In the short story The Lesson, we are given an insight to how the lower-class live, think and behave. The story is narrated by a young teenage girl, Sylvia, who happens to part of a poor neighborhood. Sylvia lives alone with her mother in an apartment after living with her extended family for some time. Her attitude comes from the "slummy" neighborhood she lives in and is an outspoken girl who has a hard time keeping her opinion to herself. Sylvia's narration of the story contains some coarse language that really exemplifies her feelings and adds to the story's realism at the same time. It is through Sylvia that we are able to see the educational, behavior, and the economic/cultural differences that take place in the lower class
             The first sign of difference is when we find out that only one person in their neighborhood has been to college, Miss Moore, and that she is in charge of all the children's education. That is a sign of how poor the surrounding area is. The neighborhood families can not even afford to send their children to school to get an education. The lack of education is seen throughout the story through Sylvia's narration (The entire story is misspelled). This shows how little money they have and how their children seem to be more of a burden than a blessing. What kinds of parents do not even send their kids to a public school? Sylvia's attitude toward Miss Moore is very resentful yet there is a hint a jealousy. This is shown in the second paragraph when we see Sylvia's educational lesson with Miss Moore, "...I'm really hating this nappy-head bitch and her goddam college degree". Sylvia is resentful because she has to spend a couple hours with Miss Moore going over some basic educational concepts. Sylvia does not have the mental capability to see that Miss Moore wants to give her (and her "gang") an education so she can move out of the lifes...