Every year over 500,000 people die due to drug use in the United States alone. Drug use has become such a problem president Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. Due to the immense scale of the problem, it has often inspired many novels. One example of a novel that incorporates drug use and the drug trade into the plot is the novel The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. The book discusses the differences between the author and another character named Wes Moore. One key distinction between the two for example, the other Wes Moore involvement in the drug trade. Soon, however, the other Wes Moore grows to resent the drug trade and develops into a key passage in the book. The key argument Moore makes in that passage pertains that the effects of the drug trade become too horrific for people to handle when faced directly, demonstrated with the confrontation with Cheryl, through Wes Moore's use of repetition, and imagery.
Wes had willingly turned a blind eye to the effects of the drug, however, after Wes Moore found Cheryl using heroin had he directly confronted with the effects.Wes had experienced these effects for years through his job and it disgusted him, but he could always get away from that. Once these effects entered his personal life, however, it “...pained him to realize that the mother of his children was just like them” (Moore 137).Wes simply could not handle the weight of not only his guilt for allowing this to happen but also his hypocrisy for still allowing other people to
When a student is in school, the options for what the student can do in their free time can impact them for the rest of their life. The choices to partake in an extracurricular activity, such as a sport could benefit one in many ways. They can create core values inside a person which then impacts other aspects of their life as well. Sports are able to give one a standard for the way their life should be spent. The ways a sport could influence a person are seen in The Other Wes Moore, giving both sides of the spectrum.
“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.
Every single event or incident a person commits is driven by some kind of motivation whether good or bad. Regardless of the intention there are two types of motivation: Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic is being motivated by self-satisfaction and extrinsic is motivated by en external reward. In the memoir The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, there are a series of events or incidents in the second half of the book that display that variety of motivation that exists. Having read the book one may argue that the author Wes Moore was motivated by more intrinsic drive whereas the other Wes was motivated more by extrinsic drive.
Many of the problems seen in modern times are due to events that many Americans pass off as “typical” in relation to misfortunes and injustices. The Other Wes Moore perfectly exemplifies these exact afflictions that a multitude of people face in the United States, partially due to ethnicity or cultural background. The instances of poverty, economic injustice, drugs, and family influence in The Other Wes Moore contribute to significant findings in socioeconomic structure that relate to considerable matters in the present day. An in-depth analysis on the story of both Wes and Moore in the eyes of a student of National Security and Foreign Affairs, and through the perspective of an Intelligence Officer, reveals small factors that both
In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, the author makes a key claim on how the social hierarchy in the drug world creates a strong bond that consumes an individual’s life. Moore further enhances this claim using a metaphor to compare soldiers to a drug unit and employing repetitive sentence structure to enhance the family like appeal of Wes’ crew.
In the novel The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates it tells the story of two boys with the same name but two very different mindsets in life. “Life and death, freedom and bondage, hang in the balance of every action we take” (xiv). Wes Moore (1), the author, has had many things that impacted to his mindset that led to good and evil choices thought-out his life. Wes Moore (2) had made decisions that set a wrong mindset that would leave him in one place for the rest of his life. The mindsets of Wes Moore (1) and Wes (2) impacted their chances with the law, their choices with education and their opportunities with employment.
When most people hear the name Wes Moore, they think of the Wes Moore that is a decorated veteran and author, but when Wes Moore hears his name, he thinks about not himself, but the Wes Moore serving life in prison for first-degree felony murder. They both grew up in similar settings and both had trouble with the police, but there lives are the complete opposite now. Most people wonder how that could happen. Each Wes ended up on totally different paths as evidenced by actions and events that took place in each of their lives. Throughout the following paragraphs, how each Wes’s life slowly became different will become clear.
The other Wes Moore took a different path later in his life. Even though his role model and older brother, Tony, encouraged him to stay in school and to stay out of the drug game; Wes did not listen. Although he tried to better himself by enrolling himself into a program and trying to get back into school, “Wes went back to school immediately after leaving the juvenile detention facility, the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson” (Moore 110), he still did not accomplish what he wanted. Wes just wanted to be able to support himself and his family but “Wes found it almost impossible to find a job to support
Public shame is never a pleasant occurrence, but every society has its own way of punishing others who have committed a crime. Humiliation is present in everyday life and in novels. The Scarlet Letter and The Other Wes Moore both deal with public degradation. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is the story of two men who live very different lives, but share the same name. Both faced similar difficulties in their youth, although they went down opposite paths in their adult lives. The other Wes Moore chose a path of drugs and violence, which led to him committing murder during a robbery. After his arrest, Moore’s mugshot was shown all over the news and he had a criminal trial. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne has committed a horrible sin in her Puritan community, she has committed adultery. Her punishment was being branded with a piece of scarlet cloth shaped like the letter A on her chest for the rest of her life. Hester must deal with the continuous judgement of the townspeople with her daughter Pearl. Hawthorne and Moore both described in their novels the effect humiliation has on an individual's life and how public shame is present in all societies, past and present, through the use of tone and descriptive imagery.
Author Wes had many role models presented to him that gave him a representation of what correct path he should take in life. As for the Other Wes, his role models wasn't as adequate for that task. Other Wes role model was his brother Tony who in which was the eldest. The other Wes moore didn’t have a father figure so he depended on his older brother to show him the ropes of manhood but Tony didn't live up to that role. Tony was a known drug dealer where he lived in Baltimore but he try to steer his younger brother Wes away from it. When Tony would give him advice on avoiding this lifestyle, Wes would completely ignore it cause he wanted so badly to be like his older brother Tony. Stated by Moore, “Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a role model. But the more he tried to be like his brother, the more his brother rejected him.The more
According to Marian Erickson, “Most of life is choices, and the rest is pure dumb luck.” Real people’s lives depend on this quote everyday, which leads to the outcome of each problem individuals face. In the passages, characterization of the main personas helps one understand the theme. Conflict and symbolism also help lead to the overall idea that life is not always guaranteed to be full of success. The book The Other Wes Moore, the poem “If,” and the informational text “The Art of Resilience” all share a common theme of how choices and luck contribute to the success of life.
When I was first told that I had to read The Other Wes Moore, I told myself "Great, another boring book to read" as I am not a reader. However, I was wrong; this story about two boys around the same age, same name, raised by single mothers and around the same neighborhood, but as they grew to be adults due to the choices they made, they had different outcomes in life. I was able to actually relate to some parts of the book and knew how they felt at the moment and for me, that is what a great book is about.
In the memoir, The Other Wes Moore, Wes Moore, Moore unfolds several events that happened in his own life, along with another man named Wes Moore. The two men were both born in Baltimore, and faced similar obstacles because of the circumstances they were raised in. With the use of flashbacks, imagery, description, and other literary devices, Moore explains the life of him as a person who grows up to achieve what he wants, while the other Wes Moore spends most of his life in prison as he came to be known as a murderer.
In life, we are given obstacles that we must overcome in order to take the right path to success. In this novel, the author tells the readers about the major obstacles and difficulties two boys with similar backgrounds had to endure in the Bronx in order to be where they are today. One of the boys is now living his life behind bars and the other, the author, has made a name for himself. This book explores how these two boys got to where they are today.
So, after Wes Moore dropped out he started to sell and buy drugs. Later on, he becomes a drug dealer earning loads of cash. When Wes Moore starts all of this he starts to change into a secluded person that keeps everything to