Compare and Contrast

All interesting authors expose their readers to experience the essence of the story. In this case, Toni Cade Bambara uses the illustration of her short story “The Lesson”, in order to convey the reality of a 1960’s ghetto, African American community through the eyes of a young girl named Sylvia. Sylvia is a young, fearless girl who has an audacious and outspoken nature despite her constant use of profanity and insulting judgments of Miss Moore. Moreover, Toni Bambara’s technique of literacy in this piece is written in a way that transport the readers to another cultural setting that is condemned by a helpless cycle of economic poverty, which Miss Moore attempts to prevent for the future generation. In addition, Toni Cade Bambara uses her colorful style of tone to express the realism and individualistic characteristic of the urban black community of the 1960s through the use of AAVE, which stands for “African American Vernacular English.” Through this unique style of writing, Toni Bambara’s goal is to challenge or even question society of its unfair economy. Admittedly, it is true that these kids have inherited poor values from their parents. “It also touches on the irresponsibility of lower class parents when it comes to raising their children (Friedman 2).” This is where Miss Moore, the antagonist, comes in. She tries to show these kids what it means to have opportunity to be successful and have a nice life. “She’d been to 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 (pg. 183).” The author portrays Miss Moore as being a proper adult figure for the kids as she shows them the world other than the one they live in. In the beginning of the story, many readers are startled at the fact that Sylvia explicitly uses profanity like it is apart of her everyday speech. She states, “And the starch in my pinafore scratching the shit outta me and I’m