In this quote, Wes Moore, the author and narrator, is retelling stories about his mother’s past. His mother, Mary Moore, suffered through an abusive relationship before Wes was born and this experience is a large part of how she raises Wes. Mary was in her home when her Bill, her former husband, came home, drunk, and screamed at her to do the dishes or else he would wake up the baby. He grew angrier and beat Mary on the kitchen floor. This moment was a traumatic moment in Mary’s life. She later left Bill and took the baby with her. The vow she made to herself is important in Wes Moore’s development and how he grew up to be a respectful man. Mary would not allow Wes to become a violent individual and did not tolerate violence in her household. …show more content…
His mother, Joy, wanted Wes to live a good life which led to her enrolling him in a mainly white private school. Wes felt out of place at the school due to the fact that he was not wealthy and had minimal school clothing options. In his neighborhood, Wes’s friends would give him a hard time about attending a fancy school. Since both worlds were so different, Wes felt like he did not belong in either which took a toll on his confidence.
Wes Moore, the author, was sitting in a chapel listening to Colonel Billy Murphy give a speech about his departure from Valley Forge. During the speech, Colonel Murphy said a phrase that stuck with Wes for the rest of his life. The Colonel stated that a person should live their lives to the fullest and make sure everything they worked towards matter. The quote from the Colonel gave Wes the determination to stay at Valley Forge and attend the junior college. Wes decided that he wanted to lead soldiers in the Army and that was going to be apart of his impact on the
The author reveals that he hung out with the wrong people which afforded him to be arrested by the police due to vandalism. Because of this incident, the author Wes was sent to Valley Forge, a military school in Philadelphia. The author claims that the author Wes had a difficult time at first and had tried to escape the school several times; but when he discovered that his mother and his grandparents sacrificed a lot just to send him there, he decided to stay and eventually became a platoon leader. However, Moore states that the other Wes got involved with the use and distribution of drugs, like his brother Tony. The author mentions that the other Wes got his girlfriend pregnant and adds that the news of early fatherhood made him frustrated. Moore states that the other Wes stopped attending school and expanded his drug selling business. The author states that the other Wes was arrested for selling drugs to a police
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.
These school were poorly funded and were ill-equipped to teach the students. Because of this, Many students ended up dropping out to make money for their family or themselves. This lead Wes toward his career in the drug trade. “He knew what game this was, the same game that had consumed Tony and put a bullet or two in him. The same game that Tony continually urged Wes to stay out of…. His disenchantment with school was beginning to wear on him. All he really wanted to do was either play football professionally or become a rapper. If he could earn some cash in the meantime” (58). This was a huge turning point in Wes Moore’s life. This part in the story is when Wes got into the drug trade and ultimately quit school. He made the choice to stop going to school because he wanted to get some money, he took the easy route. That was his choice, even though his mom and his brother tried to keep him in school, he ultimately is his own persona and makes his own choices.
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 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
Intrinsic and extrinsic factors like family, expectations, perseverance, and motivation impact the way a person turns out to be. In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore, the author speaks about another man with the same name that grew up in the same area and compares how they went in different paths based upon intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
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
“I sat back, allowing Wes's words to sink in. Then I responded, "I guess it's hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances"(Page 67). In "The Other Wes Moore" the environment of both Wes Moore's were completely different from each other. They both made some stupid decisions over time but who is perfect? It is expected of everyone to make some mistakes, in my opinion the main influence on their choices came from their environment. In their environment they had peers that would influence them to do things that they did not necessarily want to do. This caused them to get into trouble, but at the same token, their environment also gave them some opportunities to make it through some rough times. For Example: Wes #2
The occasional frustration in being a bigger person and the ability of a person to grow over time are expressed through the literary devices tone and direct characterization to further develop the importance of rising above challenges in The Other Wes Moore. When Wes was a high schooler at Valley Forge, he became such a high ranking cadet that he was granted more freedom than he had years prior. With this freedom Wes walked to town with his friend of similar ranking, Dalio. On a walk to the pizza parlor Dalio and Wes were harassed because of their skin color and were left running back to their camp in dissatisfaction. Wes felt extreme frustration in allowing the white boy to treat him with such disrespect “because after being called a nigger and having [his] tooth broken, [he had] decided to flee back to campus” (Moore 121). The anger that is conveyed through Moore’s tone exemplifies how unhappy he was to
Being that the scholar Wes Moore was bound to be on the better path than the other Wes Moore was a given. The scholar Wes Moore had components in his early life that influenced him to be on the right path. He was able to be see both sides of things and have a sense of direction and create a role model for himself. He was also able to recognize the efforts both his family and his mother has made in the past to help him in the future. There were times where he could have took the wrong path but with his ability to be a loyal and responsible person, he chose to stay on track.
Humans have come to a conclusion that all lives are different, but all go through many hardships and tragedies. The impact from a slight difference can vary to be very vast to very small, such a slight difference, however, can change a person’s life as a whole. In the book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore there is a difference that can be identified between the author’s life and that of the other Wes. This difference, though can be very critical and is ultimately able to lead to a path of triumph or failure for an individual. The lack of involvement a mother has for their child can fundamentally deprive them from succeeding, and parent involvement has the opportunity to
While Wes Moore was able to change his situation and begin to make better decisions, the other Wes Moore was never able to accomplish such task. During one of their conversations, the incarcerated Wes said, "From everything you told me, both of us did some pretty wrong stuff when we were younger. And both of us had second chances. But if the situation or the context where you make the decisions don't change, then second chances don't mean much, huh?" (66). In the same conversation, about ¼ of the way into the book Moore realized an important aspect in life, "I sat back, allowing Wes's words to sink in. Then I responded, 'I guess it's hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances.'" (Moore 67).
Parents experiencing poverty may struggle to provide for their children and can become very stressed from dealing with the monotonous monetary requirements. Within poverty stricken households extreme variations of parenting and guidance can be observed, from little to no presence or direction, all the way to the other side of the spectrum with severe overreactions. “Higher levels of stress negatively affect parenting style, and these parents tend to be more authoritarian or inconsistent.” (Katz, 18) Family structures, living environments, mental health, personalities, and educational backgrounds are all likely to be contributing factor to both parenting
The definition of positivity is being optimistic and cheerful meanwhile, having positive faith means being optimistic but, backed with confidence and complete trust. The characters in The Other Wes Moore, The Catcher in the Rye, and Master Harold and the boys have a desire for a change in their often problematic life which, becomes the motivation of the characters to change their future. Holden from the novel Catcher in the Rye, Sam from the play Master Harold and the boys, and the Wes Moore's from the autobiography/biography The Other Wes Moore are able to endure there situations with the hope of positive faith.