Summary of The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara Essay -- Toni Cade Bambara

The Lesson by Toni Cade BambaraThe Lesson, by Toni Cade Bambara, portrays a group of chel ben bread and butter in the slums of New York City around 1972. They seem to be meat living in poverty in some very insanitary conditions. One character, Miss Moore, the childrens self appointed mentor, takes it upon herself to further their culture during the summer months. She feels this is her civic duty because she is educated. She used F.A.O. Schwarz, a very valuable toystore, to teach them a lesson and inspire them to strive for success and attempt to soften themselves and their situations.At the beginning of the story, the author gives us the feeling that a child is narrating this story. She also shows that the child, Sylvia, is at that age where she feels that adults are silly and she knows everything. Back in the solar days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and chou were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with curt hair and pr oper speech and no makeup. (Bambara 470) Sylvia also tells us almost her environment while referencing Miss Moore. And we kidna hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who littered up our parks and pissed on our handball walls and stank up our hallways and stairs so you couldnt halfway play hide-and-seek without a damn mess up mask. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block without a prototypic name. (Bambara 470) This is our introduction to Miss Moore. She is an educated, well groomed person and the children resent her because she is antithetic and their parents force them to sp devastation time with her in the interest of education.On the day the story takes place, Miss Moore has rounded up the neighborhood kids and is going to fiddle them to F.A... ...t. We all start reciting the pricetag handle were in assembly. Handcrafted sailboat make of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred cardinal dollars.Unbelieveable, I hear myself say and am really st unned. (Bambara 472) The prices of the previous both items stunned the children, but the sailboat really brought home the idea.At the end of the story is when Miss Moores motive was revealed. She did not essential to transmit the kids on a field trip. She was interested in giving them a drive to succeed by showing them that some people are very successful and can afford such things. She hopes that they will want to be one of those people instead of a person that, like so many others, are just content with what they have.Works CitedRoberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, heat content E. Literature. The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey Prentice-Hall. 2001