Discussion Topic
Miss Moore's Statement "Where We Are Is Who We Are" in "The Lesson"
Summary:
In Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," Miss Moore's statement "Where we are is who we are" highlights the impact of socioeconomic circumstances on identity and worldview. She aims to show Sylvia and her peers that their impoverished upbringing limits their perspectives and potential. Through a visit to FAO Schwartz, she exposes them to wealth disparities, hoping to inspire change. While Sylvia resists Miss Moore's condescension, she begins to grasp the unfairness of economic inequality, hinting at a deeper understanding of the lesson.
In Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," what is the meaning of Miss Moore's statement "Where we are is who we are," and does Sylvia understand it by the end?
Miss Moore, a college-educated young woman, is spending some time in a low-income neighborhood where Sylvie and her friends live. They are all African Americans, but Miss Moore is not from the community. She is involved in a service project working with the local children. Starting from the conviction that the children are poor and have a limited understanding of the wider world, she aims to educate them about the differences between their community and other, wealthy areas of New York.
Miss Moore’s statement, "Where we are is who we are," refers to the connection between environment and identity. For the most part, she is referring to the effects on the children of growing up in a low-income, segregated community among other African Americans. She feels that the children’s potential for self-realization is being inhibited by living in this community and that they will benefit from seeing first-hand the great...
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disparities in wealth in the city.
Sylvie carefully thinks over Miss Moore’s ideas, but she cannot agree that they are poor. The field trip to the fancy toy store, FAO Schwartz, in mid-town Manhattan gives her food for thought, but she continues to resent Miss Moore’s condescending attitude. In contrast, Sugar parrots the messages that she knows Miss Moore wanted them to learn, but it seems doubtful that she has processed the meaning.
What does Ms. Moore mean by "where we are is who we are" in "The Lesson"?
In addition to meaning that the specific circumstances of one’s socioeconomic status are the “where,” Miss Moore’s quote also suggests a psychological place.
While it is true that Sylvia and the other children are seemingly trapped in the circumstances of their impoverished upbringing, they are also limited in their understanding of why the world is the way it is. Miss Moore attempts to broaden the children’s horizons by demonstrating life lessons. The trip to the toy store is meant to underscore how drastically one’s socioeconomic status can impact one’s view of money and what is reasonable.
Sugar and, later, Sylvia are both disturbed that anyone would spend so much money on an unnecessary item, because it is not something they have ever seen occur within their neighborhoods. More than that, Sylvia comes to understand the unfairness of this drastic difference in financial worldview.
Miss Moore’s words serve as a reminder that if one does not open his or her eyes to the realities outside his or her own bubble, then he or she will be destined to remain inert. Her desire is for the students to change not only their circumstances, but also the systemic inequalities that created those circumstances.
In my opinion, what Ms. Moore means is that people's lives and personalities are totally shaped by the circumstances and surroundings in which they live.
We can see that in how the kids behave in this story. Because they are all relatively poor, their outlooks on life are very different than those of the people who can actually shop at FAO Schwartz. The kids only know poverty.
This is something that Ms. Moore is trying to fight against. She wants the kids to see that where they are should not be permanent and that they should fight what she sees as injustice.
In Bambara’s “The Lesson,” what circumstances cause Sylvia to reflect on Miss Moore's statement?
Where we are is who we are, Miss Moore always pointin out. But it don’t necessarily have to be that way.
In Toni Cade Bambara's short story "The Lesson," Sylvia notes that Miss Moore is always saying to the kids she is mentoring:
Where we are is who we are...
Miss Moore continues by saying that it doesn't have to be that way. Miss Moore, a black woman of obvious intelligence, makes it a practice to spend time with a group of young black children to teach them things (lessons) about the world in which they live so they have the knowledge that the life they are living at that moment is not necessarily the way they must live for the rest of their lives.
The context of this statement is found in this newest "lesson" that involves taking the children to F.A.O. Schwarz in New York City, famous for its wide selection of unusual toys. Unlike the toy stores many readers may know, this store is geared to the very wealthy. For instance, they see a sailboat for over a thousand dollars. The children note that their toy boats cost 50 cents or a dollar.
After the excursion is over, Miss Moore gathers the children together again to see if they have learned anything important.
Then Sugar surprises me by sayin, "You know, Miss Moore, I don't think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs." And Miss Moore lights up like somebody goosed her.
Miss Moore asks Sugar to continue, but Sylvia—who dislikes doing what adults expect her to do—stands on Sugar's foot in order to shut her up.
"I think," say Sugar pushing me off her feet like she never done before cause I whip her ass in a minute, "that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don't it?" Miss Moore is besides herself and I am disgusted with Sugar's treachery.
This is what Miss Moore has been hoping for—that the children understand that they way they live compared to others (like customers at the toy store) is not the way life has to remain for them. Miss Moore is looking straight at Sylvia when she asks if anyone else learned anything.
Sylvia refuses to be drawn in. She walks away and Sugar follows. To the reader it might seem as if Sugar has no intention of paying any attention to this lesson. However, we may remember that earlier Sylvia commented that something weird was going on. They leave Miss Moore and run to get something to eat, but the reader can infer that the lesson did reach Sylvia as she muses to herself...
...ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.