Toni Cade Bambara The Lesson Essay

Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” is told from the perspective of a young girl named Sylvia. Sylvia is not the most reliable reliable narrator as a result of her age and upbringing- she forms opinions of others based on how they relate to her life; if a completely innocent person happens to affect her life in a way that inconveniences her, he or she will be portrayed only in a negative light whether or not this is deserved. Throughout the story, she frames her Miss Moore, who is her neighbor as well as a major protagonist of the story, as an enemy. Miss Moore, who is fairly new to the block, considers it her duty as a college-educated woman to be responsible for the education of the underprivileged children in the area, “and
This matter separates her from both the parents and the children alike. Given what is told of the lives of the children, it is a safe assumption that most of their parents have never pursued a higher education. They are described as “underprivileged” and feel uncomfortable around nice things, implying that they live in poor conditions (paragraph 20). The reader is led to believe that the parents are in low paying jobs (or, in some cases, have no job at all), and never pursued a college degree paragraph 21). Miss Moore's avid passion for education, isolates her from the community. Her burning desire to help underprivileged children and her choice to describe them in such a way implies that she does not she does not put herself in the same category. There is no individual quite like Miss Moore in “The Lesson.” She is clearly considered an outsider by both the children she educates that the adults on her block. Her manner of speech, dress, and behavior all contribute to the way she is misunderstood by the children and ostracized by the community. However, the most prevalent reason for her isolation, by both the adults and the children, is the way she pushes her lessons and knowledge upon the