Social Classes In The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

There is a story called “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and it is about a girl who is poor who goes to an expensive toy store and feels out of place. As anyone would be if you were on a field trip and you were poor, you would also come to the realization of how unequal it is between social classes. One of the main characters introduced the idea of social inequality to these group of kids, her name was Miss Moore. Sylvia who also happens to be one of the main characters has a very sarcastic and pessimistic view on life. There are other characters such as Junebug, Flyboy, Fat Butt, Sugar, Rosie, and of course Sylvia, do not think that Miss Moore is a good teacher and because of that some of them don’t listen to Miss Moore. Sylvia wants to do …show more content…
She doesn’t like the idea of the “new world” by mocking other characters in the story who are talking about it. When you look at this story you can see that Miss Moore is showing them how what means so much to others could mean so little some. When Sugar finally concludes Miss Moore 's lesson, "This is not much of a democracy if you ask me”, Sylvia responds, "I am disgusted with Sugar 's treachery"(Bambara). When Mercedes tells Miss Moore about her stationery with "a big rose on each sheet" and "envelopes that smell like roses," Rosie, like Sylvia, joins in mocking her: "Who wants to know about your smelly-ass stationery?" (Bambara). When she is leaving the store she faces several emotions such as hate, anger, refusal to come to reality, and uncertainty. You can see how Sylvia starts struggling with the realization that she is in poverty and she started criticizing Miss Moore for ever taking them on this field trip. Sylvia’s response to the toys, there pieces, and to the people who actually buy them can be seen clearly because she finally came to the reason of the Miss Moore taking them to that store. She understands how unequal the social classes are and how one person could afford those expensive toys and some can’t and it makes her mad. She finds it difficult to come to the realization that she is in fact not wealthy and she feels ashamed of it but she would deny it rather …show more content…
If you think about it what kind of reaction would you have if you were Sylvia? Many people don’t realize how embarrassed you are when you are around people who are wealthy. You can see it especially in schools when some kids show up in designer clothes and some just barely have a sweater or book bag. As a future educator this is a lesson I would want my kids to learn that way the rich kids can open up their eyes and be grateful for what they have. The lesson in this story is a very powerful and realistic one and kids need to come to this realization sooner rather than later in life. Poor or not we are all the same, we are all people and no matter what social class we are in we need to see that other people are taken care of as well. We need to stop being so selfish and help others because I’m sure if you were poor you would hope that someone would be able to help you. We need to make sure they feel they belong because poor or not we all are equal. Maybe not moneywise we are not but poor or rich physically we are all people and we all need to be treated the same regardless of social