Poverty is a terrible phenomenon that impacts countless unfortunate families. In the article, The $236,500 Hole in the American Dream, the author, Dean Starkman, illustrates the dramatic difference in African-American family's net worth compared to Caucasian families. The arguments Starkman presented are not supported by the novel The Other Wes Moore.
In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, the author, Wes Moore, describes and compares another man's life, who was also named Wes Moore, and his. The author notes that his life turned out drastically different from the other Wes Moore's; however, they grew up with amazingly similar childhoods. They grew up in the same area, had similar social experiences, and both of their fathers weren’t around. The author mentions that Wes Moores older
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The author then stated, “Tony had already joint that statistic [dropping out of school in Baltimore City]; Mary wanted to keep Wes away from the same fate” (pg. 57). As a way to keep him away from the drug world, Mary moved the family to Dundee Village. It was during this time that Wes Moore had his first experience of the distribution of drugs. Tony watched after Wes and tried his best to warn him about the dangers in the drug world and told him to stay out of it; however, the appeal of money drew Wes in like a moth drawn to a flame. Whereas, the author, continued to grow up in a negative neighborhood and managed to stay away from drugs as best as he could in that setting. He stayed out of trouble and went to a exceptional school. His mother was part of the school system in the neighborhood that they lived and remembered how terrible it was, so she sent him to a school named Riverdale that
In this quote, narrator Wes Moore is describing an event of the other Wes Moore’s life, where his older
The two men had similar backgrounds, yet their lives went completely separate ways. Wes Moore had people to help him along his way: his mother, his mentors, and other people who didn’t give up on him. The other Wes Moore did not have much support in his early childhood. He ended up in many bad situations and eventually made his way to jail.
Both Weses had several circumstances in common that happened early on in their lives. Moore narrates that he lost his father at a young age due to a medical misdiagnosis. The author says that with the loss of his father, his family had to move to the Bronx to live with his grandparents. The author Wes was the second of three children, and with the absence of his father, his mother Joy had to work multiple jobs to send him and his siblings to school. Moore adds that he was enrolled in a private school but skipped his classes often and was put on academic probation. On the other hand, the
In the book "The Other Wes Moore", there are two Wes Moores that are discussed, along with their families. These two Wes' are alike in they share the name Wes Moore, but their lives are very different in many ways. Although similar in some characteristics, the two were raised different, with different circumstances. Both of the Wes Moore's are born and raised in the same neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. The first Wes Moore had a mother named Joy, and a father named Westly.
In conclusion, both Wes Moore’s had critical moments and different standpoints throughout the entirety of their lives. Though they both had individual accountabilities it was the choices that they individually made that ultimately determined there fates. “Wes and I stared at each other for a moment, surrounded by the evidence that some kids were forced to become adults prematurely. These incarnated men, before they’d even reached a point of basic maturity, had flagrantly-and tragically-squandered the few opportunities they’d
In the book, The Other Wes Moore it is difficult to believe the great similarities in the lives of the two Moores, who share a name and other aspects of life. The two were raised fatherless and were born in the late 1970’s in the neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. They also happen to have encountered similar experiences when growing up, but at one point one of them became a criminal and the other a scholar (the author of the book). The author of the book seems to be interested in the similarities of the two boys as opposed to their different experiences. The story is interesting and makes one imagine what would have become of the writer if he did not by any chance come across the people who guided him to become what
The Other Wes Moore is a book about two young African-American lives that share the same name, Wes Moore. Both Wes Moores grew up with similarities, they both grew up in the same hometown. One of the Wes Moore is free and the other one is spending his life in jail. They both grew up without fathers. The author's father died in front of him when he was just three years old and the other Wes Moore barley knew his dad. The Author's father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, and the other Wes Moore, father wasn’t there because he chose not to be. Both mothers were working hard towards setting their families and to support and care for their sons.
The reasoning as to why I believe the other Wes Moore could have went down a path to success is if the other Wes Moore had the same family support as the author Wes Moore and if his brother who had a big influence on Wes, was not involved in the drug game. While both Wes Moore’s are both fatherless, the author Wes Moore was a lot luckier than the other Wes Moore, because he had his grandparents to help raise him. With the support of his grandparents, Wes had someone to look after him and also help steer him in the right direction if needed. His grandparents gave Wes and his sisters a set of rules and chores to do every single day. Compared to the other Wes Moore, he did not have any sort of discipline or rules to go by in his house due to the fact his mother and brother were never really at home. Furthermore, with the other Wes Moore, he only had his mother and his brother Tony, who both were not a good influence on him at all. The other Wes Moore looked up to his brother and wanted to be exactly like Tony. For example, when Wes got into a small
Throughout the first three chapters of the book, we get to know both of the Wes Moore’s childhoods which are filled with crucial point in the sense of the development of a child. For example, both of the father figures are missing in both Wes Moore’s life, but the reasons lack similarity. For the soon to be smart Wes Moore, his father was a great man whom he admired but suddenly died due to the lack of treatment from the hospital. As for the other Wes Moore, he does not know his father at all, but from what the story depicts to us, he is a drunk who does not care for his child. Later on, the soon to be smart Wes Moore moves to his grandparent’s home in the Bronx, which seems at the time a very dangerous place to live in. The soon to be jailed
The parallels in their stories aren't quite as compelling as they may appear initially. For example, the other Wes Moore spends a number of his developmental years living in the Bronx, NY, whereas his namesake never leaves Baltimore and its suburbs. Though Wes Moore is shipped off to military school (after his antisocial behavior in a privileged
In the novel The Other Wes Moore, both men were heavily influenced by extrinsic influences as they shaped the courses of their respective lives ultimately deciding their fate. The destinies of the Wes Moores sprung from the ways of how they lost their fathers, the roles of their siblings, and the response of their mothers to their behaviors. The novel shows just how the boys’ lives are altered by all of the external factors in their respective environments. For Wes, the author would grow up having a mother who relentlessly worked at making sure her son had lived a positive life and his own goals at pleasing her and maintaining his connections and relationships with the ones he cared for. For the other Wes Moore, the absence of his mother
Taking back mysterious as it may be in thought Moore the author was reflecting, some of us can relate to that time he was growing up among our own peers with pressure from our streets and classmates in rooms of education if any for some in those urban neighborhoods. With a family of five including mother, father and two other sister’s one named Nikki who is the oldest and then there’s Shani the baby girl. Wow Moore just reflecting first on starting out as a boy child having a father figure in the black community actually isn’t a give me unfortunate when thinking of the other Wes. Though short as it may have been for Moore with his father sudden death, there were his grandparents with grandfather being a man of the
The book The Other Wes Moore sells its self on being about “two hauntingly similar boys take starkly different paths… the other Wes his age and from the same area of greater Baltimore” (Publishers weekly, 2011). The book tries to convey the boy’s lives could have been the same through crime, education and family but against the odds fate, or choice changes their two fates. This is simply not true. The two boys could have nearly never had the same lives for the vary reasons the book proves itself. The two Wes Moores could have never been the same, not because fate but because of location, family values, and how the two men grew up living complete different lives.
When Wes moved to Cherry Hill he started to see drug dealers and crimes going
In particular, the typical African-American family had 60% as much income as a Caucasian family in 1968, but only 58% as much as a Caucasian family in 2002 (“New Report”). This exemplifies that economic discrimination of African-Americans has been deteriorating rather than improving. Regardless of the economic growth, the economic position of African-Americans has worsened. Thus the American Dream remains a myth for an important part of American society.