1

Robert Shacklock

Dr. Claudine Perreault

42.212 – The Short Story

February 16, 2011

Essay #1 – Analysis of The Lesson

The Lesson was first published in 1972 in the book “Gorilla, My Love”. “Gorilla,

My Love” was a collection of fifteen short stories written between 1950 and 1970 by

Toni Cade Bambara. “The Lesson” is like other stories in “Gorilla, My Love” that all told

through a first-person point of view by a narrator who is often a tough, brave, and caring

young girl.

Toni Cade Bambara was born March 25, 1939 and grew up in Harlem, Bedford

Stuyvesant, and Queens New York. She graduated from Queens College in 1959 with a

Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts/English Literature and completed her Masters Degree

in American Studies at City College in New York. She eventually went on to teach at

Livingston College in 1969 as an assistant professor of English. During her life, Bambara

was at the forefront of radical politics, African American Culture, and the feminist

movement. Her writing exposes the injustices and inequalities imposed on African

Americans, that mainstream America avoided.

“The Lesson” is told in a first-person narrative be a character named Sylvia, a

school aged girl that lives in Harlem, New York during what the reader can assume is the

late 1960’s to early 1970’s based on the prices of certain items in the toy shop that is

visited in the story. Through Sylvia’s observations and language readers learn a great deal

about the environment Sylvia has grown up in as well as how she views the world.
 2

During the story Sylvia goes from being outspoken and sarcastic to reserve as Sylvia

learns the lesson. In the story it is summer time and she is on summer vacation. Summer

vacation for Sylvia is spending time at the park, at the show, and at the pool. This may

sound ok, but as Silvia describes it the park is full of alcoholic bums. The apartment

where she lives is also littered with bums throughout the stairwells and hallways of her

apartment building, most likely located in a project.

During the story Sylvia and her cousin Sugar discover the uneven distribution of

wealth that is part of American society. Even though they are cousins, Sugar and Sylvia

are also good friends who have grown up together in the same poor conditions. By the

end of the story Sylvia and Sugar are like the two sides of a coin. Sylvia takes the lesson

with her and puts it to use while Sugar forgets about it. The lesson is taught to them by

Miss Moore, a college educated woman who tries to pass her knowledge to the children

of the neighborhood. This is something Miss Moore does over the summer and her

lessons are often hidden is situations or questions that she leads to children into.

There are several other characters in the story such as Junebug, Flyboy, Fat Butt,

Rosie Giraffe, Mercedes, and QT. Junebug is somewhat childish and most likely younger

than Sylvia. Flyboy like Sylvia is outspoken. He is also smart; it is mentioned in the

story that he is able to manipulate white people in school in order to sympathize with

him. Flyboy’s brother is Fat Butt whose name is actually Ronald and is described by

Sylvia as a glutton. Ronald shows some interest in the microscope at FAO Swartz and

could have some academic potential if he were able to gain access to a better education

than the inner city schools are likely to provide. Rosie like Silvia is outspoken. She is also

somewhat aggressive towards Mercedes who tries to be more proper than the other
 3

children and becomes the subjects of many jokes. Mercedes has things the other children

do not have such as a desk and stationary that her godmother had given her. The jokes

and aggression towards Mercedes may stem from jealousy over these items. Last is QT

who is younger than the other children but seems to understand the sailboat at FAO

Swartz is very expensive after staring at it for a long time.

On the surface “The Lesson” is simply a story about a woman, Miss Moore,

taking a group of children on a field trip to FAO Swartz. “The Lesson” actually turns out

to be a journey of discovery and responsibility for the children. The story starts and

coincidently ends at the mailbox. The mailbox may represent a place where mail and

information is sent and received. From the mail box the story switches to a taxi ride

where Miss Moore gives Sylvia five dollars to pay for the taxi. The taxi is a luxury that

the children or their parents could not afford. Sylvia is not quite ready for the

responsibility of handling the money and shows it when she decides not to tip the taxi

driver. Sylvia also fails to give the change from the taxi ride back to Miss Moore; this

was another test of responsibility that Sylvia failed. In the end Miss Moore allows Sylvia

to keep the money as a gift that Sylvia would too proud to take any other way. After the

Taxi ride the children realize they are on Fifth Avenue because of the fancy clothes

people are wearing. Sylvia says white people are crazy as she notices a woman in a fur

coat in the middle of the summer. The children next stop outside FAO Swartz where they

just look in the windows first. FAO Swartz is not a store the children or their parents

would be able to afford to shop in and Miss Moore lets them look until the children start

realizing the prices of the things in the window. This shows Miss Moore’s intelligence

and she does it to reinforce that this is a place they would not normally be able to shop at.
 4

Sylvia and Sugar start to understand the lesson when the go to enter FAO Swartz and

hesitate because they begin to feel shame, the same shame Sylvia felt in the Catholic

Church. Mercedes goes right in the store demonstrating that she has not begun to

understand the lesson. When Sugar touches the boat in the store, Sylvia feels like she

wants to hit someone and is not sure why. Violence is a reaction to the unknown and

demonstrates that Sylvia still has more to learn at this point. After leaving FAO Swartz

the children and Miss Moore take the subway instead of a taxi again so the children will

compare the two after seeing what they do not have. Upon returning to the mailbox where

they started Sugar is able to expresses that price of a toy could feed a family of six or

seven easily and that the chance to pursue happiness is not equal for everyone because

this could only be true is everyone had an equal shot at the money as well. Sylvia then

begins to walk off with Sugar following. With a weird feeling in her chest she brushes

Sugar off when she catches up. Sugar does not seem to notice and says “Well, we got

four dollars anyway,” and suggest ways to spend it. At this point the Sugar has forgotten

he lesson and feeling in Sylvia’s chest is her realization of the lesson.

Bibliography

Charters, Ann. "Toni Cade Bambara." The Story and Its Writer: an Introduction to Short
Fiction. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 81-87. Print.

Graves, Roy Neil. "Bambara's the lesson." The Explicator 66.4 (2008): 214+. Academic
OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.

Wright, Katy M. "The role of dialect representation in speaking from the margins: 'The
Lesson' of Toni Cade Bambara." Style Spring 2008: 73+. Academic OneFile. Web. 15
Feb. 2011.