Discussion Topic

Sylvia's Growth and Transformation in "The Lesson"

Summary:

In "The Lesson," Sylvia undergoes significant growth and transformation. Initially resistant to Miss Moore's teachings, Sylvia is skeptical of the socioeconomic disparities highlighted during a visit to an upscale toy store. The experience challenges her worldview and provokes introspection about class inequality and her identity as an African American. Though she initially resents Miss Moore, Sylvia ultimately acknowledges a desire to overcome societal limitations, reflected in her determination to "think this day through" and not let anyone "beat me at nothing." This marks her journey from collective thinking to individual self-realization.

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How does Sylvia change throughout "The Lesson"?

At the beginning of "The Lesson," Sylvia would rather fool around than become educated, but the trip with Miss Moore opens her mind to the inequities in life.

Habituated to her environment, Sylvia thinks of it as normal since all her friends and those who live near her are in similar conditions. However, when she leaves Harlem and goes into the wealthy part of New York City in the taxi and visits a store with costly merchandise, she thinks about Miss Moore's words, "Where we are is who we are." Sylvia wonders what kind of work people do that they can live in such luxury and afford items that cost hundreds of dollars, even thousands. Sylvia wonders, "How come we ain't in on it?"

When the children see a toy sailboat that sells for $1195.00, Sylvia says angrily,

"Who'd pay all that when you can buy a sailboat set for a...

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quarter at Pop's, a tube of glue for a dime, and a ball of string for eight cents?"

She then asks Miss Moore how much a real boat costs. Miss Moore suggests that she look up the answer to this question. She wants the children to marvel at what she feels is an unjust economic system that denies resources and money to black Americans. Having pondered the disparity in this system, Sylvia's friend Sugar comments that this is "not much of a democracy" when some people can buy a toy for what other people require to feed a family of six. Miss Moore is pleased to hear Sugar's remark and asks if anyone else has learned anything. Sylvia does not comment, but she returns home feeling much different from how she was when she departed. She lets Sugar go ahead of her because she wants to "think this day through" after learning of the disparities in life.

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What lessons does Sylvia learn in "The Lesson"?

By the end of the story, Sylvia says, "ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin." She seems to have internalized the fact that she is going to meet with opposition in society as a result of her race (and, perhaps, even her sex). There are people who can afford to spend a thousand dollars on a toy sailboat, and there are people who cannot. There are people who have a better chance at being able to afford such a thing someday, and there are people who do not. As a young black girl who seems not to be receiving an adequate education from her school, likely due to a lack of sufficient funding for public schools with a primarily black population, Sylvia will likely meet with a great deal of opposition in her life.

When Sugar, Sylvia's friend, comes to a realization that America is "not much of a democracy" and that individuals of different races do not have an "equal crack at the dough," Sylvia can feel something "weird" going on "in [her] chest." Miss Moore looks directly at Sylvia and asks if anyone else has learned anything today. I'm not sure that Sylvia is really aware of what she has learned, perhaps, when she is a child, but her defensiveness seems to indicate that her eyes have been opened to a new understanding of the world.

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After an educated black woman, Miss Moore, takes a group of black children from a poor neighborhood to see FAO Schwartz, a high-end New York toy store, Sylvia has much to think about. She understands the lesson she is supposed to take away, which is that black people are treated unjustly in America and should demand their share of the "pie," but she resists falling into line behind someone else's agenda. In other words, she holds onto her desire to think and analyze for herself. In fact, she states,

I got a headache for thinkin so hard.

She repeats a second time that

I’m going . . . to think this day through.

At the end of the story, Sylvia has not processed all she has seen, but she shows an important openness to learning and changing. One of the issues Sylvia has to contend with is that, though she is also black, Miss Moore (who has "more") is not in the same place as the black children she is trying to reach. Her education, political radicalization, and higher place on the class ladder have separated her from the very people she wants to reach.

Sylvia is well aware that white people have more than black people, a lesson reinforced by her field trip to the toy store. But she is not sure what the "pie," which she is supposed to demand more of, is, exactly. Her thinking, as a child's would be, is concrete, focused more on the reality of the here and now than on abstract political or economic theory. She knows, for example, that Miss Moore is not that smart, because she never retrieved the change from Sylvia's taxi ride. Sylvia plans to spend it with a friend on cake and other treats. That, to her, is a win with a concrete reality, which social justice does not have.

Sylvia needs to think more about what her place in the world should be. But she is thinking, and she decides,

ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.

That, at least, is the beginning of an assertive lesson that Sylvia will presumably refine over time as she gains a more sophisticated knowledge of what not being beaten means.

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What is Sylvia's reaction to Miss Moore's lesson in "The Lesson"?

It is evident from the outset that Sylvia dislikes Miss Moore. She makes cynical comments about her actions, her attire, the way she looks, and what she is trying to achieve. She apparently hates Miss Moore's meddling and sees her presence as an invasion into her comfort zone. Sylvia is quite outspoken and states that she expresses what exactly she thinks of her teacher's lessons. When Miss Moore asks them about money, for example, she deems Miss Moore's question an insult and mentions that "So right away I’m tired of this and say so." Sylvia evidently views Miss Moore as an outsider with a haughty attitude, and she wants to put the teacher in her place.

Miss Moore's outing is partly to teach her students about the value of money and how its worth is determined by one's circumstances. She has been consistently teaching her students that their place in society is what defines them but that it does not have to be that way. She wants to inspire her students to look beyond their drab and dissatisfying circumstances and aim to do better for themselves, as she has most evidently done. The teacher's advice, however, does not resonate with Sylvia, and she dislikes what she believes are erroneous and supercilious assumptions by the teacher.

When Miss Moore takes her class to an upmarket toy store, F.A.O. Schwarz, Sylvia angrily asks her why she has brought them there. Miss Moore asks her what she is angry about, but Sylvia does not respond. Miss Moore apparently wishes her students to experience the disparities in wealth that she has so often mentioned in class. She wants them to see, firsthand, how the privileged section of society lives. Furthermore, she wants them to work towards claiming what she calls "their share of the pie." The children are surprised by the grossly expensive price tags on the goods in the store. The cost of a toy sailboat that retails for more than a thousand dollars especially impresses them.

Sylvia is overwhelmed by the exorbitant price of the fiberglass sailboat and rereads the price tag just to make sure. She is extremely upset about this but does not say why. This exposure has touched a nerve. Miss Moore has evidently noticed Sylvia's reaction and looks at her expecting some response, but Sylvia remains silent.

When Miss Moore asks the students what they have learned from their visit, it is Sugar who provides the greatest insight by saying,

“You know, Miss Moore, I don’t think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs.”

Sylvia stops her from saying anything else by stepping on Sugar's foot. Miss Moore is pleased by Sugar's response and asks her students to imagine what kind of society it is "where some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven." Sugar, once again, shows the most insight and comments about the lack of democracy in such a society. She suggests that everyone should have an equal opportunity to obtain wealth and better themselves. Miss Moore is highly satisfied but looks at Sylvia sorrowfully, as if she expected her to say something valuable as well.

It is apparent that Miss Moore has been waiting for Sylvia to react to what she has experienced. The fact that she asks her to calculate the taxi driver's tip and entrusts the fare to her, as well as her constant awareness of Sylvia's responses, indicate that she wishes that the one she believes to be her most intelligent student (Sylvia) will in some way react. Sylvia, however, stubbornly refuses to please her teacher and adopts an unresponsive demeanor. Sylvia, it seems, will not allow Miss Moore to manipulate her.

The end of the story does indicate that Sylvia has learned something, though, because she is going "over to the Drive to think this day through." Furthermore, she is determined to prove that no one will beat her at anything. Her sentiment apparently refers to the fact that she believes both Sugar and Miss Moore showed up her shortcomings, and she will not allow that to ever happen again.

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[It is important to note that this story was published in 1972. Although the Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1964, the Department of Labor did not begin enforcing the quota system of hiring minorities until the seventies. Opportunities were extremely limited for African Americans at the time of the writing of this story.]

As a result of the lesson presented to her by Miss Moore, Sylvia is no longer complacent with her life. 

Miss Moore takes the children of the neighborhood on a trip to demonstrate how an unjust economic and social system creates unfair access to money and resources for other races, while black Americans have few opportunities. However, Sylvia seems disinterested. 

So we heading down the street and she’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country. 

When they arrive in Manhattan, the children are conducted into a socioeconomic area where an elite class can purchase non-necessities at what seems to the children to be unreal prices. The prices on the merchandise are sometimes higher than their household's yearly income. Sylvia and the others are initially incredulous and cannot comprehend the inequities in a country that has two such different places in New York. The children do not seem to fully comprehend that there are people who can buy such things. Nevertheless, the store makes an impression upon the children. For some, however, this feeling is so surreal that they dismiss it.

Later, when Miss Moore asks the children what they have come away with from this trip, some respond in a manner that greatly disappoints their chaperone. "White folk's crazy," one says; another says that he would like to return there when he gets his birthday money. However, Sylvia's friend Sugar impresses Miss Moore after the woman suggests to the children,

“Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think?”

“I think,” says Sugar. . . “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 smiles when she hears Sugar's response; then, she looks at Sylvia, but Sylvia refuses to say anything; Miss Moore is disappointed. However, when they arrive in Harlem, having forgotten about their trip, Sugar suggests that they spend the money they have left and offers to race Sylvia to the drugstore, shouting at Sylvia to try to catch her. Sylvia lets her go.  She wants to ponder what occurred today, so she says that Sylvia can run and win if she wants to. 

"But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nothin'," Sylvia says to herself. She realizes that she has a larger race to run because she wants to figure out how to better her life and have the opportunities that others have.

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Self-realization is one way Sylvia changes in "The Lesson."

At the start of the story, Sylvia sees herself as part of something larger. This can be seen in her tone in the opening paragraph: she speaks in collective terms.  For example, Sylvia speaks about how she and Sugar view the world in the same way: "...me and Sugar were the only ones just right." It can also be seen in how they view Miss Moore: "And we kinda hated her too, hated the way we did the winos..." In both settings, Sylvia views the world in a collectivized notion of the good. She sees reality in a "We" type of way.

By the end of the story, Sylvia changes to a more self- interested point of view. The last words of the story reflect individualist language that Sylvia did not initially demonstrate:  "But ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin."  When Sylvia breaks away from Sugar to "think about the day," it is clear that she has become more individualistic. She is not as collective in her language and demeanor.  

The change in language and approach is reflective of Sylvia's self-realization. She has become more aware of the world and her place in it. In some respects, Sylvia has emerged from a cave and into a new world.  It is a world where questions abound. For example, she is not clear as to why she is angry at what she experienced. She has to "think" about what happened, away from other people. The epiphany that  emerges  at the end of the story is vague, but also reflective of a core value. These are examples of the self-realization that Sylvia has experienced.  They go to show how she has changed as a result of Miss Moore's lesson.

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How did Sylvia change after Miss Moore's lesson?

Sylvia has had a socioeconomic awakening after going to Manhattan. She realizes that America is a land occupied by people who inhabit places and live on an economic level about which she has never even dreamed.

It is interesting that Toni Bambara published her story "The Lesson" in 1972. It was after the Civil Rights Act of 1964—and especially during the 1970s—that racial quotas were restored.  There was a growing awareness in America of the socioeconomic disparities and the need to provide opportunities for minorities. At the time of the setting of this story, there were probably many in Harlem who still had little chance of leaving their neighborhoods. Perhaps, then, the educated Miss Moore, who is not from Harlem, has come there in the hope of making the children aware that other parts of New York are much different from their neighborhood.  She may wish to plant seeds of discontent and the desire for a better life in the children.

Miss Moore takes the children to Manhattan (a wealthy section) so that they can gain an insight into how other citizens of the United States live. On the way, she talks to them about economic disparity. Sylvia remarks,

She’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country.

After they arrive, the children enter a store where the price tags on various items are astronomical in comparison to the things that they purchase in their neighborhood. On a beautiful sailboat, the tag reads,

Handcrafted sailboat of fiberglass at one thousand one hundred ninety-five dollars.

“Unbelievable,” I hear myself say and am really stunned. I read it again for myself just in case the group recitation put me in a trance. Same thing. For some reason this pisses me off. We look at Miss Moore and she looking at us, waiting for I dunnno what.

“Watcha bring us here for, Miss Moore?” Sylvia asks her, angrily. Miss Moore observes that Sylvia sounds angry and asks her why she is upset, but Sylvia refuses to respond. 

It is not long before Sylvia arrives home, following her and her classmates' uncomfortable excursion to the exclusive shops. On the trip back to Harlem, Miss Moore has asked them to consider the fact that people purchase toys that cost as much as it does to provide for a family of six or seven in Harlem. Sylvia's friend Sugar responds,

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?

“Anybody else learn anything today?” Miss Moore asks.

Sylvia steps on Sugar's foot to stop her from talking. She refuses to give Miss Moore any answer. However, after she arrives home, Sylvia declines to go with Sugar "to Hascombs" for sodas. Instead, she goes to a favorite spot:

To think this day through. She [Sugar] can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.

Like Sugar, Sylvia has become aware of socioeconomic inequalities, but she also wants to understand what has caused such conditions and how to overcome them. She never again wants to feel inferior to anyone.  

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