Toni Cade Bambara addresses how knowledge is the means by which one can escape poverty in his story The Lesson. In his story he identifies with race, economic inequality and the literary epiphany of the early 1970s. In this story, children of African American descent come face to face with their own poverty and reality. This realism of society's social standards was introduced to them during a sunny afternoon trip to a toy store on Fifth Avenue. Through the use of an African-American protagonist Miss Moore and the antagonist Sylvia who later becomes the sub-protagonist and white society, the antagonist was ironically taught "the lesson". Bambara identifies with race through class and demographics in his story The Lesson. African-American children grapple with their class society as they visit an expensive Manhattan toy store. Sylvia says, “Then we realized we were on Fifth Avenue and everyone was dressing in stockings. A lady in fur, warm as she is. White people are crazy” (643). Sylvia discovers that white people don't dress like African Americans, even though they share the same type of weather conditions. It recognizes that they have money and have a tendency to give you an idea of ​​how rich they are. “They must be rich who shop here, says QT” (645). One of the children during the trip was able to identify with the demographic context of the area. He recognized that people who had status and wealth were the ones most likely to purchase such expensive toys and things. Bambara gives readers an insight into the 1970s and what life was like for people of status in white society. How white people could afford expensive toys while those in African American society could not. Sylvia also recognized role models in a white atmosphere… middle of paper… she refused to let white society stand in her way. Sylvia has made up her mind and will strive to get what she wants. During the lesson Toni Cade Bambara illustrated how education is the means through which one can escape poverty. This was not done in a structured classroom environment, but took place during a sunny afternoon outing where the children on the trip were confronted with their own deficiencies. There was resistance but as each individual wanted a toy in the shop, the apparent realism manifested itself. The extremely high price of the toys was an amount their families could live on for a while. Each child was placed in a place where they had to examine themselves, their social status and their future. Bambara used race through social status, economic inequality, and literary epiphany to identify the hidden realities in each child's life.