Toni Cade Bambara The Lesson Analysis

Every individual has their own identity. They are not born with it. Their identities are formed throughout the time getting influenced by culture, language, family, friends, media, nature and country. Also human beings are tend to grow liking towards certain kind of luminaries with which they can relate to. People most of the time pursue their careers or hobbies under the effects of these factors. For example, a person becomes a doctor because he is inspired by the people who save lives or someone wants to become a social leader because he is fascinated by the people who has created revolutionary history and helped mankind or someone dreams to be a teacher because he/she wants remove the darkness from society and be a role model to the students

etc. Someone achieves prosperity and positive personality with influences of other people who somehow contributed finding his/her purpose of life.

The person who inspires us the most in our lives is a teacher. Teachers teach us some important lessons besides the textbooks that play a meaningful role shaping our identities. They enlighten our outlook with knowledge and help us learn how to differentiate between right and wrong by developing our ethics. In Toni Cade Bambara's short story, "The Lesson," Miss Moore is a self-appointed advocate to a group of inner-city children. She tries to point out the cause behind their present situation where they are suffering and their parents are struggling to make ends meet. She believes that the children who would become the future can change their situation towards betterment. She teaches them about equality thinking they will step forward to earn what they deserve and they can go

to the right direction if they know how to steer their life. Outside the toy store, Sugar innocently asks, “Can we steal?” Which shows her ignorance towards their struggle that they had faced and might face in the future too and that is something Miss Moore is afraid of (331). She takes the group to a toy store in the city where only Sylvia and Sugar among all the children realize what privileges they do not have because their families are not well off. Miss Moore is surprised by Sugar when she says, “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”(335). Sylvia did not express her distress to Miss Moore but this trip to the toy store made her think about it too. This is where Miss Moore finds her worth that these kids might shape their identity with what they learnt that day and bring equality in the society.
In James Baldwin's short story, "Sonny's Blues," the narrator is the elder brother of Sonny who escaped the ghetto, created a stable and secure life by being a respected teacher in Harlem.

He fails to Parent Sonny as he promised to his belated mother. As a result Sonny indulges himself into drugs to avoid the pain of loneliness and his brother abandoned him. He ends up being in jail and rehabilitation. But Sonny shows his undying morals in reply to his brother’s letter when he says, “I’m glad mama and daddy are dead and can’t see what’s happened to their son and I swear if I’d known what I was doing I would never have hurt you so, [...] and who believed in me”(254). Eventually Sonny becomes a jazz musician as he always wanted to be. Music is his salvation from the darkness he put himself into. When the narrator saw his younger brother trying hard to shape his identity as he once struggled to achieve, the narrator states, “he seemed to have found, right there beneath his fingers, a damn brand new piano” when music and his family helped Sonny get back to his healthy

life(274-275).
We create and reshape our own identities as we grow up. It may change in a daily basis because we meet new people everyday. It is hard to tell what and when someone inspire us and influence our identity to reform. We should let our identities to get invigorated by people that would help us prosper in the long run and leave a mark behind to galvanize someone else’s identity too.