson" was inequalities in the distribution of wealth. The meaning of Mrs. Moore trip with the children to FAO Schwartz is captured in Bambara's use of Symbolism. The children looked fiercely at a number of exclusive toys outside the store. Some of these toys included a sailboat and a paperweight. The children had no idea what the paperweight was. Sylvia said to herself "my eyes tell me it's a chunk of glass cracked with something heavy, and different color inks dripped into the splits, then the whole thin put into a over or something. But for $480 it don't make sense." Even though Mrs. Moore explained to them what the paper weight was, the children still did not understand the use or the price. A paperweight is used to hold something that is of value. Since the children have never had anything valuable, the paper weight can be used to symbolize that their neighborhood (slums) many be holding them down. The children are the people under this paperweight. To these children the cost of the toy is a life's worth of work. The sailboat similarly is used by Bambara to stand for freedom and the journey that lies ahead of the. Manhattan was only a cab ride away. However it was only a temporary chance for these kids to experience the different type of life rich people live. This suggests that if the children wish to experience this life permanently, then they would have to escape the world of…

    • 1060 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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

    The first thing I noticed in this author’s writing is how she talked about people believing that people are in a certain class for a reason based on their intelligence, talent, effort, or skill. That it is something one earns and not given. But the author thinks this is just a way for the powerful to keep their dominance. I feel that this relates to Anne Moody’s experience in Coming of Age. She grows up wondering what makes white people different than black people and why they are so much better off when it is just that they are born into that social status.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Experiences in our past build the foundations of who we are and can greatly affect how we react in certain situations. Mrs. Schroeder shows throughout the course of the novella that she struggles with adapting to her new surroundings by consistently building the illusions for herself of a wealthy lifestyle. But why is that? When looking back at her past we see a young girl preoccupied in things such as “call[ing] up the tobacco store” or “Hail a streetcar”, things describing a carefree childhood, one with not many responsibilities. Though this may only seem like a young girl enjoying her youth and therefore harmless, these experiences in childhood coupled with the fact she live in a very wealthy family are the building blocks of who she is. This is because childhood is a time when many people develop key experiences that help define who they are. Many characteristics and habits created in childhood carry on into adulthood and as a result can be very difficult to change. When a person who grew up in a life…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is the tale of a young black man on death row who gains dignity and self-awareness from a rural teacher who visits him daily in prison. This book exemplifies education and learning in different ways. In one way, the prisoner learns how to express his feelings and write them down while in prison. Another way the theme of education is shown is that the prisoner also learns how to compose himself with courage and dignity. The most important way that this book shares the theme of education is how Ernest Gaines educates all of the readers that all humans ( no matter their race) are equal and should be treated that way. Being able to exemplify the many different ways there are to introduce the theme of knowledge into his novels was one of Gaines’s strengths. However, he was also known to have included some sub themes that would compliment his main theme of…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 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

    This story revolves around a trip taken by five young children, accompanied by a woman named Miss Moore, to Fifth Avenue in New York. Miss Moore takes these young children to this precise location in order to teach them a lesson regarding the invisible privileges and vastly greater possibilities of wealthy individuals living in America. Although main character Sylvia does not strongly or outwardly express a will or newfound desire to change her currently low economic status for her future self, the reader is able to interpret by a specific line in this short story that she has undergone a significant transformation. Towards the conclusion on this publication, the reader can observe Sylvia's interest in overviewing what she had learned earlier that day. Sylvia mentally states, “Ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nothin,” which suggests that her stubborn, hardheaded resistance to see the truth in front of her has been transformed. Her transformation will perhaps drive her will to succeed financially in the future. This fiery, young lady certainly seems to be expressing a different outlook not only on the leader of the field trip, Miss Moore, who she formally resented and ridiculed, but also on her future aspirations to become successful. The reader may be able to infer that young Sylvia has learned the lesson of social inequality and her discovery of such an existence, motivates her will to one day become educated and financially stable. Even though the entire short story does not revolve around Sylvia expressing an acceptance or reason to change her once ignorant outlook on society, she certainly gives sufficient reason through her actions and her mental thoughts that she is going to strive to make a difference in her current…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sometimes circumstances almost force children into growing up and becoming self-sufficient. At the same time adults can lack in maturity, and being proper role models for children. Not all adults are mature and not all children are naive. Lahiri shows us this when Mrs. Sen admits that, “[Eliot is] wiser that[...]. [He] already taste[s] the way things must be.” (Lahiri 123) Eliot has been exposed to the real world and all its ugly, but very real, parts. Eliot represents the majority of children in this modern-day, pushed into the adult world because of parents lack of responsibility. Children can learn from grownups mistakes and strive to do better and become better people. While this is not always negative, it is tragic, the loss of innocence is never a pleasant occurrence, especially at young ages. Lahiri was emphasizing the ugly truth of how the roles of children and adults can switch, how children have to be their own examples and adults struggle to fully grow up and be the role models that children need. I enjoyed reading this story because it shows a reality that is so common yet so easily overlooked. It’s the ugly truth that everyone should…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout learns the town's social strata quite clearly on her first day at school when Walter Cunningham does not have lunch or lunch money. Her classmates ask her to explain to the teacher why Walter won't take a loaned quarter to buy lunch, and she lectures the teacher on the Cunningham's financial situation and how they trade goods for services. Scout and the other children have a very clear understanding of the social inequalities…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Far from promoting self-empowerment, the kids at school learn to read with a book known as the "Dick and Jane primer" this primer shows an idyllic representation of the white family causing a juxtaposition of the fictions of the white educational process and the reality of the life of many young black children. In other words, they are not represented in the culture and values shown on the book. Since this is a book used by children to learn how to read it implies that their first contact with language is bound with the ideological values it…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs. Johnson’s older daughter, Dee, is a self-centered woman who believes she is superior to her mother and sister. Growing up, the older daughter was the only educated woman in the house. Being educated, she often read stories to her two relatives without pity. Dee’s mother described her daughter as a pretty individual with a full figure and nice hair. Knowing that her mother bragged about her compared to Maggie, Dee talked down to her mother and sister. The arrogant woman resented her family and the house that they were raised in, until the church and her mother raised enough money for her to attend school.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays