Review: The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

In John Updike’s “A&P” and Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson” the two authors illustrate difficult initiations teenagers face while they realize the harshness of society around them. Updike’s “A&P” explores the inner thoughts of a teenage boy, Sammy, who makes the tough decision to quit his job at the local A&P and realizes the bitterness of the world. Similarly, Bambara’s “The Lesson” explores the inner thoughts of a teenage girl, Sylvia, who realizes the value of money and clash of social classes through a field trip to a toy store. Although the protagonists are a part of different societies, they share similarities in character development through parallel epiphanies.

One of the seven deadly sins is the act of having too much pride. Pride in general is not an evil feeling to have. It is human to have pride in oneself, but having too much pride is unhealthy and will cause problems somewhere along the way. Two characters who show a harmful amount of pride are Sylvia from Toni Bambara’s “The Lesson” and Sammy John Updike’s “A&P”. A famous quotation states “Pride (arrogance) comes before Destruction... and a haughty spirit, before a fall.” A student, Destiny Orihuela claims that the said quotation applies perfectly to Sylvia and Sammy. The two characters do support the adage as Orihuela claims. Sylvia and Sammy look down on others and believe themselves to be better, the two will not admit they are ever wrong

Miss Moore, a mentor plans a summer trip for the children in Harlem to an expensive toy shop, F.A.O Schwarz to teach them a lesson about the value of money. One of the children is Sylvia and she has an arrogant behavior by saying, “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right” (Bambara 304). Sylvia thinks that she is the smartest person in their neighborhood until Miss Moore comes. Sylvia does not like Miss Moore at all and she “kinda hate her too” (304). She hates Miss Moore because she feels that someone is better and smarter than her in their neighborhood. Sylvia explains why Miss Moore wants to help children’s education, “She’d been to college and said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young one’s education, and she not even related by marriage or blood” (304). Miss Moore wants to teach the children because she wants them to become aware of what is happening in their society. While they are in the toy store, Miss Moore asks the children what they think about their trip and one of the children, Sugar 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?” (309). Sugar learns that there is a social inequality between the rich and poor people. Sugar realizes when they are in the toy store that the cost of the sailboat can feed a lot of families. Because of what Sugar says, Sylvia confesses, “sorrowfully I’m thinkin. And something weird is going on. I can feel it in my chest” (310). Sylvia feels she betrayed by her best friend because at first they hate Miss Moore and after the trip, everything has changed. However, Sylvia realizes that what Sugar say are all true. Sylvia and other children understand what Miss Moore is trying to teach them a lesson. Sylvia changes her point of

William Faulkner was an American author and Nobel prize winner of 1950; in his acceptance speech, he presented the idea that it is a writer’s duty to write about the compassion, courage, and pride of the heart. Faulkner says, “It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.” In the memoir, Kabul Beauty School, a young American woman named Deborah wrote her truth about how she traveled to Afghanistan to support the women of Kabul, but she takes an unexpected turn and her heart leads her to help them in a totally different way. Deborah shows compassion, courage, pity and sacrifice through the women in Kabul. Deborah fulfills her duty through her compelling words and delineate observations of the people she is newly experiencing.

Symbolism is a standout amongst the most vital scholarly terms utilized frequently by numerous authors to pass on their focal thought. As indicated by the Longman Contemporary Dictionary, Symbolism can be characterized as a gadget that brings out more than an exacting importance from a man, question, picture or word.

Within this theoretical discussion I will address how current principles of early years’ pedagogy have been affected by the work of pioneers of early years’ education. Modern day Early Years Education has been hugely influenced and built upon the ideas and theories of historic and current pioneers and legislation.

In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying written by Ernest J.Gaines takes place in a small town located in Louisiana in the 1940s. The most important lesson learned in the novel is to fight for yourself and what you believe and also to never give up . In the novel lesson before dying lesson is proved through this characters; Grant, Jefferson, and Emma.

The symbols present in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, depict the economic and social injustices faced by specific members of society, specifically the children in the story. The characters in the story are being mentored by Miss Moore, a woman from their block who has taken up the role of taking them out on weekly outings. The story touches on the situation of the children that are stuck in living in almost poverty. “The Lesson” focuses on the socioeconomic disparities between the different racial groups and how. Bambara uses several techniques such as irony, othering, and second person point of view to make the story meaningful and demonstrate the characteristics of the characters.

The industrial revolution woke up the sense of humanity in people, yet at the same time It turned it off. To begin with, from the year 1819 through 1901, Great Britain was beginning to face an all new era called the Victorian Era. In fact, this era was named like that, because of queen Victoria. Also, this era was very important because it introduced medical advances, scientific knowledge, and technological knowledge that helped increase work efficiency. However, not all the things that occurred were great. One of the things that were very outrageous, were the working conditions of the employees. As a matter of fact, there were writers, like Charles Dickens with “A Christmas Carol”, Benjamin Disraeli with “Sybil”, and Elizabeth Gaskell with

In fact, as the author in this story, Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia grew up in a very poor neighborhood. Sylvia’s understanding of the world is limited to what she experiences within her neighborhood and her tiny apartment. Scarcity and want are no strangers to her. Luckily, Sylvia and the other kids have Miss Moore as a mentor. Miss Moore begins to work within the kids’ environment to enrich them inasmuch as possible with education. Confronted with much resistance; especially from Sylvia, Miss Moore introduces Sylvia and the kids to another social class; another

Thesis : In her story “ The Lesson” Toni Cade Bambara emphasizes social differences are caused by the economic differences of the world. These social differences and economic kids go through are connected together.

Social injustice and economic inequality were very common during the 1960’s. In the short story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, it shows these differences between neighborhoods. Bambara does a splendid job by giving the reader explicit details to show the injustices during the 1960’s. “The Lesson is told from a first-person narrative from a girl named Silvia, who lives in Harlem, New York. Silvia describes a typical day as one where she is spending time in the park or at the pool, however, in each of these cases, she describes them as being filled with alcoholics living throughout the neighborhood. Though it may seem normal these all changes when Miss Moore moves in on the block. Miss Moore is described as formal, attended

Social inequalities between black and white people are no longer as distinct as they were a few decades ago. Nevertheless, many people still have a lot of prejudices against African-Americans. The unfairness of socioeconomic status can be seen in our daily lives yet it is something that we push to the back of our minds.

Learning style is a way to see how did each one of us learn visual,auditory,reading/writing or kinesthetic learners. Each one of us has different way of learning and understanding. It could be Visual: by seeing the thing that they want to learn , it could be auditory: by listing, or also it could be reading/ writing or Kinesthetic and this by touching and learning how things works. Sometimes we need to teach ourselves and learn from our mistake we make. Each person will need to teach themselve . For me, if I need to teach myself the technique I first take and follow is visual. I like to see things and learn because this is the best way I can teach my self by looking at thing and trying it. Sometimes we need to explore the things that we want

Being a teacher is a journey that has much to do with learning about yourself and being aware that what happens in your classroom reflects only on how are you with yourself. Teachers are not conscious that they project into students, and that affects how things go in the classroom.