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Billy Moore And Wes Moore

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Two seeds were planted in the same garden. The arid soil gave the seeds little hope for growing into flourishing plants. One of the seeds had a gardener who loved and protected it; the seed grew to be a beautiful plant. The other seed also had a gardener who took care of it. This gardener loved the seed as well, however because the gardener couldn’t be there for the seed all the time, and wasn’t very responsible, the seed perished. This is the image that comes to me when I read The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. Both Wes Moore characters are dealt very similar cards. There are numerous factors that shaped these characters’ outcomes. So how did the paths of these two characters diverge? These two characters had very different crowds of …show more content…

This is something that is not exhibited in Mary’s character. Joy is able to identify Wes’s issues and find the best solution. This is exemplified when Joy is talking in the car to Wes about his academics. Instead of accepting the fact that Wes has a learning disability, like his teachers say, she realizes that Wes is just not applying himself. “My academic failures had forced her to go through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. She’d been stuck in depression for a long time and hadn’t quite made it to acceptance…It seemed like there was faulty wiring in the system because now she was reverting to anger” (Moore 76). Joys thought process here represents her grip on reality. If Mary’s intentions translated into actions I believe that she would be more successful as a parent. Much like Joy, Mary wants nothing but the best for her son. On the other hand, Mary has habits that inhibit her from being the best influence. Ambition runs through Mary’s veins like blood. She promised herself that she will make it out of Baltimore City. Despite being a teenage mother, she made it into John Hopkins University while working a full time job. Being forced to drop out was very hard for Mary. She did not let this unfortunate situation dampen her ambition. “She just had to quickly recalibrate her ambitions. She still had big dreams-maybe she could become an entrepreneur, open a beauty salon or own her own

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