As wealth inequality reached its peak in the early 20th century, Marxist concepts such as social injustice and economic inequality became a major topic of discussion in Western literature. With the death of Karl Marx in 1883 and the spread of communism in Russia in 1914, literature became an important front for socialist writers seeking to spread their ideas. This is especially true in the United States, where centuries of black oppression have created extreme wealth inequality between white and black Americans. In Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," the character Mrs. Moore reveals to a group of black children the level of disparity between their lives and those of the white upper classes. As the story develops, a group of children undergo a process of socialist awakening as they gain class consciousness through the vulgar extravagances of the upper classes. “The Lesson” serves as a metaphor for the awakening of the ignorant working class into the socialist revolutionary movement, as they face the harsh reality of their suffering created by the oppressive bourgeois class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Before we can understand the revolutionary and classist nuances of “The Lesson,” we must have a solid understanding of Marxist ideas as promoted in Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. According to Marx, the main motivation behind all historical development is the exploitation of one class by another as a result of competition for resources (K. Marx and F. Engels). Class distinctions are defined by who creates society's means of production and who provides labor. The upper classes are made up of bourgeois, who are the rich capitalists who own the means of production. The lower classes are made up of the proletariat, the working class which provides work for the bourgeois class. To accumulate wealth, the bourgeois must extract more than their fair share of the labor of the proletariat (K. Marx and F. Engels). Once the lower classes become aware of the extravagant lifestyles of the upper classes, a revolution begins to foment. This process is called the awakening of class consciousness (K. Marx and F. Engels). Bambara uses this concept of awakening class consciousness in his short story to describe the oppression of black Americans by the white bourgeoisie. Moore's trip to FAO Schwarz is seen by Bambara as a metaphor for the class consciousness felt by members of the working class when confronted with the opulence of the bourgeoisie. The children in the story all grew up in poverty and have no idea of ​​the excesses that exist in the world. Faced with the fact that they are poor and live in slums, Sylvia responds: “I don't appear” (Bambara). They simply don't know or understand anything else. Mrs. Moore then takes the children on a field trip so they can witness the injustice of their living situation. Along the way, children participate in disadvantaged behaviors, such as stealing tips from a taxi driver. This action aims to show how an ununified underclass undermines itself when it does not work together to promote common interests; after all, Sylvia explains, “he doesn’t need it as much as I do.” The children are indifferent to their living situation, but this indifference changes as soon as they arrive in New York's wealthy upper class. At this point in the story, Bambara begins to introduce the concept of class consciousness. The children realize that these white people., 1939.