Notes on Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson" Characters: Sylvia: the narrator and protagonist‚ a sassy‚ defiant African-American girl who resists the educational overtures of Miss Moore. The story’s plot centers on a "teaching moment" or pedagogical breakthrough‚ where Sylvia is disturbed out of her complacency‚ having been exposed to the other side of the social ladder. Sugar: one of Sylvia’s better friends‚ a sidekick if you will. Sugar noticeably picks up on Miss Moore’s lesson faster than
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“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara is a narrative told by a young black girl named Sylvia. The main theme of the story is social inequality for African-Americans. Miss Moore is an educated laby who lives in the same neighborhood that Sylvia lives in. Miss Moore’s intelligence and education allows her to take the children out for educated lessons. One day Miss Moore takes the children out to the city to visit the toy store F.A.O Schwartz‚ in an attempt to show the children something that they would
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Rupp Eng 101 October 16‚ 2013 The story “The Lesson‚” by Toni Cade Bambara‚ is about a young girl named Sylvia who is accompanied by a group of her friends from her neighborhood and her elderly neighbor named Ms. Moore‚ who tries to teach all of them a lesson about life. “The Lesson” is a realistic story that takes place in the mid-20th century that exemplifies the true difference between upper and lower classes during that time period. Although Sylvia might come off as a mean and cocky little
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During the reading of the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara” many thoughts have come to my mind on how to react towards the attitude and the feelings of the protagonist‚ Sylvia. The day starts when Ms. More brings the kids to downtown New York City in a special shop. Many things will occur at this place and one thing that we will notice is the innocence throughout the interactions of the kids. As they step inside FAO Schwarz‚ an important and well known store in the city‚ they happen to see
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Toni Cade Bambara’s short story‚ "The Lesson‚" takes place in inner city New York. The main character‚ Sylvia‚ is a fourteen year old African American girl‚ who tells the story in a first person narrative. Sylvia mentions Miss Moore‚ a teacher who felt that it was her duty to help underprivileged children learn. Miss Moore felt there was a lesson to learn at FAO Schwartz‚ a very expensive‚ upper class toy store in downtown Manhattan. The reason Miss Moore brings the children to FAO Schwartz is captured
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The short story‚ “The Lesson‚” by Toni Cade Bambara‚ portrays one of the most interesting themes in literature‚ the initiation story. The story illustrates a group of kids who live in the slums in New York city. They are unaware of their environment‚ and Ms. More is conscious of this situation. In a basis‚ she teaches the kids life lessons to help them strive for success and attempt to better themselves and their situations. In this occasion‚ she brings them to a toy story‚ but not just a common
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Toni Cade Bambara uses her story “The Lesson” to point out that America is still not an equal society because of the different income level between rich people and poor people. She considers that the different income levels people have build up the different environment they live in‚ and where people are born may cause who they are if Americans keep ignoring the unequal facts appear around them. (253-259) Bambara’s story gives readers a good view from poor people to look at the differences between
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Raymond’s Run Essay This is a story by the writer Toni Cade Bambara who describes the events that take place in the life of a skinny girl named Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker‚ a little African-American girl with a squeaky voice that has passion to run. However the tale begins describing the members of her family‚ the author writes more about Hazel and her brother Raymond. Raymond is not quite right; apparently he suffers a metal disease. He’s bigger and older than Hazel‚ but a lot of people
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through loss and pain. “Superheroes”‚ a well known pop song‚ by The Script‚ shows the themes of perseverance and empowerment‚ and how to get through the hard times in life. In a way‚ this relates to the protagonist of “Raymond’s Run” written by Toni Cade Bambara‚ Squeaky‚ who deals with a lot of hardships in life‚ for though “all the kicks and all the blows/ he won’t ever let it show” At an early age‚ she is dealt with the burden of taking care of her mentally disabled older brother‚ and is also going
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“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara was published in 1972. The setting takes place in New York. Starting off with Sylvia‚ the main character along with her friends Sugar‚ Junior‚ Flyboy‚ Fatbutt‚ Junebug‚ Q.T‚ Rosie Giraffe‚ and Mercedes are enjoying their summer vacation. Miss Moore‚ an educated black woman who takes the children to learn and expand their mind. Since Sylvia is telling the story we get Sylvia’s internal conflict about Miss Moore taking the children away from their summer vacation
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