The Lesson

4 Pages 1082 Words

The black youth of our society display some of the most entrepreneurial ability in the world. Many while being from disadvantaged backgrounds, go to college, start businesses, support their families, etc. In today’s society, there are ample opportunities for one to succeed and strive for a better life. Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” shows that although opportunity is always available, it rarely is taken advantage of, especially among the under-privileged in a community.
The reader after evaluation of the first few paragraphs of this short story becomes aware that the characters are young with immature attitudes and highly constricted outlooks on life. In the opening statements of the story, the speaker refers to “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish, me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup…and quite naturally we laughed at her, the way we did at the junk man….” (628). It is from these statements the reader begins to question why the speaker, who lives in the same neighborhood, believes she is better than those who live in and around the community. The Lady described in the quote was named Miss Moore and she is a teacher (629). The speaker then goes on to describe how much she dislikes Miss Moore, she states, “and we kinda hated her too… the only woman on the block without a first name. And she was black as hell…, and she was always planning boring-ass things for us to do” (629). From these words, the reader almost immediately realizes the immaturity level of the speaker, because she has no knowledge of Miss Moore and yet has such negative things to say about her, which in turn not only makes her immature but also very ignorant.
A field trip is planned by Miss Moore for the students to a toy store in the upscale rich part of the city (629). This is done to provide the students with th...