of the children, especially Sylvia, knew what the paperweight was. She says to herself that “my eyes tell me it’s a chunk of glass cracked with something heavy, and different-color inks dripped into the splits, then the whole thing put into a oven or something. But for $480 it don’t make sense” (Bambara 123). After Mrs. Moore explains what it is, the children still cannot comprehend its use or the price. Bambara uses the paperweight to symbolize importance. A paperweight is used to hold something that is of value, something that someone wishes not to lose. The children have never known or owned something that is precious. At the same time, the paperweight can symbolize that their living in the slums and never reaching out for something more can be holding them down. They are the important ones under that paperweight. A better life, one in which their basic needs are met, costs a price- one that they are not use to. To them, $400 is a life’s worth of work and unfathomable. The price of their future is going to have be something that they will have to strive for and open their minds past their current dwellings. Similarly, the sailboat is also used by Bambara to represent freedom and the journey that lies in front of them. The journey into Manhattan was only a cab ride away. However, it was only a temporary chance for the children to see this type of life. If Sylvia or the other children wished to permanently escape the world of poverty they came from, they would have to realize that it wasn’t going to be easy. There are many steps along the way and to complete them, they would have to be educated. It would be just the same for someone who wanted to sail, they would have to first learn how. Sylvia, astonished by the price, cannot understand why someone would pay that much when “my sailboat cost me about fifty cents” (Bambara 124). The question is then- would she always ...
