“Us and Them”Guided Discussion

Discuss the following in your group.

1. What did you infer about the setting of the story? What are the clues in the story?

2. When the narrator and his family moved, how was his life different?

3. Describe the narrator’s neighbors: The Tomkeys.

1. What do you think Mr. Tomkey means when he says, “I don’t believe in T.V.”?

Discuss the following in your group.

1. Compare and contrast the Sedaris family and the Tomkey family.

2. As a child, the narrator thinks that the Tomkeys are “ignorant and alone”. Do you agree? Why or why not?

3. When the Tomkeys go away during the weekends, the narrator says, “I felt as if my favorite show had been cancelled.” Why does he feel this way?

1. Is this at all similar to reality T.V. in today’s world?

Discuss the following in your group.

1. Discuss the narrator’s reaction to the Tomkeys’s Halloween experience?

2. Reread the last 2 paragraphs out loud.

1. Paraphrase what’s happening.2. When the mother tells the narrator to

“really look at [himself]”, what does the narrator begin to realize?