Essay #1 In the short story "The Lesson," by Toni Cade Bambara, a young, a group of young African-American children learn

about the inequality of life through the teachings of someone who has been in their shoes at one point. Sylvia, a troubled African-American youth, narrates the story in a very believable and candid way. This gives the readers insight into her and her friends' community, backgrounds, and attitudes regarding life. Sylvia's crass language and general sassiness gives the story a very "real" atmosphere to it. As she narrates the story, she uses incorrect grammar, slang and made-up nicknames for her fellow classmates. Bambara makes sure to show the reader that Sylvia is uneducated, from a low-income area, and probably has parents that speak the same way she does. Sylvia disdains those who do not speak her "language" (like Ms.Moore) and most likely views them to be different from herself and her community, who mostly prefer to speak this altered English as a way of differentiating themselves from mainstream society. Sylvia's disrespectful attitude towards authority figures is displayed in her initial view of Ms. Moore. She immediately picks her out as somewhat alien to the rest of them in the way that she speaks proper English, and says that "[they] kind of hated her." This distrust of authority most likely stems from the fact that she in an African-American, living in an African-American community, and the discrimination that they face from the rest of society at this time. This could best be seen in Sugar's question upon entering the toy store: "can we steal?" Another part of her disrespect for authority comes from simply being a kid. For example,

when in the toy store, she and her fellow students were frustrated with Ms. Moore for making them pay attention to her when they are in a toy store. Sylvia's tomboyish qualities are outlined throughout the story as well. Her dominance over her friend, Sugar is displayed when she responds to Ms. Moore's question and Sylvia "is disgusted with her treachery," as she wished for her friend to join her in shunning Ms. Moore and her authority. She became quite angry in response to the seeing absurdly-priced toys that she cannot have, and wanted to "punch somebody in the mouth." Her competitiveness also shows in the last line of the story when she refers to Sugar beating her to the store and tells the reader "ain't no one gonna beat me at nothin'." Bambara gives a sympathetic view of Sylvia to the reader by allowing her to narrate the story. It is quite obvious what she tries to communicate in this story in regard to income disparity, but it would have been far to dry and obvious a story had she used a third-person narrative. By using a first person narrative, Bambara defies black-and-white, good-and-bad boundaries, and allows the reader to decide for themselves what they think of Sylvia. Overall, it appears that Sylvia had learned "the lesson" taught to her by Ms. Moore by the end of the story, but did not want to admit it, due to her rebellious nature and disregard for authority. By the end of the story, she is still the same rebellious, disobedient kid who does not want to listen to her teacher. Maybe she will find her way in the world and help children children like Ms. Moore did