The Lessons - analisi + commento

The lessons

by Toni Cade Bambara

1970

lingua: Black English

ambientazione

• quartiere povero di Manhattan

protagonista

• bambini afroamericani scazzati accompagnati da un'insegnante anziana con delle manie
• Miss Moore

linguaggio

• Black English e evitandone le irregolarità = fluidità parlante
• L'autrice ha intenzione di trasmettere posizioni emotive complesse anche attraverso questo linguaggio

The lessons

by Toni Cade Bambara

1970

lingua: Black English

ambientazione: quartiere povero di Manhattan

protagonista: bambini afroamericani scazzata accompagnata da un'insegnante anziana con delle manie Miss Moore

linguaggio: Black English e evitando le irregolarità = fluidità parlante

L'autrice ha intenzione di trasmettere posizioni emotive complesse anche attraverso questo linguaggio

The Lesson

By Toni Cade Bambara

Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup. And quite naturally we laughed at her, laughed the way we did at the junk man who went about his business like he was some big-time president and his sorry-ass horse his secretary. And we kinda hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who cluttered up our parks and pissed on our hand ball walls and stank up our hallways and stairs so you couldn't halfway play hide and seek without a goddamn gas mask. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block with no first name. And she was black as hell, cept for her feet, which were fish-white and spooky. And she was always planning these boring-ass things for us to do, us being my cousin, mostly, who lived on the block cause we all moved North the same time and to the same apartment then spread out gradual to breathe. And our parents would yank our heads into some kinda shape and crisp all ironed clothes on and off we'd go. Miss Moore hardly said anything to them; she just retailed on and on about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain't divided up right in this country. And then she got to the part about we all poor and live in the slums which I don't feature. And I'm ready to speak on that, but she steps out in the street and hails two cabs just like that. Then I kinda talk about my can-can to Sugar and we bound up into one.

And Gary winds up before the meter and I am thinking on Baldy and the cost of gasoline and how much college is to pay and we ride all the way downtown in the cabs. Then the driver asks where and she says we'll go over by F.A.O. Schwarz and she pay the fare. And I am kinda crestfalling cause it's eventually over there in Lindsey's mother jewelry box where she gets all those nice keys and stuff. And she'd never let her boy, Elbert, which was my boy, play in it. So I am kinda forecasting on all this, so naturally Sugar and Junebug and Flyboy and Rosie and Diney and some other little kids tagging along all jump out. And one goes on the roller wagon to bang up somebody else's car while the other one runs off in the street but at least Miss Moore don't tell a whole bunch of us what to do. She just takes a look and smiles that old lady smile of hers while she steps up to the curb and waits for her own approaching turn. And then we are there standing in this big pile of toys and everybody is deciding about where in the world folks go cause there's a line outside the front of the goddamn store that means it's closed today except for certain circumstances.