Introduction
The stories selected are The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara and A Wall of Fire Rising by Edwidge Danticat. The central theme is poverty, which associated with the cultural background of the characters. It is important to note the fact that culture-based poverty due to discrimination of the past or political ineffectiveness of the nation can have a profound ramification in the lives of its victims. Therefore, Bambara addresses the poverty as the lack of knowledge, whereas Danticat shows that desire for freedom is main motivation behind getting out of poverty.
The Lesson
The Lesson addresses the topic of poverty, which is prevalent in African American communities across the United States. The story’s main characters are Miss Moore, a teacher who is presented as a highly educated and sophisticated woman, and Sylvia, an African American girl and one of the students of Miss Moore. Sylvia is a rebellious and over-confident person, who considers herself as being ahead of people surrounding her. Throughout the story, Miss Moore unveils the fact that they are at the lower end of the economic distribution of wealth. The latter activity takes place when Miss Moore brings her African American students, including Sylvia, to a toy store.
The teacher does it in order to show them how their wealthier counterparts live and what kind of resources are needed to live as these richer kids. In the store, Sylvia states: “Who are these people that spend that much for performing clowns and $1,000 for toy sailboats? What kinda work they do and how they live, and how come we ain’t in on it?” (Bambara 5). This shows that Sylvia finds it highly difficult to comprehend that someone possesses a sufficient amount of wealth to be able to afford the toys in the given price range. However, Miss Moore watches the children’s reaction, which is manifested in the realization of their current situation. Later, Sylvia reflects on the core idea that her teacher was trying to instill among her students. She says: “Where we are is who we are, Miss Moore always pointin out” (Bambara 5). Thus, the children finally begin to comprehend the real meaning of these words by first-handedly observing the wealth disparity between them and others.
A Wall of Fire Rising
The given story takes place in Haiti, and it is about a poor Haitian family living in harsh conditions of poverty. The main characters are Guy, a father and husband, Lily, a mother and wife, and Little Guy, a child. The primary cause of their financial struggles is the fact that they are trapped in a poor nation of Haiti with incompetent political leaders. Although the story’s central idea in poverty, it focuses on the notion of freedom and how each member understands this concept. The boy, Little Guy, observes and learns about the concept of freedom from his book of European origin (Danticat 149).
However, it is clear that this idea of freedom, which was prevalent during the process of gaining Haitian independence, was not applicable to his family’s current situation. The key understanding and symbolism can be acquired by observing Guy, who was the one struggling to feed his family. As he was trying to provide for his family, Guy was also engaged in creating his own air hot air balloon. Guy said: “Our son, your son, you do not want him cleaning latrines.” (Danticat 153). He perceived the balloon as a way out towards freedom for him, his wife, and, most importantly, his son. In addition, his desire to fly was not only manifested in his financial situation but also Guy’s overall passion for flying. He states: “Think like this. Can’t you see yourself up there? Up in the clouds somewhere like some kind of bird?” (Danticat 153). The given line perfectly demonstrates that Guy wants to create a hot air balloon because he views it as both a literal and metaphorical manifestation of the concept of freedom.
Overview
Although the stories present two different cultural backgrounds of their characters, it is evident the main premise is centered around on culture-based poverty. Haiti was both a French and Spanish colony, thus, it struggled from European colonization, whereas African Americans were also under the European influence of slavery in America. The stories teach the notion of poverty and freedom by demonstrating the characters’ everyday lives and actions. However, the conflict of cultural values can be seen between the stories. One the one hand, as Haitian father, Guy struggles to achieve financial prosperity and freedom by risking his life for the hot air balloon. Even after his death, Lili states: “My husband, he likes to look at the sky” (Danticat 157). One the other hand, Sylvia’s story shows that the lack of knowledge and misinformation can about her wealthier counterparts have kept her in the poor community. For example, Sylvia’s friend Sugar says: “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?” (Bambara 5). This, shows that students were able to understand the main message of Miss Moore, which is the fact that poverty is the result of lack of knowledge and equality in the society.
Both stories address the problem from different angles, but the approach in the storytelling is effective in instilling the value because they communicate the storyline from the perspective of the victims of poverty. It is clear that social class is an important issue not only for the United States but also for other countries. These stories focus on social class issues as part of the multicultural inequality in the United States and Haiti, and the underlying model is global. Although the social class as a factor in character achievement and success is largely ignored, it sometimes comes to the fore due to the global post-industrial economic system. Poverty is a complex phenomenon in which many explicit and implicit factors are involved.
It is important to focus on poverty as a phenomenon that individuals themselves do not want to perceive as critical. They relate to their condition from the perspective of smoothing negativity, avoiding reality. This approach can be explained from a psychological and sociological point of view. One of the key aspects of these stories is the cross-cultural difference in access to education. Significant differences in the levels of academic performance of whites and non-whites have always existed and still remain, meaning that children of African and Hispanic descent did not pay due attention to school. Explanations for these differences range from racial genetic differences to racial differentiation in families. In accordance with the deficit model, parents belonging to minorities were seen as the main problem, because they did not give children the life experience necessary for the school and did not form their corresponding attitude towards it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the central issue in The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara and A Wall of Fire Rising by Edwidge Danticat is culture-based poverty and poverty in general. The former story shows how not having knowledge and information about wealth can extend its own effect, thus, keeping poor people in poverty. However, the latter story demonstrates that the struggle of getting out of poverty towards freedom is so significant for the poor that they are willing to give their lives for it.
Works Cited
Bambara, Toni Cade. The Lesson. 1972, Web.
Danticat, Edwidge. Krik? Krak! Vintage Books, 1996.