Pak-tung Le

Professor Rachel Corona

English 102

14 March 2015

            After reading “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara it is possible to conclude that it was written to illustrate socio-economic factors growing up in the late 60’s or the early 70’s.

            Miss Moore was a well-educated woman who wanted to teach the children that she took on the outing that what the children thought as their entire world was not necessarily true. Bambara uses Miss Moore to teach the children that with hard work, individuals can better themselves. There is a world that exists which allows children to have possessions that these kids currently do not have, nor had they experienced. The outing also gave these adolescents a glimpse into what Miss Moore had constantly told them. There was a need to work and better themselves or they will not be able to get rewards that they desire.

            When children are growing up, their environments influence them. These environmental influences might be where they live, family life, racial prejudices or a lack of money. What sometimes occurs is that parents and society do not succeed in teaching children that you can always strive to be better. You should not be ashamed of your background because with hard work, you will be able to succeed in changing your life and that you should not feel intimidated by those who might have more than you. The example that Bambara uses to illustrate this is to show Sylvia and Sugar’s reactions to the Catholic Church and FAO Schwarz. The two girls felt intimidated and ashamed of themselves when at both of those places, but the two girls had every right to be in both of them. Miss Moore was also trying to teach the children that there will always be a place that intimidates you in life, however, you need to understand that you have the right to be there and experience things. If you do not believe that you are able to move forward, or feel you do not deserve to have the things that you strive to get, you will not be able to achieve your goal.

            The lesson that Miss Moore was trying to teach them needs to be taught to all children. The lesson of believing in yourself and working hard is something that underprivileged kids need to learn. The greatest assets they have is their mind and abilities to work hard. If they do not use either of them, they will be destined to fail. Miss Moore was somewhat successful in that they children were able to grasp that what the people who shopped at FAO Schwartz spent on toys would allow each child’s family to eat and buy things to take care of their household needs. Sylvia will think about their outing. She appears not to want people to be better than her so perhaps she will be one of the individuals that will get out of there. Doing so, she will no longer feel ashamed upon entering any establishment or feeling she is not worthy to do so.