A Different Perspective on Sylvia - "The Lesson" - Toni Cade Bambara

In reading “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara I am instantly reminded of a quote by Galileo: “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself”. “The Lesson” is a perfect example of this in how Bambara uses Miss Moore’s ‘lesson’ to enlighten the seemingly resistant and grudging student Sylvia into a deeper awareness of herself, her plight and ultimately her future.

Though on the surface, Sylvia appears to be a highly disinterested and an unwilling participant, on a much deeper level she is ripe for receiving a message that is possibly too profound for the other students. Beneath the façade of the oblivious, aloof and abrasive leader that Sylvia tries vehemently to display, is an extremely aware, critical thinker who is fearful of her own consciousness. She uses her bravado as a defense mechanism to avoid facing what her awareness is relaying to her – her position in the world and her inability to fully live up to the image of herself she tries to portray.  Mixed in with that fear is a frustration over her failing internal struggle with her own self-acceptance that is constantly confronted not only with Miss Moore’s lessons but also by who and how she sees Miss Moore in relation to herself. This too happens on occasion with her interactions Sugar. And as it appears, Miss Moore, perhaps by an evolved shared quality, seems to be aware of this and leans into Sylvia challenging her to critically think about money, race and inequality and how it coincides with her understanding of the world around her to gain a deeper knowledge of her status and her inaccessibility to whole other world located just across town.

Some analyses of the work, tend to describe Sylvia as someone unaware and willfully ignorant however as black woman born and raised in New York City and a mother of teenage daughter with similar qualities as Sylvia, I strongly disagree. I understand the intricacies and complexities of the young urban black perspective and the outwardly arrogant bravado rooted in a rebellious attitude toward anything outside the black inner-city’s status quo. It’s that understanding that people on the outside of it often misread and interpret with a basic minimal understanding of the behaviors and motivations of a young girl such as Sylvia. Much of these analyses tend overlook the subtle ways in which Sylvia is hyper-aware, intuitive and can predict outcomes based on her level of critical thinking. Also, and most importantly, what’s lost is all that Sylvia has absorbed from Miss Moore’s lessons. In those moments where she exposes just how much of an influence Miss Moore is on her, you not only find out how smart Sylvia actually is but also her desire to learn and retain Miss Moore’s teachings despite outwardly displaying the opposite. The conflict in my opinion has little to do with race, inequality or an (un)willingness to learn. The conflict is in self-acceptance and the fear of ones’ own potential.