Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, it is evident that the idea conveyed through inner dialogue is how exposure to certain circumstances can inspire motivation for a goal. Midway through the story we experience a shift in the focus as Sylvia and the others go around the store, observing the gap between those of higher and lower financial status. She notes that the worth of some of the merchandise is enough to support a family and realizes, “What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it?” (Bambara, 6). Demonstrated in her thinking, she is wondering how they must know something she didn’t to obtain that wealth. It can be inferred that these people making less money work as hard or possibly harder than those with more money, and so this leads
When asked to race to the store, she decides to go think instead, “She can run if she wants to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin” (Bambara, 7). This quote conveys the newfound determination in Sylvia towards something she almost explicitly ignored at the beginning of the story. She spent half of the text being clear that the idea of learning anything of value from Miss Moore was ridiculous, however in the end she is left pondering an experience that Miss Moore purposefully introduced to her as a lesson. As a direct result of this lesson, she has this newly founded motivation to never be beaten at anything, setting a goal for herself to be the best she can be. It is also noted that she now prefers this goal to what she found more appealing at the beginning, spending time with Sugar. Furthermore, in the middle of the story when all the kids are in the toy store, Sylvia is getting agitated by Sugar's admiration of the items. When looking at the $1,195 boat “Sugar ran a finger over the whole boat. And I’m jealous and want to hit