preview

The Other Wes Moore : Life Comparisons Drive Criminology Theories Of Nature Versus Nurture For The Black Community

Good Essays

The Other Wes Moore is a story that details two men, by the same name, living two very different lives in Baltimore, Maryland. The author’s story is of success. He left the Bronx to become a respectable citizen of society. While the other Wes Moore became a lifelong tenant of a federal person for his actions. The two life comparisons drive criminology theories of nature versus nurture for the black community. It asks the question if the author Moore was some fluke in the national statistics or did Wes really have his own hand in creating his destiny? Even though the men shared similar beginnings in an underprivileged neighbourhood, their lives diverged due to their family environment and personal perseverance. When at the time, they were …show more content…

Moore, statistically, had a natural chance of having a better ending to his life’s journey than the black American Wes. His mother was well educated striving for the American Dream and had not been run down by the black stigma that festered in the slum area of the city. Moore was sent out of the Bronx to a mostly white private school. The school was decently funded giving Moore a better education that in a public school. He was completely removed from a toxic environment but this caused a conflict of identity within himself. The school was overwhelmingly a white population. In returning to his mother’s home, he struggled with the identity of a bright Caribbean child and an American-born black. He rebelled the prep school by getting himself in trouble with the law. Moore was caught tagging and aggressed with his friend Shea. He describes during their arrest “[he] didn’t know it at the time but once alone, we both started crying” (89). Moore understood at this moment that his actions were wrong and had consequences that could ultimately destroy his future. If it was not because of his future, it was the fear of disappointing his mother. However, Moore commits the crime again. He is influenced by the “’code of the street’ which dictates how they interpret and respond to conflict in their

Get Access