The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, is a short story with many different character traits. Miss Moore is a person in the short story who has many different traits. Miss Moore teaches the kids the value of a dollar in a unique way. Miss More shows that she is caring, presentable (confident about her looks), and well educated teacher, who is trying to better the lives of the kids, through out the story. Miss Moore shows off her traits in many ways.
One way that Miss Moore shows that she is a caring person, is by showing how dedicated she is to he job. She’d been to college and said it was the only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education, and she not even related by marriage or blood. ” This quote shows that she cares about the children’s future. Most teachers just teach to get paid and that’s it. But that’s not the story with Miss Moore she has gone to college, and now she gets paid good money for what she does and she wants to pass that down to the kids, because the kids right now are poor and live in the slums ( except for Mercedes). Junebug doesn’t even have a desk and Flyboy doesn’t even have a home to go to.
So even though Miss Moore is not related to the kids by blood or marriage she still wants the kids to achieve in life just like she did. “And school suppose to let up in summer I heard, but she don't never let up. And the starch in my pinafore scratching the shit outta me and I'm really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree. I'd much rather go to the pool or to the show where it's cool. ” This quote shows that Miss Moore really wants them to succeed in life because, she is teaching them in the summer when they should be out having fun and not thinking about school.
If she didn’t care about their education she would just let them have fun in the summer, but instead she s out in the summer trying to teach them a very important lesson. Miss Moore shows that she is presentable and that she is confident about her look in varies ways. “And our parents would yank our heads into some kinda shape and crisp up our clothes so we'd be presentable for travel with Miss Moore, who always looked like she was going to church though she never did. ” This quote shows that Miss Moore is presentable.
No matter where she goes she has to dress to impress even if she isn’t going to church or a fancy dinner.Miss Moore is also very confident about her looks. “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 lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup. ” This quote shows that she is confident about her looks because most women these days relax there hair and wear make up. “Me and Sugar and Junebug and Flyboy hangin out the window and hollering to everybody, putting lipstick on each other cause Flyboy a faggot anyway, and making farts with our sweaty armpits.
This quote shows that even the kids in the short story wear make up. Miss Moore shows that she is a very educated person, by when and where she takes the kids on trips. “And Miss Moore asking us do we know what money is like we a bunch of retards. I mean real money, she say, like it's only poker chips or monopoly papers we lay on the grocer.
” This quote shows that Miss Moore is really educated. In this quote Miss Moore is really trying to inform the kids the real value of a dollar, because they just think money is paper that buys them what they want.The way that Miss Moore informs them about the value of the dollar was by taking the kids to a really expensive toy store. At the toy store the kids see the expensive stuff is the better stuff that actually floats on water if u want your boat to sail.
This store really shows the kids that the value of a dollar is to what they use to think it was. By Miss Moore taking the kids to the toy store she shows them how money is going to take them through life. So that shows how smart she is because she knows the real value of a dollar. But she ain't so smart cause I still got her four dollars from the taxi and she sure ain't gettin it Messin up my day with this shit. Sugar nudges me in my pocket and winks. ” This quote how educated Miss Moore is because since she went to school, got her college degree, and now has a job as a teacher she has money to let Sugar and her cousin have.
Miss Moore was maybe just testing the kids to see if she was going to lget her left over change. “The Lesson” by Bambara really does have a lesson at the end. This lesson that is really shown to the kids is that life is not what it really seems.The kids thought that they had an alright life but after going to that toy store, they got to how life really is. While the kids were at the toy store they didn’t understand why the prices were so high when you can get the same thing at a knockoff store, but that’s when they realized the expensive stuff cost more money.
So the real lesson learned in this short store is life is not what it seems and you really have to work to get what you need in life. Now you see how Miss Moore is really caring, educated, and very presentable.
