The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore is a novel about two kids who happen to grow up with the same name of Wes Moore. Surprisingly, both boys had many similarities between each other. Not only did they both have the same name, they were both raised without fathers, and they were born in the same neighborhood only streets apart in Baltimore. They grew up with the same kind of background and surroundings but had different households and futures. In the novel, Wes Moore is talking about how different him and the Other Wes have ended up living and he says “I realized how difficult it is to separate the two. The expectations that others place on us help us form our expectations of ourselves.” (page 126). Between environments and expectations, individuals are products of …show more content…
Wes Moore was a good kid. His parents were Wesley and Joy, who also had two sisters whose names were Nikki and Shani. Wes’s father died at a young age which made him have a hard time growing up especially without a father figure. Wes was sent to military school by his mom which turned his whole life around. His behavior and grades improved and so did his view of life and how to live. Wes grew up learning respect was having people being your friend and looking up to you. “This was real respect, the kind you can’t beat out of people. That’s when I started to understand that I was in a different environment… It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations were inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns ostracized.”(Moore, 96). Wes Moore had the support from many people such as family and friends who have helped him to be where and who he is today. On the other hand, The "other" Wes Moore was a little different. He had two parents named Mary and Bernard. While Wes was still a kid, his father walked out on him and his family because Mary had enough being abused by her loving husband Bernard. The Other Wes had one brother,
Wes Moore (author) lived a similar life when he's compared to the other Wes Moore. The author Wes Moore didn’t have a father either but unlike the other Wes his father died when he was a young age, but he had siblings just like the other Wes. The difference between the two when it comes to siblings is the Wes Moore the authors siblings didn’t encourage him to do things that didn’t benefit his future. Wes Moore’s mom was really involved with Wes and wanted what was best for him so she sent him away because of his grades and petty crimes to a military school called Valley Forge Military Academy to try and
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
Moore was a troubled kid, getting into fights, getting in trouble for graffiti, running away was sent to many different schools. He was the poor kid in a sea of rich kids (so he didn’t fit in). But he was given the opportunity to change when he was forced to go to a Military boarding school. He eventually decided that he wanted to be apart of something bigger than himself and this was it. He knew he wanted to change. When deciding how he could change he thought, “Aside from my family and friends, the men I trusted most all had something in common: they all wore the uniform of the United States of America,” (Moore pg. 132). He decided he wanted to become a Lieutenant and be someone other people could look up to. This was a major moment in Moore’s life. But Wes, on the other hand, experienced the same bad childhood and never got out of the “bad”. He never had a defining failure where he said ‘this is when I change’. He got onto a path and started making patterns with his decisions and never made the right one to get him to where he needed to be, unlike the other Wes.
“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 chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his" (Moore 180). The two of them were the same but different with one name and two fates. Wes Moore. The Other Wes Moore is an autobiography about two men with the same name where one (The author) goes off to military school and becomes a successful citizen, and the other is convicted for murder and will spend life in prison. Even though the two men were very different, their lives were very similar. Similarities and differences pertaining to family and school of both Moores are described in The Other Wes Moore.
A person’s success or failure can be determined by their environment, education, choices; a number of different things. The autobiography The Other Wes Moore takes a look at two boys with the same name and eerily similar circumstances who end up in very different places in life. Wes Moore spoke at convocation about his book and what he hoped that people would get from it. In the book he says “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore xi). These two men didn’t share the same fate because they each made a choice about what they wanted their life to become. The book truly demonstrates how the choices you make, make you. One Wes
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.
Wes Moore also faced the unfortunate passing of his father. In the reading he states, “I could not have felt safer, more secure...I tried to copy his walk, his expressions. I was his main man. He was my protector.(11)” Throughout this quote he is able to describe both the relationship and connection he had with his father. He looked up to him and wanted to be just like him. That is why, when his father passed he knew he would have to take on the responsibilities of being the man of the
The other Wes Moore is also considered to be deviant by his poor decision-making and careless choices. He dropped out of school, sold drugs, participated in a robbery of a jewelry store, and was a convicted murderer with a life sentence. There was many sociological factors that led to the other Wes Moore’s deviant behavior; the absence of his father being an important factor. Although both the author Wes Moore and the other Wes Moore grew up without a father, it affected the other Wes Moore a little more considering the fact that his father chose not to be in his life. Also, Tony had a big impact on the decision he made for himself. Throughout the story, Wes would remember what Tony told him about demanding respect. “Send a message,” And Wes would do as Tony said. The problem with the other Wes Moore was that he lacked positive influences in his life and he had no motivation to live a better life until it was too late.
One central difference to think about when looking at the two individuals is the fact that Wes has a more supporting mother than Wes (2), in a person’s life a mother is so important and can be looked as a blessing. A mother is the one that supposed to be the person that takes great care of you and guides you, and to teach what’s right from wrong. The author’s mother was much more supportive for her son, Wes acknowledges, “Every time I looked around at the buildings and the trees and the view of the river, I was reminded of the sacrifices my mother was making to keep me there.” (Moore 52). Due to this quote, we can conclude that Wes’s mother, although struggling at the time, found a way to put her child in the best possible route in education. Wes presents it as kind of an understatement, however, from his mother doing this, it affects his life so much. By being put in a excellent school, it offers many more opportunities than that of the other Wes and he can gather a lot more help/exposure to guide him toward a bright future. On the other hand, we have Wes (2) that is lost and seems as if he just can’t find his way, “Young boys are more likely to believe in themselves if they know that there’s someone, somewhere, who shares that belief. To carry the
Wes’s family played a critical role in his life. The lack of discipline, and acceptance of Wes’s bad decisions by Mary; Wes’s mom was what lead him down the wrong path to a certain degree. In the “Other Wes Moore” Wes is faced with the struggle of not having money. Given his location and the people who surrounded him it was only a matter of time that he too took part in the distribution of drugs in order to acquire some sort of income. Wes decided to start selling drugs in his neighborhood after he saw how easy it was to get money. After time Wes’s mom Mary starts to notice that Wes is buying lots of new shoes and clothes. Wes’s explanation to his mom is that he makes the money being a DJ. Wes’s brother Tony is not sold on the Idea and explains to Mary that Wes is
After Wes Moore let his grades slip while attending Riverdale his mother threaten him saying if he didn't get his grades up she would send him to a military school. His mother wanted him to be the best he can and expected more of him, so sending him to a military that have many expectations for their students was the best choice she makes to put him on the right path. However for the Other Wes, he didn't have these expectations. There really wasn't anyone in his ear telling him what he was supposed to
The story the Other Wes Moore: One name Two fates by Wes Moore is about two boys who grew up in the same family situation without a father and in the same neighborhood. The two boys grew to live completely different lives, the other Wes Moore was given a life sentence for murder while Wes became a Wealthy businessman in Washington DC. The businessman Wes chooses the correct path culturally and socially unlike the other Wes. The Other Wes lived the life of stealing not because he wanted to but he had to to survive. The other Wes economically didn't have the support from his mother and
The Other Wes Moore The Other Wes Moore is a book about two children with similar lifestyles when they were growing up and the same names, but ending up in different places in their lives. The story is about the other Wes Moore, who was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment and Wes Moore, the author, who faces poverty and has an ambition of receiving proper education (Moore, 2012).