Valley Forge: A Young Boy's Future

Additionally both men have jobs, their jobs have huge impacts on their futures. Notably one job was a positive influence in one Wes’s life, and the other ruined the Wes’s life. After the author Wes gets to military school, he is struggling with the fact that he was sent to military school. At first he hates it, but throughout the next few years of his life he learns to love it. After completing high school at Valley Forge, Wes makes the decision that would make an impact on his life for the better. After his Colonel left Valley Forge, Wes says, “My next decision was clear. I wanted to stay at Valley Forge and attend its junior college…and become a second lieutenant in the Army. I wanted to lead soldiers” (133). This was a major turning point in his life, this decision was what helped The author Wes stay out of trouble, and create a good life for himself. Wes went on to do good

When a person is in a stressful situation on instinct they have two options, fight or flight. In war the same is true. War is not always bayonets and bullets, it’s the decisions you make during times of hardship. A soldier has to make the decision whether to keep fighting for what they believe in no matter what the stakes or to flee. In December of 1777, George Washington and his troops arrived at Valley Forge. Since the summer of 1775, all has gone well for the Continental Army. More recently Washington was presumably unable to stop General Howe and his British soldiers from claiming the national capital of Philadelphia. With Howe and his army of approximately 18,000 comfortably quartered in Philadelphia,

The author Wes had and accomplished goals. Specific achievements he’s made include, military school, getting acknowledged for his basketball talent, and receiving the Rhodes Scholarship. It all started when his mom decided to put him in military school. It took time for Wes to accept the military ways. Later the acceptance would cause him to actually “enjoy the school”(130). He’d work his way up from plebe to “paratrooper”(130). Wes was “one of the youngest officers in the entire United States Military”(134). It was a huge, story worthy experience for Wes. His high school sports career was astonishing too, enough for “The New York Times to run a two-page article”(130) about it. Eventually, the publication of his well-doing, “attracted colleges”(130) and gave him a chance to play with “NBA members, like Kobe Bryant”(130).

“The Other Wes Moore” is a story that follows two boys with the exact same name who start off living very similar lives in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the boys live on to be an extremely successful man and the other one is living the rest of his life behind bars. The two men wondered how their strikingly similar path diverged into two completely different fates and then an argument formed. Are people products of their choices or their environment and expectations thrown upon them? The book proves that people are products of their choices. Both Wes Moores were raised by a single mom in the tough streets of Baltimore and they both were rebellious children who got arrested at a young age. Their similarities lessened as their choices and their mom’s choices contrasted. The more fortunate Wes was sent to Military school and he chose to make the most of it and become the best version of himself. His determination and hard work trumped his previous hooligan mindset, therefore his future was bright and fulfilling. The other Wes chose to follow his brother,

In order to help the author Wes, Joy sent him to military school because she knew that the choice she made for her son would ensure that her son would be able to go into the world completely disciplined and prepared even if he hated her for sending him away. When explaining how the book was written, the author acknowledged, “This book is meant to show us how… our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path, or a tentative step down the right one” (Moore xiv). She made the decision as a mother for her son’s entire future that ends up stopping him from making decisions like the other Wes Moore’s. The author acknowledges that the decisions he made and the decisions that the other Wes made affected their lives forever when he said, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that mine could have been his” (Moore 180). The other Wes Moore made poor decisions in his youth that led to a continuous use of drugs, alcohol, and unprotected sex. These decisions ultimately led to Wes being put into jail, hurting the ones he loved and changing his future

In the book, The Other Wes Moore, readers are introduced to two naive boys who share the same name and live an almost identical life at the beginning of their childhood. Author Wes Moore tells readers a chilling story about how he and “Other Wes” were raised in neighboring Baltimore neighborhoods and grew up living an almost identical life. The story is based on how the two men face many obstacles throughout their life that essentially depict their own futures. As the boys become more familiar with the idea of violence and drug related activity, the proposal of living the same life suddenly becomes extinct. The two Wes Moore’s eventually end up living two completely different ways of life and it can be argued how they ended up the way they did. The idea of environment, education, and even expectations are all themes readers are presented with in the story. Although all of these factors play a vital role in the development of Wes themselves, their environment is essentially what had the greatest impact on their futures and is what set the tone for the rest of their lives.

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.

Role models play a huge role in shaping an individual and the paths that they go down in their lifetime. Whether it is a good or bad influence, it will depend which path they will take that will determine their fate. Often family members, especially parents, act as the most influential factor in a person’s life. Coincedientaly, The Other Wes Moore, is about two boys who have the same name and who have lived in the same city. One went on to become a Rhodes Scholar, combat veteran and a White House Fellow. Whereas, the other Wes Moore is sentenced to life a in prison for robbery, which led to the death of a police officer. In this book, both Wes Moores’ are influenced by at least one significant other that has influenced them to become the people

The novel, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates”, by Westley Moore, is about the lives of two men with similar names, neighborhoods, and growing up in the wrong direction. Westley struggle with academics and behavior; so he was sent to Valley Forge Military School. He ends up as an army officer, a graduate of John Hopkins University, and a White House fellow. Wes struggle financially, which led him to sell drugs, a thief, and a convicted killer. The choice that they make determines the encounters that they deal with. The important factors that caused Westley to become successful in life while Wes ended up in prison for life are support of the mother, military school, and opportunities. Readers should care about this topic because,

One’s childhood has a lasting impact on their entire life. Moore’s upbringing and the loving family he was born into, no matter how trivial it may seem, greatly contributed to his success. Wes seemingly grew up the same as any other kid in the Bronx – in a single-parent household, surrounded by bad influences… what separated him from the crowd? His support system: his family, and their ultimate support and sacrifices made all the difference. As a teenager, Wes seemed to be going down the wrong path. He constantly skipped school, his academic failures were overwhelming, and he was even arrested for vandalism. In the case of the other Wes, his family simply let these actions slide, and decision after decision ultimately landed him with a life sentence in prison. The author Wes’s mother, however, refused to allow this behavior to continue. As a method of intervention, she forced Moore to attend Valley Forge, and in doing so, probably saved his career. The extent of his family’s sacrifice was evident on page 95 when Wes realized that “my grandparents took the money they had in the home in the Bronx, decades of savings and mortgage payments, and gave it to my mother

The expectations from family, friends, teachers, and community members shape both Wes' lives in a major way. Author Wes only had a father figure for three years but he had a caring mom and moved in with his grandparents. These positive figures in his life helped him grow, yet he got into some major trouble. He was doing poorly in school and accidentally split his sisters lip open which was the last straw for his mom and sent Author Wes to Valley Forge Military Academy. The positive role models there made him strive for the same respect and he received that. He also made it up the ranks and was the youngest senior noncommissioned officer in the entire corps. He didn't like military school at first but then he grew to appreciate it. "Years earlier,

Family and the values of the adults within a family are often left under-analyzed and neglected. In the Wes’ case, some may say that family values are all that matter. Although both boys had a loving and compassionate mother who obviously wanted the best for them, Wes’ mom failed to take advantage of a chance to discipline her son and this one decision led him down a road which included prison time, and his namesake had an intense family support system that placed him in the ideal position to take advantage of his opportunities and would lead him onto success. The author even admits that he, “found [himself] surrounded by people starting with [his] mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a string of wonderful role models and mentors

Wes and Wes had very different educations which impacted their lives significantly. Both of them had troubles as teens but only one of them made a change. For the successful Wes, his life turned around when he started attending Valley Forge Military Academy. However, for the other Wes this change never came. The Wes who now sits in prison fell into selling drugs to make money which later evolved into violence and arrests. After the death of successful Wes’s father, Wes’s mother took him and his sisters to live in the Bronx with their grandparents. Wes’s family made some big sacrifices for him to attend Riverdale Country School. Riverdale was a primarily white private school and his friends from the Bronx gave him a lot of grief for going to