The Other Wes Moore Character Analysis

In chapter 5 of The Other Wes Moore, It is 5.30 am, and Moore is awoken by aloud shouts telling him to get out of his “racks.” His roommate urges him to get up and is but Moore tells him that he’ll wait until 8. As his roommate leaves, Moore is left confused about the situation he’s found himself in. First Sergeant Anderson enters the room and begins screaming and cursing at Moore in an unfamiliar language. Anderson then starts smiling before leaving Moore’s rack. Moore explains that this is his first morning at military school, which Joy has sent him to after he was put on academic and disciplinary probation at Riverdale. On the same day as he receives the news of probation, Moore is sitting next to Shani at home, punching her arm out of boredom.

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

“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.

The author Wes Moore went off to military school where negative environmental influences were cut off and he was able to receive an education, which he himself considers a turning point in his life. His entire atmosphere and the dynamics of the schools he was accustomed to were altered. Although he attempted to run away several times, there was a point after speaking with his mother that he made the decision to stop running and embrace the experience and it helped make him the person he is today. The imprisoned Moore dropped out of school and like the overwhelming majority of African American male drop outs, ended up in the system. While the imprisoned Wes may have not had access to private or military schools, he could have finished school and decided to make an honest living. Later in his life he did decided to earn a GED and learn a trade, but he didn’t make the decision to dedicate himself to turning his life around and as soon as things got difficult turned back to what he knew instead of taking path toward something more positive. He gained mentors working under Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore, and a friend in his former Captain, Ty Hill at the military school. His decision to pursue a life full of criminal activity was his alone.

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.

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

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

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.

The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore (2011), tells the story of two children who grew up in the same neighborhood with the same first and last names. It was not just the neighborhood in which they grew or their names that were the same, however. The two boys engaged in the same activities growing up, being active participants in a difficult neighborhood, engaging in gang activity, and getting into trouble with the police (Moore, 2011). In spite of these similarities in their early life, Wes Moore, the author, had a remarkably different life than the second Wes Moore; in addition to being an author, he has been a Rhodes scholar and is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BridgeEdU a social organization dedicated to increasing the ease through which a high school student can transition to the higher education process (Moore, 2011). Moore’s (2011) case is one that has intrigued many in the field of criminology, in part due to the myriad theories on criminal behavior and the disparities present between the situations of the two boys (Schram, & Tibbetts, 2018). Among the different crinimiological theories or perspectives that are the most in alignment with the situation described in Moore’s (2011) book are those of social learning theory and differential association theory (Schram, & Tibbetts, 2018).

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 Other Wes Moore introduces the lives of two boys with similar traits that would one day have different outcomes in life. As one begins to read the novel the clarity of their situation becomes evident, it is to an extent appropriate to conclude that both Moore’s lives were similar during their childhood, but certainly it was their mentors that guided them to different paths. Although growing up near each other and both being residents of the Baltimore county their influences were shaped from early on. The other Wes Moore was subject to failure because he himself was surrounded by bad role models including his mother that despite wanting the best for his son didn’t do enough to alienate his son from the streets. On the other hand,

The novel The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore, is about two boys with the same name who could have had the same fate. The author Wes Moore was born in Baltimore and raised in a single mother home with no male guidance. The Other Wes Moore was also born in Baltimore into the same single mother situation. A few people who effected the life of the author were his mother Mary, his grandparents, and his sisters Nikki and Shani. They all had an impact on his life, which lead him to his future of success. For the other Wes the only person who had a powerful impact on his life was his brother, Tony. Throughout Wes’s life Tony urged him to avert the drug business, but Wes failed to by following his actions rather than his words. The overall message of The Other Wes Moore is your actions effect your future.

In addition, throughout “Outliers” it becomes apparent that the circumstances people have been born into assists them to surpass any competition. For example, technology legends such as Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Vinod Khosla, and Steve Jobs were all born in a one year time span. What a crazy coincidence that four of the most successful men in technology were all born so close to one another. The truth is that certain opportunities arose for all of them in college: easy access to computers. If they had been any older or younger, they would have missed on the opportunities to use the new technology due to being stuck

In 1923, a 20-year-old man by the name of Walt Disney attempted to start up an animation studio named Laugh-o-Grams company. Disney attempted to create many elaborate (and expensive) projects that would later force him to declare bankruptcy and into homelessness. Despite the adversities Disney faced, he chose to pick himself up, move to Hollywood with his remaining money, and try again at creating another animation company while learning from his mistakes. When Disney was faced with a trying time in his life, he controlled his situation’s outcome by not giving up and pushing through his hardships, similar to characters in novels such as The Other Wes Moore and the Scarlet Letter. Authors Wes Moore and Nathaniel Hawthorne use syntax and diction within their novels to highlight their theme that each individual has control over the outcome of their personal situations.