acider
06-28-2005, 08:39 PM
Author of this short story is Toni Cade Bambara. The story called "The Lesson". Reader while reading the story reader can notice that for this little story it has a lot of characters in it. The main character is a little girl Sylvia. She is African American girl that lives in a poor neighborhood with her parents. Looks like her parents are too busy to spend time with their daughter. They let other people take care of Sylvia's education. I think Toni Cade Bambara writes about Sylvia life from her own experience. She also grew up in black district of a big city. Toni can tell us really good about life of African American people in such situation because she went through it herself. I think we should trust the main character Sylvia as a story teller because of the conditions described earlier. Toni as a great writer draws an imaginary line between Sylvia and herself.
As we know, many African American kids are literally raised by street rules. They grow up in their community interacting with many different races and cultures. During their lives kids learn a lot of stuff from their parent and other people. In this story Sylvia grows up between her friends as a member of imaginary family. She fights with her friends, she argues, she protects her point of view. As a little girl she has her own stereotypes that get broken during her life as she becomes more and more mature.
Sylvia's friends are very different. One of her best friends is Sugar. She is a little girl as well and Sylvia has a lot of coming with her. They understand each other very easily.
And they usually take the same side in a group arguing. I think Toni Cade Bambara created character of sugar to even more clearly show the reader how little poor African American girls think. Sugar basically is a reflection fo Sylvia.
Miss Moore is another important character in the story. She is older African American woman who is pretty smart for her class, probably because she went to college.
Everyone in the neighborhood respects her and a lot of parents give her their kid to spend time with her. The story does not tell it but I think Miss Moore one of those people who is smart bud does not know how to apply all her knowledge; looks like she does day care work to pay her bills. Kids don't really like her because they are too young. They can't understand why she always tries to teach them different things. Miss Moore is a poor woman and she thinks that she should give all her knowledge to the younger generation that's why she does little lessons that teach kids like Sylvia what life is about. She wants the kids to be successful and rich in future; they don't have to live in a poor neighborhood anymore.
The lesson that Miss Moore thought kids the other day was not really clear for the kids. One day she took Sylvia, Sugar and other kids with her for a little walk.
While walking through the city she told kids that money are not spent right in this country and that's why they area so poor. Miss Moore also taught kids about different bacteria, and about much other stuff. She liked to teach kids! Miss Moore took all the kids in to a rich part of the city. They went through couple different expensive stores.
Kids started noticing variety of strange things that were for sale in these stores. There was a microscope, a paperweight, toy clown and a very expensive toy sailboat.
All things were so expensive that Sylvia and her friends could not even imagine that something like that could cost so much. They have never had so much money. Kids could not believe their eyes. Some things in the store were made for rich people and for their rich lifestyles. Little kids could not explain to themselves what the things were for. They would explain it like: "White folks are crazy". It probably made relieved their minds little bit, because they were so tired of thinking what the things were for and why they were so expensive. For Sylvia it was easier to think that someone was crazy for pricing the sailboat so high than explain to herself why it was so expensive. Little girl was so shocked by prices that she almost felt it to a depression. All Sylvia's friend felt the same way.
Miss Moore took them to the store to show how life is unfair to some people. She wanted kids to understand that education is important. She wanted to show them that the only way they can get ahead is through studying and understanding their status in the world. Miss Moore did another strange thing. She gave Sylvia five dollars to pay for a cab. The cab cost only one dollar and in the end Sylvia kept the rest. When kids got back to their neighborhood Miss Moore asked Sylvia what lesson did she learned. The meaning of her doings was kind of ambiguous to the reader. From one side she tried to show to the little girl that money should be spent smart and from the other side she probably tried to see how hones Sylvia was.
As we know, many African American kids are literally raised by street rules. They grow up in their community interacting with many different races and cultures. During their lives kids learn a lot of stuff from their parent and other people. In this story Sylvia grows up between her friends as a member of imaginary family. She fights with her friends, she argues, she protects her point of view. As a little girl she has her own stereotypes that get broken during her life as she becomes more and more mature.
Sylvia's friends are very different. One of her best friends is Sugar. She is a little girl as well and Sylvia has a lot of coming with her. They understand each other very easily.
And they usually take the same side in a group arguing. I think Toni Cade Bambara created character of sugar to even more clearly show the reader how little poor African American girls think. Sugar basically is a reflection fo Sylvia.
Miss Moore is another important character in the story. She is older African American woman who is pretty smart for her class, probably because she went to college.
Everyone in the neighborhood respects her and a lot of parents give her their kid to spend time with her. The story does not tell it but I think Miss Moore one of those people who is smart bud does not know how to apply all her knowledge; looks like she does day care work to pay her bills. Kids don't really like her because they are too young. They can't understand why she always tries to teach them different things. Miss Moore is a poor woman and she thinks that she should give all her knowledge to the younger generation that's why she does little lessons that teach kids like Sylvia what life is about. She wants the kids to be successful and rich in future; they don't have to live in a poor neighborhood anymore.
The lesson that Miss Moore thought kids the other day was not really clear for the kids. One day she took Sylvia, Sugar and other kids with her for a little walk.
While walking through the city she told kids that money are not spent right in this country and that's why they area so poor. Miss Moore also taught kids about different bacteria, and about much other stuff. She liked to teach kids! Miss Moore took all the kids in to a rich part of the city. They went through couple different expensive stores.
Kids started noticing variety of strange things that were for sale in these stores. There was a microscope, a paperweight, toy clown and a very expensive toy sailboat.
All things were so expensive that Sylvia and her friends could not even imagine that something like that could cost so much. They have never had so much money. Kids could not believe their eyes. Some things in the store were made for rich people and for their rich lifestyles. Little kids could not explain to themselves what the things were for. They would explain it like: "White folks are crazy". It probably made relieved their minds little bit, because they were so tired of thinking what the things were for and why they were so expensive. For Sylvia it was easier to think that someone was crazy for pricing the sailboat so high than explain to herself why it was so expensive. Little girl was so shocked by prices that she almost felt it to a depression. All Sylvia's friend felt the same way.
Miss Moore took them to the store to show how life is unfair to some people. She wanted kids to understand that education is important. She wanted to show them that the only way they can get ahead is through studying and understanding their status in the world. Miss Moore did another strange thing. She gave Sylvia five dollars to pay for a cab. The cab cost only one dollar and in the end Sylvia kept the rest. When kids got back to their neighborhood Miss Moore asked Sylvia what lesson did she learned. The meaning of her doings was kind of ambiguous to the reader. From one side she tried to show to the little girl that money should be spent smart and from the other side she probably tried to see how hones Sylvia was.