Toni Cade Bambara "The Lesson"

In “The Lesson” a group of young African American children that are involved with a women from the neighbor hood that wants to take them on a trip to learn arithmetic. The crew is rowdy and ill behaved, they don’t want this trip but would much rather be in a pool on that hot summer day. Miss Moore gives the kids $5 and tells them to get in a cab and tip 10%. The fare comes out to .85 cents and the children don’t tip him. Once at the destination “FAO Schwartz”, the children window-shop and are amazed to find that prices can exist that are so high for toys. This alternate universe that they have never experiences opens an eyes to their real position in the world. The rowdy children that seem to have no apprehension about any behavior are hesitant to walk into the store. Once inside they find that the cost of some toys rival that of a some of their parents yearly salaries. The only child that seems unaffected is Mercedes, ironically named so; she seems to come from a better off family then the rest of the group. Sylvia the protagonist of the story is changed the most. At the end she realizes that life is a competition and that she was going to have to be better then others to succeed.