In The Lesson, the narrator overcomes the silence caused by the pigmentation of their skin and finds the moral courage to voice their opinions amidst double standards.
In The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara, protagonist Miss Moore educates local children about the unfair distribution of wealth and advises them to strive for a better life. Bambara instills the idea that intelligence and awareness exist everywhere and need to be awakened instead of silenced. Syliva, the African-American narrator from Harlem, believes Miss Moore moved to her neighborhood “with nappy hair” and “no makeup” (1). Sylvia’s hatred toward Miss Moore reveals her discomfort around an educated person and highlights her belief that black people could never be as intelligent as white people. Miss Moore’s “proper speech” (1) makes the kids associate her with the white bourgeois class resulting in the children “hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddam college degree” (1). Hence the narrator and other children feel alienated from her which emphasizes the children’s awareness of their marginalization in democracy and their inability to escape their social class.
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When Miss Moore takes Sylvia and her friends on a field trip to FAO Swartz, the children recognize the difference between the upper class and lower class. For instance, when Miss Moore asks the kids to pay the taxi cab driver along with a ten percent tip, she wants them to learn math. Moreover, by firing away questions, Miss Moore tries to make the children voice their views about the high-profile store on Fifth Ave. Despite Sylvia’s initial negative attitude and rude response to the excursion, Miss Moore succeeds in highlighting the absurd prices of items and how thirty-five dollars can buy more important items in life than a clown. Overwhelmed by the expensive toys and a white woman wearing a fur coat during the summer, the children conceive that “white folks [are] crazy” (2). Bambara makes the time the story takes place clear in order to emphasize income disparities because most of the city’s population dwindles to those who cannot afford to leave in the summer. Sylvia realizes that the injustice done towards them stems from the lack of education in their poverty-stricken community, and she imagines “what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven” (6). After being introduced to the realization of the unfair distribution of wealth and diverse democracy, the children understand that the African American community deserves the same respect as everyone else, but they need to find the strength to voice their rights in order to create a good life on their own. At a crucial development stage in their life, the children gain a point of clarity from Miss Moore’s lesson. The experience inspires Sylvia to work harder and believe that “ain’t nobody gonna beat me [her] at Nuthin” (7). Injustice helps Sylvia focus on her anger and turns Miss Moore’s short trip from a “boring-ass” (1) arithmetic lesson to a revolutionary experience. She makes them question the fairness of social and economic class stratification in a country that appears to be the representative of Democracy. Miss Moore does not try to implement the prescribed theories she might have learned at established educational institutes; rather she attempts to help them to apprehend the significance of the fact that “poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie” (6).
The author writes about African Americans in a literal and metaphorical prison which became a reality as a result of the Great Depression and wars. The brute force needed to open the cage introduces a greater sense of violence breeding violence. In overcoming their silence, African Americans became more assertive in their demands for equality and a better future.
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The Lesson’ by Toni Cade Bambara: Critical Analysis Essay.
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