The Lesson Themes
Wealth and Poverty
The Lesson is essentially the story of a young black girl who leaves her poor neighborhood in Harlem with her group to visit the upscale toy store, F.A.O Schwarz located on Fifth Avenue, under the guidance of Miss Moore. She begins their trip by talking to them about money, and explaining to them how much their parents earn while informing them of the price of things. She forces the children to think about money at the beginning of their trip so that when they arrive at the store they can focus on the core purpose of the trip. Miss Moore hopes to make the children confront their poverty as they come to understand the different roles that money plays in the lives of different social classes. This is exemplified in a later part of the story when Sylvia thinks about the thirty-five-dollar toy clown that she wanted to purchase. Sylvia imagines the arguments that her mother would make as she would tell her about all the other things that could be purchased with that same amount. In Harlem, money is spent on essentials that are fundamentally necessary for a basic standard of life, while the customers of FAO Schwarz use their money to purchase beautiful yet impractical luxuries exemplified in the five hundred dollar paperweight as well as the thousand-dollar toy sailboat.
Miss Moore is trying to teach the children that American Capitalism has created a system of inequality that favors the wealthy and oppresses the poor. The children’s first encounter with this reality is shocking, as they seem to be unable to comprehend how people can spend so much money on things that are as unnecessary as a handcrafted fiberglass toy sailboat. The children realise truly how much they lack in their life as they confront the reality that they don’t truly have study desks in their homes while wealthy children can afford to have paper weights worth five hundred dollars. The children react with shock, and then begin to experience shame. Most members of the group are reluctant to enter the toy store, and even when they enter the building they tiptoe through the store without touching anything. The children feel small in the presence of such expensive toys and think that they are unworthy of even browsing the store. This shame is followed by anger, as Sylvia demands to know why Miss Moore brought them to the store. At the end of the story, Sylvia channels this anger as she decides to save the four dollars from Miss Moore because she wants to think about the day and never let anyone beat her at anything.
Education
Miss Moore is a young college graduate woman who takes on the responsibility of educating the black children in the neighborhood about issues of race and the socio-economic condition of their community. The narrator of the story finds Miss Moore’s lessons to be boring, and she nurtures a dislike for the woman. This dislike often translates itself into anger, which keeps Sylvia from applying herself and learning what is being taught. This can be observed in Sylvia’s inner struggle when she receives a task from Miss Moore. Sylvia is given five dollars and told to calculate the tip for the taxi driver, and she at first attempts to solve the problem. However, Sylvia is distracted by her friends and her desire to leave the trip with the money. She ultimately decides that she needs the money more than the taxi driver and keeps the remaining four dollars for herself. In this instance, the readers can see that Sylvia’s anger at Miss Moore makes her keep the money as a way to get back at Miss Moore for ‘ruining’ her day with the trip.
In the second half of the story, Sylvia experiences a new and more immediate surge of anger after her group has nearly completed their tour of the FAO Schwarz Toy Store. The anger that had previously been primarily directed towards Miss Moore now begins to reorient towards the inequality that she perceives. In this way, the story exemplifies the dual and contradictory nature of anger, which can at first be an impediment to learning but it can also be a force that propels you forward. Sylvia refuses to engage with Miss Moore during their final discussion but she leaves her friends behind as she decides to think about the day, and resolves to never let anyone beat her at anything. This happens because Sylvia realizes that her anger should not be directed at Miss Moore but at the social conditions that have forced her and her loved ones to lead a life of poverty.
