An expeditious overdose of reality shapes Harlem’s youth, showing them how much they need to work against the status quo and bring upon change. In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, the narrator, Sylvia, goes on a field trip into New York City and is angered by the unfair distribution of wealth that she experiences. A neighborhood college-educated woman, Miss Moore, inspires Sylvia to transform her anger into ambition and activism. To end the short story, Sylvia pledges that “ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin” (60). She knows how many barricades will try to get in her way, but she will surpass them and not be held back. Symbolism in “The Lesson” reveals how Sylvia and her friends differentiate and separate themselves from each other and
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The paperweight is a marker of everything that they are lacking and everything that is far out of their reach. Miss Moore explains the paperweight to the perplexed kids as something meant, “to weight paper down so it won't scatter and make your desk untidy” (57). They are still unable to comprehend its necessity, for the majority of them do not have desks nor homework or papers to hold down. In addition, the toy sailboat is a representation of the lesson they learn on the field trip. Just as Miss Moore forces them into the taxicab, the sailboat is, “just big enough to maybe sail two kittens across the pond if you strap hem to the posts tight” (57) and although they do not want to experience the prominent racial and economic inequalities, it is necessary for them to see what they have to work hard for and look forward to. When Sylvia realizes that, “My sailboat cost me about fifty cents” (57) there is a moment where it is unclear if she wants to strive for more or if she is happy with what she has, because she does not find many differences between the quality of her sailboat and the one thousand dollar sailboat. While they discover how much they will never be able to purchase any time soon, they still find comfort and value in the ice cream sodas, which they know best. Ice cream is a representation of their childhoods that will always be backdrops for every challenge, even when they are put in positions when they are required to act more like adults than kids. At the end of “The Lesson”, the kids go back to being kids who may have lost a big portion of their innocence about race and wealth but should not let that swallow their
The paperweight is a marker of everything that they are lacking and everything that is far out of their reach. Miss Moore explains the paperweight to the perplexed kids as something meant, “to weight paper down so it won't scatter and make your desk untidy” (57). They are still unable to comprehend its necessity, for the majority of them do not have desks nor homework or papers to hold down. In addition, the toy sailboat is a representation of the lesson they learn on the field trip. Just as Miss Moore forces them into the taxicab, the sailboat is, “just big enough to maybe sail two kittens across the pond if you strap hem to the posts tight” (57) and although they do not want to experience the prominent racial and economic inequalities, it is necessary for them to see what they have to work hard for and look forward to. When Sylvia realizes that, “My sailboat cost me about fifty cents” (57) there is a moment where it is unclear if she wants to strive for more or if she is happy with what she has, because she does not find many differences between the quality of her sailboat and the one thousand dollar sailboat. While they discover how much they will never be able to purchase any time soon, they still find comfort and value in the ice cream sodas, which they know best. Ice cream is a representation of their childhoods that will always be backdrops for every challenge, even when they are put in positions when they are required to act more like adults than kids. At the end of “The Lesson”, the kids go back to being kids who may have lost a big portion of their innocence about race and wealth but should not let that swallow their