say, 'Let's go.'"

To understand Sylvia's anger, you first need to look at Sylvia's narration just prior to entering the store. For the first time in her life, she begins to feel like she doesn't belong. This is her first experience with inequality, and she doesn't understand how the situation is influencing her emotions: "Not that I'm scared, what's there to be afraid of, just a toy store. But I feel funny, shame." She can't explain it, but she feels like she isn't good enough to be in the store. This feeling is mirrored by the other patrons, who openly stare at the group of children.

Initially, Sylvia is angry that she has to accompany Miss Moore anywhere; it's the summer, and she doesn't like having to 'learn' when she's supposed to be on vacation. However, her newfound awareness of inequality while hesitating to enter the store gives her question new meaning. "Watcha bring us here for, Miss Moore?" could mean many things: excitement at what is to come; a show of boredom for being dragged somewhere she doesn't want to go; or even a legitimate inquiry into Miss Moore's motivations. In Sylvia's case, however, it comes across as resentment for having been brought to a place that makes her feel both shame and anger for being who she is.

Before they enter F.A.O. Schwartz, the expensive Fifth Avenue toy store, Sylvia, the other children, and Miss Moore look in the store windows at various items and their prices. This review of the high cost of luxurious—and often unneeded—items, along with their experience in the store, brings out multiple, conflicting feelings in Sylvia. Overall, her frame of mind seems to be unsettled or confused. Outside, when she reads the price-tag on a toy sailboat, for example, she describes her state as “stunned,” and then admits that the expense “pissed me off.” Her curiosity is so strong that she even speaks to Miss Moore, which she usually avoids doing, about the comparative price of a full-size boat.

The act of stepping into the store makes her feel “shy,” which confuses her as well. The store’s interior reminds her of a Catholic church and her awkward feelings the first time she entered one. She feels that the whole group of them is not only out of place but mismatched, “like a glued-together jigsaw done all wrong.” Although part of her feels tempted to joke around and laugh with her friend Sugar, the emotion that emerges most strongly is anger. When Miss Moore picks up on this, however, Sylvia claims to be bored. She thinks about the cost of one toy, 35 dollars, and the necessary supplies and furnishings on which that money could be better spent. She wonders why she and her family are not "in on" whatever the wealthy people do to earn enough money to squander.

In "The Lesson," author Toni Cade Bambara paints a portrait of Sylvia, a curious and wise child with an independent spirit. In the story, Sylvia and her classmates take a trip to the famous FAO Schwarz toy store, which is located in the affluent area of Fifth Avenue in New York City.

The neighborhood stands in stark contrast to the impoverished area where Sylvia and the other children are from. Before even going inside the store, the children are already shocked by the prices of the toys in the display window. To Sylvia and her classmates, it is baffling how others could spend so much money on material things that aren't very useful. They also try to understand how such toys, like a three-hundred-dollar microscope, would benefit them in the long run.

The most audacious item to Sylvia is a toy sailboat that is worth more than $1,000. She cannot imagine anyone in her neighborhood owning such a toy, as it would just break or get stolen.

When the initial shock of the prices wears off, Sylvia suddenly feels ashamed of her socioeconomic status. She feels out of place in such a lavish and expensive store. When she entered the store, Sylvia became angry at the high costs of the items. She lamented the fact that children like her and her friends could not afford such materials, and yet the wealthy children can.

Sylvia's sharp observation about the economic disparity in New York City, and in the country as a whole, leads her to conclude that the store is evidence of the flawed capitalist system—that those with access to good education and jobs are able to afford such luxuries, while those who are born into poverty and oppression are not.