Theme Of The Other Wes Moore

In his book, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” Wes Moore (2011) tells a true story about two men from Baltimore who have identical names but have different outcomes in life. He also illustrates the similarities of their life’s situations when they were younger, the decisions they made in life and their impacts, and the roads they took that ultimately led them to where they are today.

In The Other Wes Moore, both Wes and the author, Moore, faced challenges because of things such as poverty, housing, and education. In terms of Wes, he had it much worse. In the first chapter of the book, when Wes is talking about his father, he says, “By Saturday afternoon we found out that he had died from acute epiglottis, a rare but treatable virus that causes the epiglottis to swell and cover the air passages to the lungs. Untreated because of the earlier misdiagnosis, my father’s body suffocated itself” (Moore 15). This is the first big event that occurred in Wes’s life that definitely influenced the person he turned into.

    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

In chapter 8, the final chapter in The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore both of the boy's lives are now dramatically different. Wes the author is finishing up school and has an internship with the mayor. The mayor encouraged Wes to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship, which he was awarded. He had also decided to study abroad in Africa. Wes stayed in a small village where the houses were shack like.

Response: (R) This passage shows how our fates destined the path to the course of our lives and the sacrifices people are willing to make for their loves ones. Fate, holds a remedy of ‘what if’, a wonderment that unwilling can our desires and aspirations. The other Wes Moore’s mother, Mary, had set a goal for herself. A goal of being the first in her family to get her bachelors of any major. Mary was determined, so much so, that she was paying her way through her education. She was working at Bayview for $6.50, which in present day is way below the minimum wage level that is now $9.00 (in New York). Everything was going as Mary desired, but on an unprecedented day her grant was eliminated. She needed that grant, it was the ultimate drive that

In the textbook The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, the author illustrates about the lives of two young African-American men who share the same name: Wes Moore. They start their similar childhoods in Baltimore Maryland, with poverty, violence, drug game and fatherlessness. The author Wes Moore (Moore )became a Rhodes Scholar and a best-selling author, but the other Wes Moore ( Wes ) was sentenced to life in prison, The author Moore’s purpose in writing the story is to examine how two people with such similar backgrounds can end up with completely different lives. The author illustrates the way in which our destinies can be dictated by our environments. He claims that without the necessary resources, it is often not possible to make good decisions. He argues how people’s lives are influenced by their environment in which they live.

In today’s society, the variation of social, cultural, political, and economic life mirrors our Founding Fathers dreams. Since then, America has learned to adjust and accept every citizen's differences with the help of The Bill of Rights, US Constitution, Northwest Ordinance, and the Declaration of Independence. As these documents represent the development of America then, books like the Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore reflect the variations of social, cultural, political, and economic life today. Over time, the definition of being an American has evolved and molded with society to make what the United States citizens know now.

Wes made some bad decisions and he landed himself in trouble. He couldn’t handle the situations he was in and that caused him to go down the wrong path. First, he got Alicia pregnant. This changed his life because he had to care for a child. It said that “The news of his imminent parenthood did not stop Wes from making time for other girls.” (Moore 101) This shows that Wes did not really care about Alicia. If I was in his shoes, I would do everything to help. He didn’t want any part of it. This goes along with the idea of adversity causing people to fail. Wes was put into a bad situation and he couldn’t get out of it. Instead of being there for Alicia, he took the easy way out by leaving and not caring about her. As Wes grew up, he started to realize that he really appreciated his mother. Before, he would run away from her and not listen but as he became more successful, he began to realize her love for her son. Wes said “She became more than a mother, she became a friend.”(Moore 160) This shows that Wes started to realize what was important in life. He looked at his mother as his friend now because before, he didn’t want to listen to her. She did a lot to help him as he grew up and he started to realize everything. He began to realize how his life was changing and how the people he knew the best wanted the best for him. This goes along with adversity because he

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 this quote, narrator Wes Moore is telling the story of his first arrest. While “tagging” his signature “Kid Kupid” graffiti art, Moore and his friend Shea were caught and handcuffed. It is once that he is arrested that Moore reflects on his actions, taking complete responsibility and showing no interest in never having the feeling that his freedom or immediate fate would be determined. After reading this quote, I feel this is a big turning point for Moore and a decisive factor in his future.

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Array New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010.

For Wes Moore, the author, supportive familial influences and educational opportunities provide a foundation for personal growth and resilience. Despite facing adversity, he embraces the values instilled by his mother and seizes educational opportunities, ultimately attending prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Oxford University. In contrast, the other Wes Moore grapples with the absence of positive role models and succumbs to the pervasive influence of his environment. His individuality is shaped by familial instability, peer pressure, and limited access to educational resources. Despite moments of ambition and introspection, he becomes ensnared in a cycle of criminality, leading to incarceration.

Wes #1 grew up without his father; his father died near the beginning of the story with a rare disease. Wes #1 did not understand the responsibility that he would have to uphold until he got older because he was only three years old. Wes #1 needed a father figure because he needed a manly structure in his life. Even though Wes already had a loving mother, willing to play both roles as a mother and father, a mother can only do but so much. Young men need fathers/father figures because they help out with the things mothers can not explain. This takes us back to the subject of environment and family, because Wes #1 had a environment that strived off of respect, he had a family that strived off of doing the right thing.

Parents experiencing poverty may struggle to provide for their children and can become very stressed from dealing with the monotonous monetary requirements. Within poverty stricken households extreme variations of parenting and guidance can be observed, from little to no presence or direction, all the way to the other side of the spectrum with severe overreactions. “Higher levels of stress negatively affect parenting style, and these parents tend to be more authoritarian or inconsistent.” (Katz, 18) Family structures, living environments, mental health, personalities, and educational backgrounds are all likely to be contributing factor to both parenting

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