"The Lesson" Essential Question Response

EQ: What does it mean to be an insider or an outsider?

              Being an "insider" or an "outsider" is dependent on who you are, because different people have different definitions of those terms. Although there are many different opinions on that, people agree on the fact that "insiders" generally have something desirable that "outsiders" do not have.  In the case of the characters in the short story "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara, the children and Miss Moore seem to be outsiders. They seem this way because they are without nearly as much money as the insiders, who are depicted as being the elite of New York City. Being an outsider in this case means being  so much poorer than the insiders that it is difficult for them even to dream of purchasing things from the toy store in which the wealthy probably shop frequently. The gap between the insiders and the outsiders is shown by the powerful statement that Miss Moore told the kids: "Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven"(p. 4). Thus, although I believe it is in the eye of the beholder what it means to be an insider or an outsider, in the case of this story it means that you are part of one side of the divide in an unequal society.