The story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara is an example of realistic writing that feels as if children wrote the report about the time one educated woman took them to the toy store in the white neighborhood. Due to such realism, it is easy to see their reaction to the prices that they could not imagine. “White folks crazy” is the one phrase repeated in the story to represent the way children see socioeconomic injustice (Bambara 90). They do not see the problem in their poverty, but it is white people with their crazy tastes, preferences, and prices that surprise them. Overall, the story does a great job of capturing the way socioeconomic injustice negatively impacts people and children especially.
In the society of consumption, the socioeconomic injustices leave a much larger trace on the consciousness and self-esteem of people. The narrative where people are represented by the things they buy is really common in the XXI century. Although the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara was written in the early seventies, when consumerism was not as evident, the author managed to capture the feeling of shame that the children experienced when they were entering the toy shop. The hesitation is expressed as follows “But what I got to be ashamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody. But somehow I can’t seem to get hold of the door, so I step away for Sugar to lead. But she hangs back too.” (Bambara 94). Such a reaction represents how people may feel lesser just because they could not afford the good presented in the shop.
Some sociologists define consumption as satisfying the needs of individuals. It is therefore essential to define what the needs of the individuals are in order to effectively understand the meaning of consumption. A person who has a need is characterized as one who wants something to be fulfilled. For instance, a given need may be able to provide pleasure, and by not getting it, the person may end up in pain. Consumption does not only involve having to satisfy one’s needs in order to attain pleasure but involves a social and cultural process that is characterized by signs and symbols that are beyond the economic or utilitarian process. Culture, without doubt, affects the aspect of consumer society and is defined as a learned, transmitted, and shared phenomenon. It is, therefore, true that a given culture will affect the attitude, behavior, and lifestyle of consumers. People are most likely to be influenced by a number of values, thoughts, norms, and cultures and, as a result, are able to differentiate between what is good and bad. The result is that people end up choosing a given number of belief systems, which they believe will change through the experiences gained.
In addition, the story portrays how children see money in general through the thoughts about their mother’s reaction to the prices of toys that they wanted. The socioeconomic injustice creates a different set of values, where money should be spent wisely and precisely to gain a certain benefit. For example, in a story, Sylvia is well aware of what costs what, and she evaluates the alternatives of spending $35 on the toy clown: “Thirty-five dollars would pay for the rent and the piano bill too.” (Bambara 95). Such a mature approach to distributing finance represents another aspect of the effect that socioeconomic injustice has on children. They are often denied childhood joys due to the financial constraints of their families.
Another reaction expressed by the author of “The Lesson” is the anger and frustration Sylvia felt when she was at the shop. Sylvia is the main protagonist, and it seems like she is telling the story. While in the store, one of her friends touched the toy ship that cost more than $1000, which caused Sylvia to react: “And I’m jealous and want to hit her. Maybe not her, but I sure want to punch somebody in the mouth.” (Bambara 95) The socioeconomic injustice makes people who suffer feel hopeless and helpless as they do not see the way that they could reach the amount of wealth to afford the things they see. Besides, the way African-American children felt in the mainly rich white environment may resemble the aspect of racial profiling in the story.
As portrayed by conflict theory, racial profiling enhances the separation of minority and majority groups. The profiling aspect forces the blacks to stay away from wealthy neighborhoods to avoid being arrested unnecessarily. Through profiling, the authorities train minority races to avert harassment by sticking to low-cost cars and houses. Therefore, it is an ill-motivated action that demeans minorities and, at the same time, hinders them from progressing in life. This separation enables the majority of individuals to hold influential positions and retain them. On the other hand, minorities face difficulties in upgrading their lives since the system is always concerned about pushing them down. From the understanding of conflict theory, racial profiling is a tool that ensures that whites’ power remains unchallenged. This idea is a perfect example of why no solution has proved to be effective in diminishing discrimination in the U.S.
Consumption can be termed as working towards satisfying a need. A need can be viewed as compulsory for existence, and when it is fulfilled, it brings pleasure; otherwise can bring pain. Consumption has social and economic associations also connected to time and space, depending on demands such as needs, wants, and desires; goods, services, and money or some value substituting money that is necessary for fulfilling demands. This aspect tries to bring together the factors influencing the decision of people towards what is being brought to them and what is favorable to them for consumption. The extent to which consumerist society influences the essence of people within their community can be evaluated from the perspective of human needs.
Many years of slavery and discrimination left African Americans as a vulnerable community that lacked empowerment. Therefore, many of them started struggling to make ends meet. Surviving without jobs and resources has proven to be a leading challenge in the lives of many African Americans. Thus, a conflict ensued as they worked hard towards improving their lives and attaining equal representation like the other races. But their hard work has not been rewarded as the white-dominated society has capitalized on using racial profiling to its advantage.
In conclusion, the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara presents the example of the socioeconomic injustice present in contemporary American society. The children in the story experience the moment of realization of their poverty and the gap between them and rich white people who can afford to spend money that is equal to the annual household income of the African American children on toys. The author of the story expresses several ways such socioeconomic injustice affects people. First of all, they feel emotions of jealousy, frustration, and anger, while feeling lesser people because they are humiliated by the prices of toys. Secondly, due to such financial differences, African American children are more likely to be subjected to racial profiling. Therefore, they see themselves as suspects of a crime they were not going to commit. All of these adverse effects do not contribute to the healthy development of a mature worldview.
Work Cited
Bambara, Toni Cade. “The Lesson.” Gorilla, My Love, 1972, 85-96. Web.