“This is the story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free and has experienced things that he never even knew to dream about as a kid. The other will spend everyday until his death behind bars for an armed robbery that left a police officer and father of five dead. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” Moore (xi). The Other Wes Moore shows us how similar their childhoods were but they had two entirely different outcomes in the end. Lets see what some of the similarities and differences in the Wes Moores’ lives pertaining to family and police run-ins of both Wes Moores’ were described in The Other Wes Moore.
First of all, the “author” and the “other” Wes Moore have had altercations with the police. The “other” Wes just done with a game of football when his police encounter became about. Wes kept on violently pushing a boy during the game and the boy finally had enough and swung a punch and it Wes in the face and busted open his lip. In response to that Wes went into the kitchen grabbed a knife and was sprinting toward the boy, but the police arrived gave Wes two warnings then, “One of the police officers stepped up… slamming him face first into the trunk of the police cruiser.” Moore (34). This was a very hard moment for the “other” Wes because he did not want his mother to find out about him getting arrested so he had to resort and call
As a direct result of his years at the military school, Wes graduated high school on time and continued his education. On the other hand, “Other” Wes did not graduate from high school. Rather than attempt to turn his life around, “Other” Wes turned to a life of pushing drugs and committing crimes, a lifestyle that would later result in long prison sentences for him. This is a result of him not receiving any effective disciplinary action from his mother or any other important role models in his life because rather than try to live his life according to any standard set for him early in life, he disregarded the law and those around him. Author Wes’s self-discipline, family discipline, and military discipline all resulted in him having a prosperous life starting immediately after he graduated. He eventually attended college and interned at the Baltimore city's mayor's office. While the “other” Wes had no discipline in his life which led it to spiral out of control. After trying getting back into selling drugs, “other Wes” committed a robbery with his brother Tony which went from bad to worse when it resulted in the death of a policeman who had taken up a second job as a security guard at the jewelry store Wes
In his book, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” Wes Moore (2011) tells a true story about two men from Baltimore who have identical names but have different outcomes in life. He also illustrates the similarities of their life’s situations when they were younger, the decisions they made in life and their impacts, and the roads they took that ultimately led them to where they are today.
“One name, two fates,” that what the author of the Other Wes Moore stated on the cover of his book. Two boys that were born in the same neighborhood in Baltimore, and had a difficult childhood since they both grew up fatherless. The coincidence was that the two boys were called Wes. They both shared a lot of similarities from living in a poor neighborhood and growing up in Baltimore street corners with their squads. However, their futures were completely different as one achieved the impossible and the other was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. People may think that how could this happen since they both were living the same circumstances. However, in the book Wes Moore, the boys did not have equal opportunities in terms of parenting, education, and environment.
A person’s success or failure can be determined by their environment, education, choices; a number of different things. The autobiography The Other Wes Moore takes a look at two boys with the same name and eerily similar circumstances who end up in very different places in life. Wes Moore spoke at convocation about his book and what he hoped that people would get from it. In the book he says “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore xi). These two men didn’t share the same fate because they each made a choice about what they wanted their life to become. The book truly demonstrates how the choices you make, make you. One Wes
In Wes Moore’s 2010 book “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” two men with the same name, born blocks apart who are raised in an identical poverty and drug plagued neighborhood are examined. What author Wes Moore discovers in his conversations with inmate Wes Moore, is that their lives were remarkably similar growing up. Given their current situations in life, their paths to get there take shape through a series of interchangeable decisions and life events. One Wes through mentorship in decision-making ends up a Rhodes Scholar and decorated war veteran, while the other Wes minus the mentoring ends up in prison serving a life sentence. The age-old cry, “It takes a village,” resonates in Moore’s examination of his mirrored upbringing.
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.
“This is a story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free… The other will spend every day until his death behind bars...” (Moore, XI) In The Other Wes Moore, the author, Wes Moore, and the other Wes Moore both grew up in similar, yet different, circumstances and had completely different outcomes. This captivating narrative demonstrates how the choices you make, make you. In the introduction, the author Wes Moore validates this statement by saying, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore XI) The author, Wes Moore, shows the readers that a person’s environment, circumstances, education (or lack
In the book The Other Wes Moore, it has two different guys with the same name but different lives. Wes one, had a good family to take care of him. Wes two, wasn’t so fortunate, his family didn’t really care about him. I’ve never been in a situation like this but if you grow up like this on the streets and you want off bad enough you will do whatever it takes. You make your own life no one else.
In Wes Moore's book, The Other Wes Moore, he describes both his childhood and the early life of another boy of the same name who grew up near the author in the same Baltimore neighborhood. Moore's book explores the reasons why one boy, the author, succeeded in life while the other Wes Moore was overwhelmed by his struggles and will spend his life in prison. The author Wes Moore addresses different topics for the reader to take from the book.The ideas that are presented by him and should be recognised are the environment the boys grew up in, the motivation they got from family, and the influence from not having a father. The author Wes Moore has always had a supportive family while on the other hand the other Wes Moore had no one besides Tony, who even then was a big factor on why Wes is where he is at today. Their environment plays a big role in both of the boy’s life since they both were around the same things. The only difference is that one had a family who got him out of there to an environment that shaped him up to be the man that he is today and the one that never left will be the one that will never leave prison for the rest of his life.
How do two boys with the same name who live within the same community end up with lives on two completely different paths? The author, Wes Moore, begins life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and ends up a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, White House Fellow, etc. The other Wes Moore starts in the same place in Baltimore but ends up in prison FOR LIFE.
One’s childhood has a lasting impact on their entire life. Moore’s upbringing and the loving family he was born into, no matter how trivial it may seem, greatly contributed to his success. Wes seemingly grew up the same as any other kid in the Bronx – in a single-parent household, surrounded by bad influences… what separated him from the crowd? His support system: his family, and their ultimate support and sacrifices made all the difference. As a teenager, Wes seemed to be going down the wrong path. He constantly skipped school, his academic failures were overwhelming, and he was even arrested for vandalism. In the case of the other Wes, his family simply let these actions slide, and decision after decision ultimately landed him with a life sentence in prison. The author Wes’s mother, however, refused to allow this behavior to continue. As a method of intervention, she forced Moore to attend Valley Forge, and in doing so, probably saved his career. The extent of his family’s sacrifice was evident on page 95 when Wes realized that “my grandparents took the money they had in the home in the Bronx, decades of savings and mortgage payments, and gave it to my mother
Wes Moore could be in jail if it wasn’t for some of the sacrifices that other people made for him and Wes Moore could be out of jail if he would have made some of these decisions. This essay will determine what the Wes Moore’s had in common and how they were different and how they had such different paths this is mainly because of the similarities and differences between their education and family relationship.
“The Other Wes Moore” written by Wes Moore, is a story about two boys who grew up around the same area and in similar circumstances. The author, Wes, grew into a well-respected man. The other Wes Moore goes to prison for the rest of his life, without a possibility of parole. During the story, the other Wes is punched in the face and instead of punching back he shot and killed the man who punched him. The story expresses many themes, one of which is that some people will do anything to other people’s lives to gain power, respect, or money. This is also shown when the other Wes describes the drug trade, when he almost stabs a kid, and when he and his crew shoot and kill a police officer.
The Other Wes Moore The Other Wes Moore is a book about two children with similar lifestyles when they were growing up and the same names, but ending up in different places in their lives. The story is about the other Wes Moore, who was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment and Wes Moore, the author, who faces poverty and has an ambition of receiving proper education (Moore, 2012).