Economic Inequality in Toni Cade Bambaras The Lesson Essay examples --

Sylvia and The Struggle Against Class Consciousness in Toni Cade Bambaras The Lesson The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara is not just a spirited explanation about a poor girl out of place in an expensive victimize store, it is a social commentary. The Lesson is a story about one African-American girls struggle with her growing awareness of class inequality. The character pretermit Moore introduces the facts of social inequality to a distracted group of urban center kids, of whom Sylvia, the main character, is the most cynical. Flyboy, Fat Butt, Junebug, Sugar, Rosie, Sylvia and the rest think of Miss Moore as an unsolicited educator, and Sylvia would rather be doing anything else than listening to her. The conflict between Sylvia and Miss Moore, This nappy-head beef and her goddamn college degree (307), represents more than the everyday dislike of authority by a young adolescent. Sylvia has her own perception of the way things work, her own world that she does not like to have invaded by the prying questions of Miss Moore. Sylvia knows in the back of her mind that she is poor, but it never bothers her until she sees her disadvantages in blinding contrast with the luxuries of the wealthy. As Miss Moore introduces her to the world of the rich, Sylvia begins to attribute shame to poverty, and this sparks her to question the lesson of the story, how money aint divided up right in this country (308). Sylvia uses her daydreams as an alternative to situations she doesnt want to deal with, reservation a sharp distinction between reality as it is and reality as she wants to perceive it. For instance, as they ride in a cab to the toy store, Miss Moore puts Sylvia in charge of the fare and tells her to give the driver ten percent. Instead of figurin... ...siting F.A.O. Schwarz awakens in Sylvia an internal struggle she has never felt, and through criticizing Miss Moore, Sylvia distances herself from realizing her poverty. In her responses to the toys, their prices, and t he unseen people who buy them, it is evident that Sylvia is confronting the truth of Miss Moores lesson. As Sylvia begins to understand social inequality, the realization of her own disadvantage makes her angry. For Sylvia, achieving class consciousness is a painful enlightenment. For her to accept that she is underprivileged is shameful for her, and Sylvia would rather deny it than admit a wound to her pride aint nobody gonna beat me at nuthin (312). Works CitedBambara, Toni Cade. The Lesson. Eds. Hans P. Guth and Gabriele L. Rico. Discovering books Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall, 1997. 307-12.