The Lessons that Sylvia Learns in The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara

Hoping to teach them a lesson on the economic disparity of American society, Miss Moore takes a group of six children to a fancy toy store in the more affluent parts of town. Sylvia, the child who narrates the story, is cynical over the whole affair and feels open contempt for Miss Moore. However, by the end of the trip, she has had a different perspective on life and is more willing to make conscious effort to change the course of her life. This paper posits that Sylvia learned a valuable lesson on the socio-economic disparity of American society and realizes that it is not natural, but rather that it is caused by a skewed system that places her and others in her community at a disadvantage.

Sylvia, the narrator, and her friends live in one of the inner city ghettos of New York City. She is convinced that the trip will expose the children to a different way of life that is beyond their economic means. This would serve both to inspire the kids to yearn for such a life and to impress upon them the skewed socio-economic structure of American society. At the toy store, the children are mesmerized by the exorbitant prices attached to the items on display. The prices are so high that they cannot compare to heirs, most which cost less than a dollar. For instance, the kids see a fiberglass sailboat which is priced at 1,195 dollars at the store. O Schwarz. Firstly, she gets exposed to the heartbreaking disparity in the socio-economic status of different people within American society.

That someone could spend so much money on toys while other people struggle to achieve basic needs such as food and shelter as symbolized by the homeless Flyboy angers Sylvia immensely (Baird 202). She wants to know what the people who can afford such toys do for a living and why they have not let the rest of the society in on their secret. At this point, she remembers Miss Moore’s persistent assertion that where one is born in society often defines the kind of person that they eventually become. She feels that it is her moral obligation to guide the young children from the neighborhood into a better life and future. However, the lead character, Sylvia, is contemptuous of Miss Moore and does very little to hide this fact.