In "The Lesson", Miss Moore and her group of children take a trip to the toy store, F.A.O. Schwartz. In that one visit, these children learn valuable life lessons that they would otherwise learn on the street the hard way. It is clear that this story is a representation of the society of the time period (1960's) and the struggle that was happening socially between the white elitist society and underprivileged black community from evidence throughout the story.
             From the minute the story begins, the reader can infer that this story was to narrated by a child. Sylvia would "much rather go to the pool or to the show where it's cool", which suggests she is a typical school student. Her method of speaking the story is apparent by use of slang and sentence structure. This child's crude language in this passage eludes a key point, the level of education that Sylvia has received.
             "Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think?" When Miss Moore presents this question to her group, she was presenting a question that not only affected her students but most black people of this time. Sylvia, as most of Miss Moore's students, knew her place on the bottom rung of the ladder. After Sugar gives her voice to the idea of "equal opportunity", it seems as if, for the group's point of view, she could have been speaking on quantum physics. Not that the children did not care, it was the fact that they did not know any difference. It is kind of reminicinent of Miss Moore's quote, "Where we are is who we are".
             With all of the clues, it is safe to say that the thematic direction of Bambara's "The Lesson" is that of the inequalities between the white and black communities of the time period. This story portrays this in a unique way though-through child...