The Lesson

"The Lesson" is a story about one African-American girl's struggle with her growing awareness of class inequality. The character Miss Moore introduces the facts of social inequality to a distracted group of city kids, of whom Sylvia, the main character, is the most cynical. The conflict between Sylvia and Miss Moore, "This nappy-head bitch and her goddamn college degree" (470), represents more than everyday dislike of authority by an adolescent. Sylvia has her own perception of the way things work and does not like to have that invaded. Sylvia knows in the back of her mind she is poor,…