Toni Cade Bambara, a well-known author and social activist, uses language and experience to incite change in a distorted society that marginalizes its inhabitants on the basis of language, of race and class. With the use of African American English (AAE), Bambara highlights some biases and questionable issues related to capitalism in American society. Bambara's works are known for their use of traditional AAE and its support in teaching the overall "lesson" and underlying message to the audience. The majority of Bambara's works were inspired and written in response to her experiences growing up as a black, lower-status woman in Harlem. His short story, “The Lesson,” is no exception. Bambara uses first person narrative, omission of tense markers, and African American English to prove his point that even with education, wealth and prosperity are unevenly distributed across the United States. United. Bambara's short story, "The Lesson," published in 1972 in his short story collection, Gorilla, My Love, was definitely a product of the cultural and social issues of the time. Triggered by racial, class, and societal prejudices, many of Bambara's works deliberately incorporate colloquial language as a means of educating the reader about the problems facing poor, uneducated African Americans living in urban areas across the United States. United must face daily. . While "The Lesson" focuses more on the unequal distribution of wealth in the United States, its stories generally focus more broadly on the lives and injustices faced by African Americans. Bambara stories generally feature teenagers, black children, from disadvantaged and uneducated backgrounds. In this compilation of short stories, the narration is usually first...... middle of paper ...... be revered as a self-exclusion from popular thought. Works Cited Bambara, Toni Cade. “The lesson”. Gorilla, my love. New York: Random House, 1972. 85-96. Clark, John Taggart. “Abstract investigation and patrolling black/white borders through linguistic stylization. » The reader of language, ethnicity and race: a reader. Roxy Harris and Ben Rampton. Ed. New York: Routledge, 2003. Grave, Roy Neil. “Bambara is THE LESSON.” The Explainer. 66.4 (2008): 214-218. Proquest. SEMO Kent Lib., Cape Girardeau, MO. April 12, 2009. .Wright, Katy M. “The Role of Dialect Representation in Marginal Discourse: “The Lesson” of Toni Cade Bambara.” " Style. 42.1 (2008): 73-87. Proquest. SEMO Kent Lib., Cape Girardeau, MO. April 12 2009. .