Lou Buscio Experiences in literature 2-18-2014 Essay 2 RD-1 In class we have read literary works that contained issues

of race, gender, and class. In these reading we try to use different critical lenses to understand the authors true point of view. These lenses are viewpoints such as, historical, gender and psychological. For this essay I chose option two, in option two it asks to choose two of the works we read and examine them both with the same critical lens. Out of the works we have read the two that jump out at me most are Toni Cade Bambaras The Lesson, and Countee Cullens Incident. These literary works tie tougher because both of their plots contain the same type of racial discrimination and by showing the critical lens of race I can explain. In Toni Cade Bambaras The Lesson it shows race as a main focus because it is based on a time period in Harlem that was during the Black Renaissance, the feminist movement and a time where African Americans were having a very hard time being equal in society. The story is about a young, poor black girl growing up in Harlem; in the neighborhood that she lives in a trip is organized by a new local woman. The woman is one of the only educated people around and she takes responsibility for the girls to learn a lesson. This lesson is to expose the children of the neighborhood to the world outside of their oppressed community. The place that she takes them is FAO Schwartz in Manhattan; in this store they sell the most expensive toys to only the richest of the white kids. Most of the prices they sell these toys for are equivalent to children in the neighborhoods yearly house incomes combined. This shows race in its self by explaining the similarities in price between a black familys yearly income and a toy of a privileged white child.

You see race being used right away in the story when Sylvia explains Miss Moore as black as hell. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block with no first name. And she was black as hell, cept for her feet, which were fish-white and spooky (Bambara paragraph 1). This example shows racial discrimination in a different way then we usually see, usually it is one race discriminating on another, but in this case it is black on black. Another example of the author showing a racial focus is when Miss Moore finally arrives at the store with the children. In this part of the story after Miss Moore says, Lets look in the window, the first response of one of the girls is, "Can we steal?" Sugar asks very serious like she's getting the ground rules squared away before she plays. (Bambara paragraph 5). This example from the author makes you realize the poverty and lack of money that these children have that the first thing this young girl thinks of when she sees these toys are to steal. It also shows the racial affect because the author wants you to know that the young black girl from Harlem does not know better and that is really her first question when seeing these toys. Race basically outlines this entire story, while reading, the main focus that stays in your mind is that these girls are poor and underprivileged African Americans in a troubling time. The next example of race is portrayed when Sylvia asks Miss Moore, Watcha bring us here for, Miss Moore?, and she responds by saying"You sound angry, Sylvia. Are you mad about something?" Givin me one of them grins like she tellin a grown-up joke that never turns out to be funny. And she's lookin very closely at me like maybe she plannin to do my portrait from memory. I'm mad, but I won't give her that satisfaction. So I slouch around the store bein very bored and say, "Let's go." (Bambara paragraph 44). This shows Sylvia showing her true identity, you can tell she is not very well educated by the way she is talking using words like givin, lookin and bein. Then you can see the attitude she portrays when she does not want to give Miss Moore any satisfaction so she walks around the

store rushing to leave. Even another character shows racial discrimination when after Miss Moore asks the girls what they thought of the store and Rosie Giraffe mumbles, White folks crazy (Bambara paragraph 46). This tells you that the racial discrimination is throughout the community and not just with Sylvia. I believe if the Author didnt want to make it racial she would have never added the white folks comment and just said these people are crazy. In the end of this story it shows Sylvia learning a lesson even though she did not want to throughout the story. The lesson being that there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor and this fact angers Sylvia to the point where she will strive to work harder because no one can beat her. You see this when she says, We start down the block and she gets ahead which is O.K. by me cause I'm going to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through. She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin. (Bambara paragraph 55). The last line of the story shows race by showing that the times were very hard for African Americans back then and if you didnt want to be in poverty your whole life you were going to need the mentality Sylvia had. Her mentality being that no one could be here at anything. In the next work, race is the reason for the authors poem. Countee Cullens Incident is a poem about a young black boy who goes on a trip to Baltimore. On his trip he is devastated by another boy his same age calling him a Nigger. This racism is obvious right from the start. In the first stanza he explains coming to Baltimore with a Heart-filled, head-filled with glee this shows how excited he is and how race or gender is the last thing on this young boys mind. He then comes across a Baltimorean that is just stopped and starring right at him. Before you even read the next stanza you can almost guess what is coming next, and that is some type of profiling whether its racism or something because this other boy is now frozen staring at the visiting black child. In the next stanza he starts with explaining this boy staring at him by saying theres no

way he older or bigger then him. This hints on racism because to the boy visiting Baltimore he looks at this other boy as just another boy who is his same age and same size with nothing to do with race. The visiting boy follows by smiling in a friendly manner at the other boy and his reaction is sticking out his tongue and calling him a nigger. Without explaining anyone can tell this is racism and at such a young age it shows the deep dark truth about how bad it actually was. The boy visiting approached this boy happy and with a smile to show he saw right through race and was just noticing a boy of the same age. On the other hand the other boy immediately noticed the skin color and nothing else; he did not care for the smile or the size and age of the black child. All he noticed was that he was black that shows racism in its worst way. I believe the author is showing us that racism is terrible and that because youre an adult gives it no justice because obviously the apple doesnt fall to far from the tree when that racist elder says nigger too much around his young boy. What the Baltimorean child is taught now is used on the heartfilled, head-filled with glee boy and that results in the boy saying, I saw the whole Baltimore from May until December; of all the things that happened there thats all that I remember, This is sad to see the author showing how devastated the boy was due to the racial profiling and it helps us as readers see how bad racism can hurt somebody no matter what age you are, size you are or city you live in. To conclude race has helped explain both stories by showing two different types of authors portraying two different types of racism. In Bambaras The lesson is showed throughout the story that even without calling someone a certain name racism is in full affect because these young girls living in Harlem all talk and behave as if there trying to state their race and not looking at everyone as equals. In Cullens Incident it is obvious in the entire poem that

the topic is about racism and that being called just a name because you your color can really affect the person being discriminated and that racism is never right.

Work Cited: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171327 http://cai.ucdavis.edu/gender/thelesson.html https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/01/