Character and setting are related in the children's neighborhood, the taxi, and the toy store. More generally, they are related in the overall setting of New York City.
The character of Miss Moore closely relates to the children's neighborhood, into which she has recently moved. Sylvia, the narrator, paints the young woman as an outsider in almost every way. The only thing she seems to have in common is race, as she and the area's residents are all black. Moore does not seem to have a job and enjoys spending time with the children. She tries to show kindness to the families with small gifts.
Sylvia's family seems to have been living there longer. It emerges through the story that members of the family are not well-to-do, as the girl mentions that her brothers share a room that needs new bunk beds. One way Moore emphasizes her outsider status is by calling their neighborhood "the slums," which Sylvia thinks is incorrect.
The second setting is the taxi. Apparently, the children are unaccustomed to taxis, but Moore puts a group of them into a cab without an adult. This shows her detachment from proper adult responsibility. Sylvia also shows her selfishness and ignorance of how cabs work by deciding to keep the tip because she needs it more than the driver. This part of the story is very unrealistic because it is likely that adults in their families work in service jobs, such as cab driver, so they would likely know about tipping.
The third setting is the toy store. Especially revealing is Sylvia's hesitation outside the door. This reveals she is not as bold as she tries to convince others she is. Before entering, she momentarily feels "shame," then checks herself as she realizes how inappropriate the emotion is.
The luxury toy store setting further shows Moore's character as she has obviously been there before and deliberately chosen it for the children's visit to make a point. This choice reveals her condescending attitude. Rather than take the children somewhere they could buy something, or help them raise money toward a goal they selected, she opted to support her own ideology.
Bambara apparently chose New York, specifically Manhattan, because of the extreme contrasts of wealth and poverty it suggests. The limits of economic poverty are clearly shown in Sylvia, whose intelligence and self-awareness emphasize that low income hinders advancement but does not impede insight.
In Toni Cade Bambara's short story "The Lesson," the characters' names, diction, and attitudes all depend on the place and status with which they grew up. Character and setting are directly related, as Miss Moore always poignantly points out when she says: "Where we are is who we are."
The story focuses on the narrator Silvia and her friends, a group of black kids who "live in the slums" who are taken on a trip by the college-educated Miss Moore. Miss Moore is also black, and brings the kids to Fifth Avenue, New York to teach them about wealth, society and inequality. She tells them all "about what things cost and what [their] parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country." Her words do not sink in, but when she brings them to FAO Schwartz to see toys that cost 35$, which "would pay for the rent and the piano bill too" for Silvia's family.
Silvia is a strong, outspoken leader yet the threat of the wealthy changes her attitude completely. The feeling is new to her:
But I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody. But somehow I can’t seem to get hold of the door . . .
Setting makes the characters, as well as changes them. In a time and a country where the wealth gap is so large, one can denote a character's background and social status simply from the way they speak. While Silvia and her friends use slang and improper grammar, Miss Moore is eloquent and speaks almost too properly.
Miss Moore tries to teach Silvia and her friends that where we are does not have to be who we are, and that "poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie." The trip to FAO Schwartz teaches them about economic value and the choices one makes with that value. Eventually some of the kids catch on to the lesson. Silvia's friend Sugar realizes 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?"
Character and setting are equated at the start, while throughout the story Miss Moore attempts to teach the children that character can be separated from setting if one so wishes, or if one works hard enough.
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