Lessons Learned
In "The Lesson," by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore takes several children from a lower class neighborhood to F.A.O. Schwartz, an upper class toy store. For today's lesson, Miss Moore, who has a college education, intends to teach the children about the different social and economic classes. The children soon understand that these toys are far beyond their means or their parents', and that someone would have to be rich in order to afford one of these toys. After the children leave the store, we can see how they are affected by the lesson. Was Miss Moore's lesson helpful or hurtful to the children? Perhaps the lesson would be better learned at a later date, because the children are too young to grasp all the aspects of the lesson presented. How will this lesson affect the children's outlook? The children seem to correlate rich with white. For example, when Miss Moore asked what the children thought of the store, Rosie Giraffe responds, "White folks crazy." Will the children now resent white people? If this i
s the case, then this will only make life tougher on the children. It will cause them to distance themselves from "white folks," making it difficult, if not impossible to succeed on many levels of life. If they had learned this lesson on their own or had it been taught later, they would have been able to weather it with more knowledge and not draw generalizations that could last an entire lifetime. Miss Moore has all the good intentions in the world, but her good intentions don't necessarily make up for the fact that this lesson is one of grave importance. The children to whom she is teaching the lesson are very impressionable, and if they misinterpret her lesson it would have a devastating effect on their lives. At the end of the story, Syliva says, "...ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin," not realizing how tough it will be to not let anyone get in her way. At this age, Sylvia is too young to bring about change. She is powerless against the outside world. She is too young with too little voice in the outside wor
Some common words found in the essay are:
Miss Moore, According Sylvia, Rosie Giraffe, Miss Moore's, FAO Schwartz, miss moore, children lesson, social economic, don't necessarily, lesson affect children's, lesson miss, lesson learned, white folks, affect children's, lesson affect, outside world,
Approximate Word count = 692
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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