"Us and Them" memoir

The memoir “Us and Them” is the memory of a little boy who recalls a family that he thought was strange because he hears that they do not have a television. When I started to read this memoir I thought that this kid was pretty nosy. He was spying on these people just because he heard someone tell his mom. Then, after he found out that they actually do not have a television I thought that he was a very self-centered person. I thought this because he says in the story that he would pity them. The little boy also wonders what it must be like to be so “lonely and ignorant” when he tries to view the world through their eyes. He instantly assumes that they are ignorant because they are different and that their family does not own a television. Also, the boy says that they needed someone to show them how kids are supposed to act, at least how they are supposed to act in his eyes, but then says that he could not because this would take away from the “mystery and the god feeling I got from pitying them.” This also shows that the boy is fairly self-centered because rather than help these kids that he views as so strange he would rather watch them be strange. Also at the end of the story, the boy refuses to give up his candy, and would rather get sick from eating the chocolate than give to the Tomkey kids. The only excuse that the author may have is that the memoir is from when he was a kid, and when you are a kid you do not always do actions that make you proud of yourself as an adult, but you learn from these mistakes and they shape you into the person that you become.