Analysis Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

Have you ever had that one person that thought he or she knew it all, or that kept on you to do your work, work harder, and just was always nagging you? It could be a parent, relative, teacher, a boss, or even a friend and you always wonder why he or she is so hard on you, but in the end, you realize that it was only in your best interest? They just wanted to teach you something meaningful and important in life. I have had that one person that drove me insane, until I realized why.

In the short story “The lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, A women named Miss Moore, is an intelligent African American women, in a neighborhood full of children. It is in her best interest to educate the children to learn about their cultural aspects of their lives.

She feels that because they are African American children they lack education and because of this issue Miss Moore takes it upon herself to teach the children the life outside their neighborhood. In the children’s eyes, especially the narrator of the story Sylvia, thinks of Miss Moore as a boring, lifeless women with nothing but time on her hands.
The theme of this short story is lesson; Bambara uses Miss Moore’s character to show that ‘lesson’ is the theme throughout the story. Miss Moore wanted to teach the children that because they live in a less fortunate neighborhood doesn’t mean that they have to continue down this path, that they can get an education. She wants to educate them and show them that their futures can be different with education, that nothing is impossible for them. “She’d been to
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college and said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education, and she not even related by marriage or blood” (Bambara, 209). This shows a lot about Miss Moore’s character and how she genuinely cares for the children’s future.
Miss Moore takes the children on a trip to a toy shop in Midtown Manhattan called F.A.O Schwarz. This toy shop is one of the most famous toy store in the world and also one of the most expensive toy shop. A child brings up how an object at the toy store cost $480, which is just a paperweight this object brings up a dialogue between Miss Moore and the children. This dialogue reveals a lot about Miss Moore’s character and her intentions, and during this dialogue the narrator (Sylvia) says a couple sarcastic remarks; Miss Moore asks “Don’t you have a calendar and a pencil case and a blotter and a letter-opener on your desk at home where you do your homework?” which the narrator thinks “And she know damn well what our homes look like cause she nosys around in them every chance she gets” (Bambara, 211). Here we see Sylvia’s bitterness towards Miss Moore and the idea of wanting to enhance her education.
The narrator of the story is a young African American girl named Sylvia who is not too fond of Miss Moore, we she her disapprove of Miss Moore right away, “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup” (Bambara, 208).

This negative attitude towards Miss Moore is what starts Sylvia’s character, which shows us how young and naïve she really is. At first glance we could perceive Miss Moore’s character as the protagonist and Sylvia’s character as the antagonist of this story. But really Miss Moore isn’t the center character Sylvia’s character is the center of this story, Miss Moore is just a character that starts conflict with Sylva’s character. Sylvia being the narrator

of
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the story makes her an unreliable narrator because she has such a negative attitude and feelings towards Miss Moore and to the idea of change.

The negative attitude and bitterness makes Sylvia unreliable, she is prejudice against Miss Moore because she prevents Sylvia and the other children from having fun, which seems to be the only thing that matters to Sylvia. Sylvia states, “I’m really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree. I’d much rather go to the pool or to the show where it’s cool” (Bambara, 209). Sylvia is still young and naïve, so she doesn’t view getting an education as something she wants to do, she just wants to have fun and not learn anything but she eventually realizes that Miss Moore just wants her and the other children to

succeed.
The trip to the toy store wasn’t just for fun, even though Sylvia thought it was useless and boring, but the trip was a way for Miss Moore to teach the children things; like how to use math for tips for cab fare, “and hands me a five-dollar bill and tells me to calculate 10 percent tip for the driver” (Bambara, 210), Miss Moore also discusses with the children the prices of some of the toys and explains the importance and useless of some of the toys, such as the paperweight mention earlier. Miss Moore wants the children to be able to differentiate their lives with some of the more fortunate children, how some families can afford such outrageous prices and how other’s such as themselves can’t. “Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think” (Bambara, 213). Miss Moore wants the children to think about how other societies are much different than the one they live in.
In the end I think some children got part of the lesson, of what Miss Moore was trying to persuade, but the only child that really understood despite trying to ignore and not wanting to
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admit it was Sylvia, she understood that some families have been more fortunate than she has, but being the smart kid she is, knows what $35 dollars can get her family compared to what other families will spend $35 dollars on,
“Thirty-five dollars could buy new bunk beds for Junior and Gretchen’s boy. Thirty-five dollars and the whole household could go visit Granddaddy Nelson in the country. Thirty-five dollars would pay for the rent and piano bill too. Who are these people that spend that much for performing clowns and $1,000 for toy sailboats” (Bambara, 213).
Despite her attempt to dismay Miss Moore’s learning experience and her bitterness towards the whole day, Sylvia really did understand Miss Moore’s lesson. She understand that her lively hood is different than others but she is a smart young girl she knows spending $1,000 on a toy is not smart and knows that in her neighborhood she can get a lot more with just $35 dollars. This whole day gets to her she starts feeling like something weird is going on. She says “And somethin weird is goin on, I can feel it in my chest” Sylvia is not used to having to think about the future and she states “she gets ahead which is O.K. by me cause I’m goin to the West End and then over to the drive to think this day through” (Bambara, 214). Sylvia was against this trip and just wanted to have fun but she knows she has to change.
Throughout the story you can see the lack of education with the children, how they talk and their thinking process. Miss Moore knows the importance of an education and it reflects throughout the story. She wanted to give the children tools to succeed and since she has, it is now up to them if they want to pursue an education to give themselves the life they deserve. We have

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encounter at least one person in our lives that seemed to push too hard or nagged us to much but then we realize it’s only because they wanted us to succeed and saw something in us that we didn’t see in ourselves.