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Honor In The Other Wes Moore

Decent Essays

While impoverished people justify violent actions with defending honor, the Founding Fathers justified violence with achieving liberty. Honor is highly regarded in the impoverished society in The Other Wes Moore. When Deshawn’s hat was knocked off just before a fight, “it was as if he were a king and someone had knocked his crown into the dirt” (33). The author’s use of king’s crown as a simile for a baseball hat communicates the meaning that the other boy’s sign of disrespect insulted Deshawn’s honor, since it knocked his crown, a symbol normally associated with honor, into the dirt. Deshawn’s retaliation indicates his motivation to defend his honor, even if it meant engaging in violent behavior. In contrast, the Declaration of independance …show more content…

As the founder of CeaseFire stated, “violence is a two-step process. The first thought is: I have a grievance. He looked at my girl, he called me a name, he disrespected me, he owes me money” (16:05) Deshawn’s grievance was that the boy knocked his crown into the dirt. The Founding Fathers also had many grievances towards Great Britain that they listed in the Declaration of Independence, among them included imposing taxes without consent. “The second thought is that grievance justifies violence” (16:05). Impoverished youth advanced fights, and the writers of the Declaration of Independence further advanced the Revolutionary war, which are both violent actions justified by their grievances. This further proves the idea from discussion that violence “is something that affects communities big and small, and people of all races and all colors. It is an American Problem” (48:32). Just like the Declaration of Independence was a document that came to epitomize American values, the consistency between the Founding Fathers and the impoverished youth in The Other Wes Moore epitomizes the American Problem of violence because regardless of wealth, race, motive, or background, both parties used a grievance to justify violent

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