"The Lesson"

     Toni Cade Bambara’s story “The Lesson“ uses a first person narration that is refreshing to hear, since most short stories are written in the third person. One of the main details I focused on is how once at the toy store, the children feel uneasy and out of place. They’re completely stunned by the high prices(as I most certainly would be), seeing a chunk of glass that costs $480 in 1960s money, or a toy sailboat that cost $1,195! 


    Miss Moore seems to use the trip to showcase  how an unjust economic and social capital system creates disproportionate access for black Americans to resources, and offers education as one tool to protect themselves from the system. I can’t help bu think of Marxist theory throughout the story, and of the Harlem that Malcolm X grew to adulthood in. Civic leaders like Martin Luther King are often quoted but their socialist, economic justice perspective is often left out of school flyers and MLK day celebrations. The symbols in the story are intriguing and subtle. I like how when the children are eyeing the paperweight, Flyboy remarks “I don’t even have a desk.” The fact that the kid from inner city Harlem doesn’t have a dedicated place for study and a store like FEO Scwartz has a an unbelievably priced paperwork underlines the extreme inequality of access to education. The fact that it is a weight that holds down paper might be worth exploring. 

    When I see the sailboat I’m reminded that kids need fantasy and imagination to open their minds up to the possibilities of their adulthood. I spent countless hours in the corner of my home flinging a ball into the air, fantasizing about being many different professions. I think it’s important that when we view disparity in social settings based on race, we factor in the ‘imaginative’ factor, or what kids are given as dreams to hold onto. The inequality of a society bleeds into the morale and imaginative space of people. I’m reminded that when Malcolm X was coming up in school, he wanted to be a lawyer, but  his teacher was sure to remind him that as a bright black person in America, that profession was out of reach, but perhaps he’d be a good janitor or maybe even a secretary. I really enjoyed the way Ms. Bambara’s fiction ignites these memories and that reminds me of my childhood.

Comments

  1. Tom LavazziOctober 19, 2020 at 10:52 AM

    interesting observations. Yes, Marxist theory on one side of the story, but there is another lesson here, which is not about theory.. again, watch closely for character development and change... It's not "what" Sylvia "learns," but what she leans to do that signifies the sharp change in attitude from the beginning of the story, and distinguishes her from other characters...

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