Compare and Contrast Essay

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

Moore was a troubled kid, getting into fights, getting in trouble for graffiti, running away was sent to many different schools. He was the poor kid in a sea of rich kids (so he didn’t fit in). But he was given the opportunity to change when he was forced to go to a Military boarding school. He eventually decided that he wanted to be apart of something bigger than himself and this was it. He knew he wanted to change. When deciding how he could change he thought, “Aside from my family and friends, the men I trusted most all had something in common: they all wore the uniform of the United States of America,” (Moore pg. 132). He decided he wanted to become a Lieutenant and be someone other people could look up to. This was a major moment in Moore’s life. But Wes, on the other hand, experienced the same bad childhood and never got out of the “bad”. He never had a defining failure where he said ‘this is when I change’. He got onto a path and started making patterns with his decisions and never made the right one to get him to where he needed to be, unlike the other Wes.

“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.

“The Other Wes Moore” is a story that follows two boys with the exact same name who start off living very similar lives in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the boys live on to be an extremely successful man and the other one is living the rest of his life behind bars. The two men wondered how their strikingly similar path diverged into two completely different fates and then an argument formed. Are people products of their choices or their environment and expectations thrown upon them? The book proves that people are products of their choices. Both Wes Moores were raised by a single mom in the tough streets of Baltimore and they both were rebellious children who got arrested at a young age. Their similarities lessened as their choices and their mom’s choices contrasted. The more fortunate Wes was sent to Military school and he chose to make the most of it and become the best version of himself. His determination and hard work trumped his previous hooligan mindset, therefore his future was bright and fulfilling. The other Wes chose to follow his brother,

i. The similarities with the Other Wes’s mother was that she too was never home, but the contrast lye with the mistake she made with leaving Tony as the only guardian. “Wes, now eight years old, was free from any adult supervision till then. His brother, six years older, was the closest thing Wes had to a caretaker during the daylight hours and was fiercely protective of the little brother who idolized him. But lately even Tony hadn’t been around much (Moore 26).”

Many people would say we are all just products of our environment. For two young boys from Baltimore, this could not be truer. In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore, two fatherless, young boys growing up in the same neighborhood with the same name, end up on two entirely different paths of life. The author becomes a Rhodes Scholar, college graduate, veteran, and much more, while the “other” Wes gets deeply involved with the drug game and spends most of his life in trouble with the law. When these boys come from such similar backgrounds, how is it that they take such different journeys in life? The reason why one Wes Moore became mixed up with drugs and the law, and

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

Wes #2 did not have a father in his life either, his father left him and his family when he was young. The difference between Wes #1 and Wes #2 is that Wes #2's father had a choice of coming back. Wes #2’s father's absence made his older brother try to step in to make a change, but big brothers don't always help; sometimes the big brother adds to the problem, also the problem was that the neighborhood was drug infested. That meant that almost everyone was either selling or

“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 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.

Luckily the author Wes had a lot of support from his mother and she also represented to him a father figure since he was the only male among his sisters. The author Wes said, “Intent to make some sense of the tragedy, she used the money to create a fund that would provide equipment and training to paramedics on a new procedure for dealing with respiratory or cardiac arrest, a technique that could have saved my father’s life (36).” Besides dealing with the fact that she was a single mother of three children she still managed to make a good deed in honor of her husband who could have been saved if they would have been offered that equipment and training. Unlike the author Wes’s mother, the other Wes’s mother was seeing married men and setting bad examples to her children.

The narrator Wes and the other Wes are similar because they grew up in a single parent home. “Mary looked down at her son and uttered the words she had never said before and never thought she would have to say. Wes, meet your father(Moore 25).” When Wes was growing up, he only had his older brother and his mom because his father was never in his life. The narrator's father died after the doctors told him to go home and rest. The narrator’s father would’ve been around and cared for his family if the doctors would’ve taken better care of him. ”The hospital looked at him askance, insulted him with ridiculous questions, and basically told him to fend for himself. Now my mother had to plan his funeral(Moore 15).” Beside

One name, two different people with two different fates based on life choices. The Other Wes Moore is a story about two men with the same name, who both grew up in West Baltimore. The town was crime-ridden, and both the author and Wes struggled with school. Both boys were in instances with the law, however, while the author learned from his encounter with police, the other Wes Moore didn’t and he continued in his drug dealing ways. The author went to military school to learn respect and discipline, attributes the other Wes lacked. The reader notices the author’s tone when “My mother had noticed the way I had changed since leaving for military school…They made it clear that they cared if I succeeded, and eventually so did I,” (Moore 115). As the author used the scene of military school to portray his tone of optimism. While the author was making something of his life, and overcoming his obstacles, the other Wes Moore suffered and made horrible mistakes. The other Wes became a drug dealer with power, the power that went to his head. After he found his girlfriend, Cheryl, overdosed at his house, he realized the drug game was wrong. He soon entered the Job Corps, wanting to create something of himself. However, as the stress of his new job and caring for his children was demanding,

    One central difference to think about when looking at the two individuals is the fact that Wes has a more supporting mother than Wes (2), in a person’s life a mother is so important and can be looked as a blessing. A mother is the one that supposed to be the person that takes great care of you and guides you,  and to teach what’s right from wrong. The author’s mother was much more supportive for her son, Wes acknowledges, “Every time I looked  around at the buildings and the trees and the view of the river, I was reminded of the sacrifices my mother was making to keep me there.” (Moore 52). Due to this quote, we can conclude that Wes’s mother, although struggling at the time, found a way to put her child in the best possible route in education. Wes presents it as kind of an understatement, however, from his mother doing this, it affects his life so much. By being put in a excellent school, it offers many more opportunities than that of the other Wes and he can gather a lot more help/exposure to guide him toward a bright future. On the other hand, we have Wes (2) that is lost and seems as if he just can’t find his way, “Young boys are more likely to believe in themselves if they know that there’s someone, somewhere, who shares that belief. To carry the

In order for the Wes’s to get respect, they need to show they are worthy. While the author was in private school he tried to gain respect by beating up other students and he tried to link up with the children in the “cool” crowd. This did not work very well for Wes, he was considered to be in a decent family. His mother was strict and tried everything to get him to stop with his attitude. Along with that Wes had a strict curfew, he was to be home when the street lights came on and he knew to follow that. Where the other Wes tried to earn credit by fight, smoking marijuana, drinking, and eventually getting involved with the distribution of drugs. His family was more street run, they were disorganized and lacked consideration for other. With his father choosing to not be involved his family is more prone to physical and verbal punishment, which showed Wes that everything can be solved with