The universal themes in "The Lesson" and "The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses", are appealing because their authors generate similar insights, despite structural and material differences in treatment. "The Lesson" draws attention to a what blacks have learned as children throughout their history in America; that each generation will suffer some degree of unequal opportunity and that each individual is empowered to effect the severity of that measure. The protagonist in "The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses", is strikingly remarkable mainly due to the fact that initially he is described quite feebly. It is through the story's development that he is later revealed to