Response to "The Inner Circle"

C.S. Lewis makes such a valid point. There are so many unspoken heirarchies in our society. They aren't always talked about and not everyone is aware of their existence. I think that a good example of a modern, easy to understand inner ring is cliques. That group of girls that everyone knows ABOUT, but they don't really know them. You have to be invited to do things with the group. Once they decide they like you, you're in, but getting in is not always easy. It's like the movie Mean Girls. Regina, Gretchen and Karen make up the "inner ring" that is The Plastics. They decide they like Cady, so they invite her into their circle. Since she's new though, Cady is still not treated like an equal. She has to spend a little bit of time on the outskirts. With The Plastics, Regina is clearly the leader, and she makes the rules for the entire group and sometimes the entire school. She carries alot of influence with her peers. This is an example of an inner circle that is clearly defined but there are also the ones that go unnoticed as well like secret societies. While I have never encountered a secret society, you hear about them on t.v. and I'm sure they really exist. An inner ring like this would be one you're not aware of until you're in.
While I know what Lewis is referring to when he talks about inner rings, I'm not exactly sure what he means by good and evil ones. I guess an example of an evil inner ring could be the Ku Klux Klan. There's a heirarchy within it and at least they think they make the rules of society. They live by their own laws. Obviously the KKK's beliefs and their violent practices of hate and discrimination don't make them a good group to be associated with...so that leaves evil? I'm not sure if that was his meaning of evil...
The students that Lewis was addressing were probably interested in what he was saying because most people have had run ins with inner rings of some kind. This speech wouldn't be a completely foreign topic that they have to try and grasp. Lewis is just expanding on something that the students are will aware of. He presents the information in a candid and entertaining way so that the audience can get something out of his speech and not tune him out within the first five minutes out of boredom.