Matchstick Men

The Negro Leagues were one of the most important and influential movements to happen in baseball history. Without these ‘Invisible Men’, who knows where baseball’s racial standpoint with not only African American’s, but others such as Cuban, Dominican, and South American players, would be in the Major Leagues. Throughout the book, one pressing theme stays from beginning to end: Segregation.

The Wes Moore, didn’t have much of a father figure growing up, or anyone to influence him. He might have had his mom, and his grandparents to help him through the military school experience, but he still didn’t have a role model. For the other Wes Moore, his role model was his brother. The other Wes Moore’s brother Tony, was a drug dealer, and not the right person to help influence his life. Tony did care about his brother, and tried to help him succeed, but the other Wes didn’t have a father figure either, and saw Tony as a “dad.”

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.

In 1994, Frank Darabont’s film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ received a poor reception when released; it only made a $0.3m profit. More recently the film has become known as one of the greatest movies of all time, it has inspired hope in many people, helping them to lose weight, leave abusive marriages and such like. The film is based mainly upon two convicts, and the idea of hope. Andy Dufresne is a ‘Hot Shot Banker’ imprisoned with two life sentences, for the suspected murder of his wife and her lover and ‘Red’ (Morgan Freeman) whom Andy redeems hope in, along with the other convicts, saving them from institutionalisation.

"The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine... It's unsettling to know how little separates each of us from another life altogether (Moore XI)." The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is about two men who have the same name, Wes Moore. Both grew up in similar areas, each made choices that lead to one spending life in jail and the other spent his being in the military. The Wes Moore's grew up in the 1970's-1980's. They both were poor with single mothers who worked day in and day out, and still struggled to be able to be above the poverty line. For each man there was one moment that changed the future of their life. In the book,The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, the author explains the idea of poverty to develop the theme poverty can affect an individual negatively, but each action and decision a person makes can control whether his or her life is positive or negative.

Over time, Moore became a product of the system by being raised in a single-parent household while “he had never met his father” (Moore 16) and his mother “was left with two alcoholic, abusive men who shared the DNA of her two children but no husband or dad for her boys” (Moore 17). Moore was raised in the best way possible that his mother knew how to raise him, however it didn’t cut it. Mary, Moore’s mother, was an extremely hard worker and was working long hours to support her family but that meant she was not around to parent Wes as much as she should’ve. With Moore’s lack of a father figure, his brother Tony steps in to help guide him because “he felt his brother’s life could be saved” (Moore 27) and Tony wanted Wes to try and escape the cycle of systematic oppression within their environment. The domestic aspect of Moore’s environment strongly influenced the decisions he made on a day to day basis because his home life was non-existent and there was a severe lack of parenting. In the end, Moore became a product of how he was raised and the troubles that existed within his household because of Tony’s confusing messages of staying out of trouble and doing the right thing while he goes and sells drugs, his mother’s lack of attention to Wes, and the lack of a father figure that would guide him in a better direction. These aspects of his home environment add up to the end result of Moore’s life and the tragedy that Tony pushed for him to stay away

Wes Moore, the author of the autobiography, begins his story about his parents, and eventually the loss of his father. Which leads to his mother moving him the family to New York to help raise the children while she tries to pull her own life together. After this event, you can see the slow change in Wes Moore as he begins to skip school and commit petty crime, like tagging the neighborhood where he lived. His mother eventually fed up with this ships him to Military school in hopes it will shape him up. After a rough begging, a distinct change is seen in the author.

Both of the Wes Moore’s had caring families who loved them, but only one family took action. At a young age, Wes Moore looked up to his father. He taught him right from wrong. But when Wes was only three years old, he passed away. This led his family to move to the Bronx, New

Richard Strout was married to Mary Ann, who was most likely fed up with his hot temperedness that always seemed to get him into fist fights. She separated from her husband and while they were going through the process of divorce, she began a new relationship with Frank Fowler, killing all hope of reconciling her marriage with Strout. In return Strout became enraged not only in losing his wife, but their sons, who

A man by the name of Andy Dufresne was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in Shawshank prison. He was an obvious black sheep among the prisoners, but as time went on he grew relationships with the crooks and realized the injustice in the justice system. In the creation of friendship between Red and Andy, hope was spread throughout the prison. While many themes are present in the film The Shawshank Redemption, hope, friendship, and injustice are also relevant in the world today.

life. “The Other Wes Moore One Name, Two Fates”, is a book about two males who share the

Richard Strout was married to Mary Ann, who was most likely fed up with his hot temperedness that always seemed to get him into fist fights. She separated from her husband and while they were going through the process of divorce she started a new relationship with Frank Fowler, killing all hope of reconciling her marriage with Richard. In return he became enraged not only in losing his

Roy Eberhardt was the new kid at Trace Middle School. His family had just moved from Montana to Coconut Grove, Florida. In the beginning of the book, Roy was a quite boy without any friends, was bullied, and didn’t seem very interested in his new town. By the end of the book, Roy showed his bravery against bullies, made a few new friends, and finds out Florida has a lot of interesting nature to offer.

Mack and his Boys are a group of down-and-out but always devious men who live together in the run-down fishmeal shack, owned by Lee Chong, which they

The movie, The Shawshank Redemption (1994), is based on a character Andy Dufresne. Andy is a young and successful banker who is sent to Shawshank Prison for murdering his wife and her secret lover. His life is changed drastically upon being convicted and being sent to prison. He is sent to prison to serve a life term. Over the 20-years in prison, Andy retains optimism and eventually earns the respect of his fellow inmates. He becomes friends with Red, and they both comfort and empathize with each other while in prison. The story has a strong message of hope, spirit, determination, courage, and desire.