the Lesson

A detailed Summary of the Lesson


In Toni Bambara's short story "The Lesson", she relates about a girl, Sylvia, who rebels against her teacher, Miss Moore, by refusing to learn or to listen to what she has to say. Miss Moore is a well-educated woman, who has realized things within society that others of her social group have not realized yet; therefore, she feels the need to transmit that anxiety to her pupils, and instill a challenge within them. By rebelling against her teacher, Sylvia demonstrates her supposed self-sufficiency and her ignorance, since she believes she knows everything when she says, "But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin" (Bambara 223). Nevertheless, after Miss Moore's lesson Sylvia is confused and she knows deep inside that her teacher was right, although she never admits it, because of her pride. Rebelliousness is a path to nowhere, in the end it is going to agree with the opposition's point of view, just as Sylvia realized that Miss Moore's ideas were somewhat true.

Miss Moore's education has shown her the real situation within society beyond the boundaries established by her social group. The narrator, Sylvia, explains Miss Moore'


Rebelliousness is a consequence of self-sufficiency, which is a belief that is based on a total and supposed independency from other people. There is not a single human being that can be successful and at the same time live isolated from other's ideas and differences. Thereby, there is not such thing as a victorious rebellion against other people's point of views, just a strong pride that cannot afford to admit the opposition's validity; however, either way, the rebel side will have to step down way down the line.

Sylvia is just a plain girl, her life is mainly about her and her best friend, Sugar, having fun, dreaming, playing, making plans against the adults, and how "everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right" (218). Apparently, these are not extraordinary characteristics within a kid; however, she refuses to listen to Miss Moore, because she does not need her or her worthless ideas - she has lived and seen enough. The environment, in which she has grown up in, has not created inside her the desire to calm the thirst for knowledge. Sylvia's ignorance leads her to conf

Some common words found in the essay are:
Miss Moore, Miss Moore's, Toni Bambara's, miss moore, miss moore's, listen miss moore, listen miss,

Approximate Word count = 767
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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