The Other Wes Moore Character Analysis

The novel, The Other Wes Moore had many important lessons to be taken away and remembered. One of the significant themes I will take away from The Other Wes Moore is the importance of discipline in development and the effects of it on life. In the novel, author Wes was shown discipline from an early age like when he was yelled at by his mother. He was also given a strict set of rules to follow when he moved to the Bronx to live with his grandparents. They required him to be home before the street lights were on and had him doing chores from the moment he returned from school as long as he was living with them. Wes’s grandparents were an integral factor in keeping him safe and a prevalent force in his early discipline. On the contrary “the other”

Carol Dweck’s Brainology sets forth the “growth mindset” as the only factor in a student’s success. However, Alfie Kohn’s The Perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ Education: Why We’re Trying to Fix our Kids When We Should Be Fixing the System, proposes another view. Also, Home Life is a third factor that impacts a student’s success. I believe all three of these are integral to a student’s accomplishments.

In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, the narrator, Wes Moore, explains how he turned his life around for the better, while his friend, also named Wes Moore, ended up incarcerated. Now as a Rhodes Scholar, Wes Moore inspires many readers through his story. The narrator’s words and stories are used as a reminder to always do the right thing. One of Moore’s most important lessons he instructs is to treat everyone as equal. Black or white, rich or poor, Moore proves that it does not matter in the end.

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

In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, Moore discovers the way people shape our lives and influence our future by examining the effects of family support, influence from peers, and his experience with authoritative figures in his life. He sees this through the story of the other Wes Moore. A young man who grew up a product of his environment, single mother, and a brother who was to involved with the bad life to be of any help to him. With this Wes Moore's life was sentenced to where he is now. The author is astonished by the fact that although their paths significantly differed they weren't always so different.

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

The Other Wes Moore is a book about two young African-American lives that share the same name, Wes Moore. Both Wes Moores grew up with similarities, they both grew up in the same hometown. One of the Wes Moore is free and the other one is spending his life in jail. They both grew up without fathers. The author's father died in front of him when he was just three years old and the other Wes Moore barley knew his dad. The Author's father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, and the other Wes Moore, father wasn’t there because he chose not to be. Both mothers were working hard towards setting their families and to support and care for their sons.

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.

Throughout the first three chapters of the book, we get to know both of the Wes Moore’s childhoods which are filled with crucial point in the sense of the development of a child. For example, both of the father figures are missing in both Wes Moore’s life, but the reasons lack similarity. For the soon to be smart Wes Moore, his father was a great man whom he admired but suddenly died due to the lack of treatment from the hospital. As for the other Wes Moore, he does not know his father at all, but from what the story depicts to us, he is a drunk who does not care for his child. Later on, the soon to be smart Wes Moore moves to his grandparent’s home in the Bronx, which seems at the time a very dangerous place to live in. The soon to be jailed

“The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine, the tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore xi) “The Other Wes Moore,” by Wes Moore, focusses on two boys by the name of Wes Moore that were born blocks apart, within the same year, in Baltimore during the 1980’s. Both grew up fatherless in similar neighborhoods; both ran into trouble. But one became a Rhodes Scholar, while the other was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Although he grew up in a rough neighborhood and was around violence and drugs, Wes had the ability to change his life around with the help and support his mother, family, and military school lieutenants were able to give him. Many people influenced Wes, the author, throughout his life, but the person whom I feel influenced him the most was his mother.

“Children learn more from who you are than what you teach,” stated W.E.B DuBois. As illustrated by the quote, the people and the environment that an individual surrounds themselves with affects their future. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore, is a narrative that tells the story of two males, who share the same name but take two different paths in life. The two Moores experience similar situations, however surround themselves with different types of people, resulting in different paths. One Moore is successful while the other is incarcerated, proving an individual’s environment influences ones future. Ultimately, after analyzing Wes Moore’s novel and Terry Pratchets quote in the excerpt, it is evident that the

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,

The Other Wes Moore focuses on two men both named Wes Moore. They have both lead lives that were similar to each other as they grew up in fatherless homes in the inner cities of Baltimore and the Bronx. However, the two ended up taking very different paths and through the book you see a shift for the good in the author Wes’s life path, while the other Wes’s path takes a turn for the worst. Both of the two grew up on the street, dealing drugs, skipping school, and making poor choices. While both Wess’ had figures in their lives that tried to keep them on the right path, such as author Wes’s mom, Joy, or other Wes’s brother ,Tony, they continued down dark paths. These things lead to the author Wes being sent to military school by his mom, who throughout the book is constantly trying to get Wes the best education that she can. The other Wes never got this change and stayed on the street and is now in jail for life for being involved with a robbery gone wrong where a cop ended up getting shot. After attending military school at Valley Forge Military Academy, author Wes improved his grades, became a decorated solider, and a Rhodes Scholar. The two paths split dramatically in the book but the choices and roles easily could have been reversed had the either of the two made a few different choices while they were growing up. Author Wes was able to give up dealing drugs, while the other Wes was never able to afford giving it up, even though he tried several times,

In both the book The Other Wes Moore and poem “If,” the theme is expressed through characterization. The authors explain the build up of the characters by showing the expectations and decisions for them. Wes Moore describes how both boys were supported differently during the early stages of life. However, individuals can notice that each child was shaped differently. Moore explained, “I was taught to remember, but never question. Wes was taught to forget and never ask why” (page 1). This shows that both Wes’ did have a childhood in which was built up by their moms. Wes got lucky in having a mother (Joy) who truly cared about his education and future. Because Joy raised Wes to follow the positive route, he did not end up in the same boat as the the other Wes. On the other hand, the other Wes’s family did not care as much about him. Since his mother did not do much to help his

The Other Wes Moore tells a story of two young men growing up in similar situations. No father, kipping class, drug influence some situations the Wes Moore’s have to deal with, however one ends up a road scholar and influential author the other ends up in prison serving life. This book is a prime example of how certain choices can determine the rest of one’s life.