The First Wes Moore Analysis

The first Wes Moore is introduced through a story of him playing a game with his sister. The game ends with him punching his sister, which his mother witnesses. She becomes enraged and makes sure Wes realizes the wrong of his actions. Meanwhile we learn a little more about his mother, Joy. Such as she is from Jamaica and she was beat by her past husband. Then Wes’s father becomes sick and is told to just rest by doctors, but he ends up falling down the stairs unable to breath very soon after. He dies on the ride to the hospital in the ambulance. Then the first Wes’s mother starts to sleep on the couch as a guard against their increasingly dangerous neighborhood. She is deeply troubled by the death of her husband and asks to move back in with

Now the Bronx is just as bad as all the other areas they have lived, with street corners filled with drugs. Then we learn the story of Wes’s grandparents, who moved from Jamaica as well with Joy as their daughter. Wes goes out to play basketball and although he is not very good, he enjoys the brotherhood of all the different people who play. We then learn that Wes goes to a private school called riverdale to escape his bad neighborhood, which is a predominantly affluent white school and Wes is one of two black people who go there. He befriends Justin, the other black kid at his school. On their way home from school they are teased about going to an all white school, and Wes tries to act tough with his suspension for fighting, but ends up ridiculed more. Wes and his uncle organize a baseball game between his neighborhood and his school, which goes unfinished because of fights. Wes begins to let his grades slip due to his feeling of alienation from the rest of his classmates and his own

Before he goes though his mom, Mary, is upset and he checks in on her, it turns out she lost a grant for college and could no longer afford to go to college. Wes feels as if he is the man of the house even as a little boy due to the absence of his father. Wes’s older brother Tony, born to another father, spends most of his time in an area of town notorious for drugs and becomes a part of this culture. Then the novel discusses the carnage from the riots of Baltimore and the lasting effects still seen at that time. We then learn that Mary was so intent on finishing college because when she was 16 she became pregnant, but her mother, Alma, made her stay in school so she could graduate college. Then Alma died shortly after from a rejected kidney transplant. Tony calls later to see if Mary was home, but ends up lecturing Wes on not following in his footsteps. Tony is very protective of Wes even though he appears hypocritical in his protection. Wes gets a call from Woody, his friend, right after he hangs up from tony, asking him to play football. Wes plays for a very good rec team and feels proud to wear his jersey for any game. They play football, but Wes gets punched and tries to retaliate later with a knife, but a parent in the neighborhood called the cops. Wes gets arrested, but has his brother’s father bail him out before his mom can find