The Lesson” is a first person narrative told by a young, black girl named Sylvia who is growing up in Harlem in an unspecified time period known only as “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right” (Bambara, 1992). In Toni Cade Bambara's “The Lesson”, Miss Moore, a prominent character in the story, teaches a lesson to underprivileged children growing up in Harlem. This is an appropriate dialect for Sylvia, who lives in a New York ghetto, is a working-class black child about twelve years old, and has a … The microscope, paper weight, and sail boat all have lessons … The lessons that are taught through experience are usually the ones that stick with children for a lifetime. Bambara makes effective use of imagery, especially in the toy store. "The Lesson" is a short story by Toni Cade Bambara (1938–1995). Imagining the story told in the third person would likely result in a pedantic exercise. “The lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. The book and the movie are about two different people who have grown up in similar neighborhoods, are of the same race, and both of the characters had very disrespectful attitudes towards their elders who they should have been taught to respect. Told in the first, the lesson feels like the beginning of a personal transformation. It was first published in 1972. The theme of "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara is social inequality and the lack of quality education for African-American children. This short story was first published in 1972 and is a narrative told in the first person by a young black girl growing up in Harlem. A short story “The Lesson” focuses on education as the major theme. And quite naturally we laughed at her, laughed the way I feel the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara has many similar qualities to the movie “O” by Tim Blake Nelson. In Toni Cade Bambara's short story, "The Lesson" (1972), the narrator, Sylvia, speaks and narrates in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). “The Lesson” is a short story about a group of young kids that all live together in an apartment complex in New York written by Toni Cade Bambara. The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lade moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup. Education comes in many forms of life and it is very important because of the results of the knowledge acquired from the valuable lessons learned in life outside classroom. But looking back at my past the lessons I learned the most from were lessons that were taught to me by my teachers and my parents.