Literary Devices in The Lesson Essay

The Lesson

Toni Cade Bambara wrote the short story The Lesson in 1972. The Lesson is a great work of fiction because of its use of language, theme, and symbolism. The Lesson takes place in New Yorks inner city. The fictional story begins with a group of poor, uneducated, lower class city kids standing in front of a mailbox, preparing themselves for another boring day with Mrs. Moore. Mrs. Moore felt that it was her duty to help the children learn because she was one of the only women in the neighborhood that had any education. Mrs. Moore feels that if she can educate these kids that they will get out of the slums one day and make something of themselves.

The main character is Sylvia, who tells the story in a first person. Sylvia is a young black girl who uses slang to tell the story. By Bambaras choice of words, the reader can tell that Sylvia is very opinionated and not happy about having to be taught by Mrs. Moore. Sylvia states, we kinda hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who cluttered up our parks and pissed on our hand ball walls (Bambara 462). The story wouldnt have had the same meaning it does if Bambara would have chosen a different character to tell the story. Bambara chose Sylvia to tell the story because she wanted the reader to be able to physically see the cultural differences between white and black people.

On the way to the subway with the kids Mrs. Moore waived down a taxi cab to see if they could do some math to figure out how much a ten percent tip would be for the cabbie. Mrs. Moore gave Sylvia a five dollar bill and told her to figure it out. After stepping out of the cab and peering into the window, Sylvia knows that this is not just any toy store and there is a reason that Mrs. Moore took them there. Mrs. Moore felt that there was a lesson to learn at FAO Schwartz, a very expensive, upper class toy store. Outside of the toyshop the children see a lot of very expensive toys, including a microscope, a paperweight and a sailboat.

The first thing the kids saw when they got out of the cab was a microscope. Ronald (aka Big Butt) says, Hey, Im going to buy that there. (Bambara 463), and the other kids make fun of him. Mrs. Moore asks Ronald what hes going to look at with the microscope if he was to get it. He didnt know what to tell her, so she went into a big spill about all the things that couldnt be seen with the naked eye that you can see with a microscope. Such as, thousands of bacteria in a drop of water and the somethinorother in a speck of blood and the million and one living things in the air around us. (Bambara 463).

When the kids first saw the paperweight none of them knew what it was. Sylvia says to herself that my eyes tell me its a chunk of glass cracked with something heavy, and different-color inks dripped into the splits, then the whole thing put into a oven or something. But for $480 it dont make sense (Bambara 464). Even after Mrs. Moore explains what it is and its use, the children still do not understand its use or price. The paperweight symbolizes importance in the story. The paperweight also symbolizes that their living in the slums and never reaching out for something better can be holding them down. The kids are the paper being held by the paperweight. To them, $400 is a lifes worth of work.

The sailboat is used by Bambara to represent freedom and the journey of life. The journey to the toy store was only a cab ride away. However, it was only a short chance for the kids to see this type of lifestyle. If the kids wished to permanently escape the world of poverty they would have to realize that it wasnt going to be easy. There are many steps along the way and you first have to be educated before you can take any of them. It would be the same for someone who wanted to sail, they would have to first learn how. Sylvia cannot understand why someone would pay that much when my sailboat cost me about fifty cents (Bambara 464). Bambara raises interesting thoughts with the use of symbolism with the boat.

Another element that Bambara incorporates in The Lesson is the theme. The theme is that life is not always fair and that if you want something, you have to work hard for it. The theme can be recognized by the way she establishes a difference between social and ethnic classes. Sylvia wants to suggest that her and the other kids go to the Sunset and terrorize the West Indian Kids and take their hair ribbons and their money too (Bambara 463). Possessions are things to be taken by the strongest person. Then when the children arrive in Manhattan, they see all the white people with their riches and claim white folks crazy (Bambara 463). Where you are born on the social ladder is not a choice and might not be considered to be fair. Bambara incorporates the theme of The Lesson into the story by her word choice. Bambara was able to express and show different views on life by bringing a few poor city kids into a very nice toy store.

In conclusion, the moral of the story is, you can be anything you want to be as long as you put the work into making yourself everything you want to be. Mrs. Moore is trying to teach these underprivileged kids that just because they grow up poor and uneducated that they can still make something of themselves and make a better life for their kids to grow up in. Mrs. Moore took them to the toy store to show to them that the crazy white folks are no better than they are. If they put their minds to it they can be just as well off as the white folks. Although Sylvia doesnt want Mrs. Moore to know that she has learned anything from the trip to the toy store she probably took more out of it than any other kid.