Toni Cade Bambara The Lesson

Life for the average African American in the 1960’s was characterized as being destitute and uneducated. This lifestyle is portrayed through the children in Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “The Lesson.” In the story, a group of African American kids who are living the stereotypical life of the 60’s are taken under Mrs. Moore’s wing and taught how to live a better, happier life. Despite their unappreciative attitudes, she determines to convince them that there is something better to life than cheating or stealing. Mrs. Moore’s teaching expresses the most important theme of the story – making one’s life better through education.
Mrs. Moore teaches the kids that, for the minority, money is valued differently from those of higher education and standards. For some people, the thirty-five dollars for a clown or even one-thousand dollars for a toy sailboat is merely pocket change while others can barely survive for a full year on that same amount of money. This lesson is explained by Miss Moore on page 174 when she says, “Imagine for a minute 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.” In order to have money to buy food or other necessities with, poor black families must sacrifice the luxuries or toys that their kids …show more content…
Moore give a subtle lesson on how there is an entire world around them that they cannot see. When Ronald asks about the microscope, Miss Moore starts talking about the things around them that are “invisible to the naked eye” (171). She says that there are, “a million and one living things in the air around us is invisible to the naked eye” (171). Miss Moore wants the kids to see that they are not the smallest or most insignificant beings on the earth. She also takes this opportunity to tell the kids that a person’s education never ends and that they will always be able to learn new things as seen on page 171, “you never outgrow learning

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Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

Summary Of The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara