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What was the life lesson of the lesson by toni cade bambara
Literature poverty essay
What was the life lesson of the lesson by toni cade bambara
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What does having an education means to you? Did you know that recently The United States Children Fund (UNICEF) portal has stated that education transforms peoples’ lives and bust the cycle of poverty? Also have you ever thought about how the human kind desires a decent life with great privileges, such as education and no one argues about that? Some short stories are designed to teach lessons to the people who read them. They teach lessons about life, love, and growing up. People can learn lessons by reading short stories where the main characters discover something about life and about themselves. Also, the Characters and the way they use actions, words, or thoughts carry throughout the story can relate to many realistic personas as in Toni Cade Bambara 's short story “The Lesson.” Bambara’s narrative diversifies any reading list with some authors, who are not so familiar, where she presents a lesson to be learned with the story of young children growing up in …show more content…
Miss Moore climbed up against the odds in a time where it was almost unheard of for a black woman to go to college. She was a role model for the children who encourages them to get more out of life. This made Miss Moore an exceptional spectacle as most children would likely, “. . . go to the pool or to the show where is cool” (Bambara), however Sylvia and sugar were being forced to meet with Miss More by their parents. From the parent’s point of view, “. . . it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education” (Bambara). The parents themselves realize this was very important for their children, but they did not necessarily take their own advice and at times failed to meet some of their own obligations for the children.—Parents who lived in poverty stricken neighborhoods were not always the best role models they could be for their children to discourage
Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Lesson’ starts with the Sylvia’s description about one African-American’s appearance, who is called Miss Moore. The story is focused on the the event of field trip that Miss Moore conducted for her students one day. She takes her students to pricy toy store which is called F.A.O. Schwartz, to let them see the reality of gap between poor and rich. The story took place in 1970s which was during the movements for civil and social rights, equality and justice swept the United States. According to university of California, during this time, the opportunity to African American was really limited in a lot of aspects, including the education. People often tend to interpret the most important main point of this
In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato describes the cave as very dark with chained people inside and a wall where they can only see shadow illusions, which they believe is reality. Outside the cave, there is “light” and “truth.” One chained person is released into the “light,” which is uncomfortable at first, because of how bright the “light” or “truth” is however, once he adjusts, he realizes the outer world is the “truth” or reality and the cave is a shadow of reality. He pities the ones in the cave, still lost in the darkness yet, when he tries to make them see reality, their ignorance overpowers them and they kill the enlightened one out of fear and confusion. This is the kind of society, full of puppet-handlers, the narrator Sylvia in “The Lesson” dwells in and the author, Toni Cade Bambara, depicts Sylvia as being freed from the chains of ignorant society. Bambara’s released prisoner, Miss Moore, is the one to free Sylvia and the other chained prisoners and exposes them to the “light,” which is the unequal distribution of wealth and the “truth,” which is educating youth on economic inequality so the freed prisoners can learn to change their society’s shadow of reality.
The setting of the book Lessons is in a small housing complex in New York City. The tone of the narrator, Sylvia, is sarcastic, humorous, childlike, mean, and vulgar. The characters names that are given to the reader are ironic to their personality traits. They are most likely nicknames from the narrator. For example, some of the names are Flyboy, Big Butt, Sugar etc. This name calling shows the immaturity and ignorance that children have on other individuals. The main characters are Sylvia; who is the Antagonist, and Miss. Moore, who is the Protagonist.
Toni Cade Bambara, a well known author and social activist, uses language and experience to incite change in a warped society that marginalizes its people based on language, race, and class. With the utilization of African American English (AAE), Bambara sheds light on some questionable prejudices and problems with capitalism in American society. Bambara’s works are noted for their use of traditional AAE and its support in teaching the overall “lesson” and the underlying message to the public. The majority of Bambara’s works were inspired by and written in response to her experiences of growing up a black woman, of lower class status, in Harlem. Her short story, “The Lesson,” is no exception. Bambara uses first person narrative, omission of tense markers, and African American English to prove her point that even with education, wealth and prosperity are unevenly distributed throughout the United States.
The lessons that are taught through experience are usually the ones that stick with children for a lifetime. In Toni Cade Bambara's “The Lesson”, Miss Moore, a prominent character in the story, teaches a lesson to underprivileged children growing up in Harlem. Bambara's work is described as “stories [that] portray women who struggle with issues and learn from them.” (Vertreace, Par. 48) Bambara uses Miss Moore and her characteristics to teach Sylvia and the other children about social inequality and the idea of pursuing personal aspirations regardless of social status. Miss Moore has many admirable characteristics; she's intelligent, patient and caring.
Growing up as the young child of sharecroppers in Mississippi, Essie Mae Moody experienced and observed the social and economic deprivation of Southern Blacks. As a young girl Essie Mae and her family struggled to survive, often by the table scraps of the white families her mother worked for. Knowing little other than the squalor of their living conditions, she realizes this disparity while living in a two-room house off the Johnson’s property, whom her mother worked for, watching the white children play, “Here they were playing in a house that was nicer than any house I could have dreamed of”(p. 33). Additionally, the segregated school she attends was a “one room rotten wood building.” (p. 14), but Essie Mae manages to get straight A’s while caring for her younger sibli...
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 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 470) Sylvia also tells us about her environment while referencing Miss Moore. “And we kidna hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who cluttered up our parks and pissed on our handball walls and stank up our hallways and stairs so you couldn’t halfway play hide-and-seek without a damn gas mask. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block without a first 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 different and their parents force them to spend time with her in the interest of education.
To begin with, Miss Moore, Sylvia, and the other children are from the “slums”. However, what differentiate Miss Moore and everyone else in the neighborhood is that she has a college education, and speaks Standard English. As a result, Miss Moore plays the role as teacher to the neighborhood children. Most of the children from the neighborhood were poverty stricken and had a ghetto vernacular. Especially, Sylvia, who mouth is atrocious and has a strong animosity towards Miss Moore. For instance,“Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block with no first name. And she was black as hell, cept for her feet, which were fish-white and spooky.” Moreover, Miss Moore has high expectations of the children, so she takes them on a trip outside the hood to unveil the real world. Before going on the trip to the toy store Miss Moore tried to explain the value of money to the children. For example, “So we heading down the street and she’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country.” At first, Sylvia is t...
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Education has always been in existence in one form or another. As each child is born into this world regardless of who or where they are born, life lessons immediately begin. He/she will learn to crawl, walk, and talk by the example and encouragement of others. Although these lessons are basic in the beginning they evolve as the child grows. However, the core learning method of a child does not change. Learning from others, they will watch, listen, and then act for themselves. Thomas Jefferson believed that an education would lead men and women to the ability to be self-governed and become positive contributors to society (Mondale & Patton, 2001). Today, we can see how true this is by the examples of others. Those that are given the opportunity for education are more likely to find jobs and develop skills that not only improve a community, but influence the economic growth of their nation (Ravitch, Cortese, West, Carmichael, Andere, & Munson, 2009, p. 13). On the other hand, if an education is not provided to individuals, they can become a hindrance to that nation’s growth.
Education is the source of all power allowing people to achieve any dream they choose. A person without a true education is nothing more than an empty shell living an empty and pointless life. The process of education begins at conception and the human mind continues to learn until the time of their death but most lessons are learned in the first five years of life. When the topic of education is discussed it isn’t how much is needed but how best to provide the education. The need for high quality education is typically agreed upon; how best to provide that education is not as easily as settled. The line in the sand has been drawn with neither side willing to back down and possible casualties are the children.
The narrator of the story is a young, black girl name Sylvia and the story is also told from her perspective. The setting is not clear. Perhaps it started in Harlem and then to downtown Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and the time of the story took place is also unclear. Bambara uses a great deal of characterization to describe the characters in the story. For example, Bambara describes Miss Moore as “black as hell” (Bambara 330), “cept her feet, which were fish-white and spooky” (Bambara 330), and “looked like she was going to church” (Bambara 330). She later tells us that she’s been to college and her state of mind is she believes it’s her responsibility for the children’s education. The plot started when Miss Moore rounded up all of the children by the mailbox. Then she gets the kids in a cab and took them to Fifth Avenue to a big toy store where the rich people would shop. The story then continues with the children and Miss Moore in the toy store and the kids looking around and noticing they can’t afford anything. Which will soon end the plot with a lesson that society is not fair, “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to purse happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?”(Bambara 330). Hence, the lesson Miss Moore is trying to teach these
Wilson, Kathleen, and Marie Lazzari. Short stories for students presenting analysis, context, and criticism on commonly studied short stories. Volume 4 ed. Detroit: Gale Group, 1998. Print.
As long as man has been alive education has been an important part of everyday life. Education has allowed man to evolve and continue the treacherous journey of life. Education started just as a means of survival, a way for families to make it day by day, as years progressed education became a luxury most could not afford to have. Education then became the center of life for all. Today education is considered the glue that holds life together, without education a person is simply a paycheck to paycheck victim however with an education a person has to extraordinary chance to become something great. While the status of education transformed over time so did the content that was deemed most urgent and important, education first stood as information
Education is considered to be one of the most is important thing in our life. we can say that education is the knowledge or the skill that can be taken . Education can teach us as individuals or communities the good things and the bad , it can help us to have a good choice for our future based on our strengths or weakness ( in high school you can gain these skills ) and direct us to our role in society . Some countries do not have good standards in education , resulting in a society having aimless lives. Some of them find themselves as criminals or useless people so they did not feel their role to improve their countries and most of them do not take their responsibilities toward their children, which make the children consider as negative citizens.