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. Both of the Wes Moore’s had varying motivations for their incidents throughout the second book that prove …show more content…
The author Wes, when first being forced into military school by his mother was very eager to go back home and tried everything he could to make it back home, over the course of a couple of years that idea started to change. “I was now a platoon sergeant, a cadet master sergeant, and the youngest senior noncommissioned officer in the entire corps. Three years ago I’d been one of the insubordinate kids first entering the gates of Valley Forge. In an ironic turn, I was now one of the ones in charge of them” (Moore 115). One can see the dramatic switch in the author’s motivation, he once upon a time had a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation due to where he used to live and his surroundings, now he’s eager to progress in the military with strictly intrinsic motivation, with the plus of the extrinsic motivation of making his mother happy, but he mostly did it for himself. The author at this point knows that there are no rewards in the military, no payment for training nothing but pride, and is functioning on nothing but making himself content with his achievements, he’s focusing on the human not the economic aspect (Pink 25). In the other Wes’s case, his motivation did shift a bit after his friend Levy had told him about the Job Corps. He was a bit speculate because he’d heard about it before, going to the Job Corps was purely intrinsic on his part; he wanted to get out of the dealing game. Though, he had high motivation while in the Job Corps it
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 first chapter of the book, Moore starts off by writing about Wes 1’s (the author) family. He tells readers about one of the two memories that he had of his father was when his mother had gotten so upset over him punching his sister while they were playing, and his father sat him down to tell him why hitting a woman was wrong. The other was when his father had passed away. Then the book switches to Wes 2’s (The other Wes Moore) childhood, where it tells about how he had grown up with only his mother. His mother had gotten pregnant with Wes by her second husband, who was an alcoholic, so she was forced to raised her two children on her own.
In the story “The Other Wes Moore” Wes found himself in many bad situations.His mother was not the ideal role model for a young teenage boy.She did many things that made impressions on the way her child turned out, such as partying and having illegal drugs inside of the home.Overall, Wes is the only person who is responsible for his actions and the consequences that come with them.
After reading The Other Wes Moore, I have realized that the two Wes Moores had similarities in their lifestyles especially in their neighborhoods. Although they were living in similar neighborhoods, their outcomes of how their life ended up being were different. One Wes ended up in jail serving a life sentence for killing a police officer in an armed robbery. The other Wes became a Rhodes Scholar, business mogul, army officer, and White House Fellow. I think the way they lived and the people that were in there lives manipulated how their lives would end.
Wes Moore has mentioned in the book, The Other Wes Moore, that the decisions that the other Wes Moore made could have been him because both Wes Moores have dealt with similar situations but made different choices throughout their lives. (Moore pg. 179)
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
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.
The choices that both Wes Moores’ made had a huge effect on their lives. One of the other Wes’s bad choices was his choice early in
The second part of The other wes moore , chapter five starts out with author wes splitting his sister’s lip by accident, Wes knew his mother would not see it that way. Not knowing what to do he waited for his mother to start screaming at him, and was surprised when she slapped him across the face instead, and then again. Joy left the room and made the decision to send Wes to military school. When he found out about it he knew his life was going to change dramatically. The other Wes and three other men broke into a jewelry store and ordered everyone to get down. One of the people in the store was Sergeant Bruce Prothero, a veteran of the Baltimore City police department who worked as a security guard at the jewelry store to help support his
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.
In a world that cares little for the wellbeing of each individual, it is impossible to survive out in the open. Wealth protect some from society’s demands while others seek refuge in family bonds. The main difference between the Author and the Other Wes Moore is the bubble that they matured in. For the Author, his mother’s love and hard work afforded him an expensive bubble of physical isolation and a regimented lifestyle. For the Other Wes, the sanctuary was of his own making; one of honor bound by ties of drug money and blood.The defining moments for each Wes Moore are when their bubbles are created and when they become a prison.
Just because you set out with good intentions does not mean the ending result will be positive, and the same goes for bad intentions. The Other Wes Moore uncovers the lives of two boys, later men, who have to face the decision to uphold their intentions or move past them. The story helps to uncover that intentions
“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
Bad Influences, Stressful Situations, and Abandonment led to the incarceration of the Other Wes Moore. The Other Wes Moore was a man that lived in the same neighborhood as the successful Wes Moore, but he had more negatives than positives in his life, which causes him to be influenced by all of the bad influences.
In conclusion, both Wes Moore’s had critical moments and different standpoints throughout the entirety of their lives. Though they both had individual accountabilities it was the choices that they individually made that ultimately determined there fates. “Wes and I stared at each other for a moment, surrounded by the evidence that some kids were forced to become adults prematurely. These incarnated men, before they’d even reached a point of basic maturity, had flagrantly-and tragically-squandered the few opportunities they’d