The Other Wes Moore Analysis

According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, an intention is defined as “a thing that you plan to do or achieve: an aim or a purpose.” More often then not our intentions are usually better than the outcome of certain situations we find ourselves in. As defined, an intention is a plan. Plans do not always go accordingly, and therefore our intentions are useless. In The Other Wes Moore both of the young boy’s intentions were the same but the plan of action they chose or fell into shaped the outcome of their entire lives.
In life, we are faced with many expectations that are either bestowed upon us by parents or superiors or chosen by ourselves. Just within the last few months, I can recall many expectations in my own life and how I dealt with

One part of his story stood out the most to me. When he went to his grandma’s house with Tony and he saw his father lying on the couch. He ran up and approached him to only have his father not even recognize him and question “Who are you?”. Having your own father not even recognize him had to be traumatic and made him feel even more alone then ever. At such a young age, young Wes is not even sure who he is and it is a father’s job to teach his young son how to be a good man. Baltimore Wes Moore (the criminal) was only a product of his environment and it was inevitable that he lived the life he did and will sit in jail for the rest of his life. He could only react to what he was brought up in. Environment plays an important role in everyone’s life. I am not a strong believer in luck, I believe that you can make your own luck, and the harder you work the luckier you will become. Some may think the difference between the two Wes’s is that Brooklyn Wes (the author) was just luckier than Baltimore Wes. I don’t believe this to be the case at all. Brooklyn Wes was taken out of the hostile environment and put into an environment that expected more of him. Baltimore Wes was just left to believe that this is who he was to become. He was never able to see the world of opportunities that were out there and how he could change his life. When he first started taking workshop

Both Wes’s did not have fathers so they had to rely on their mother to play both roles, or look somewhere else to find that strong father figure. Baltimore Wes looked up to his older brother Tony. Tony had a different father than his younger brother and tried to emulate his actions. He lived in a poor, run down part of Baltimore and Tony loved to hangout down there. Quickly he was sucked into the game. The game, in which, no one makes it out alive. It destroyed his life, his family, and what little ambition he had. Tony was at least smart enough to tell young Wes to not get involved in the kind of business his older brother was running. But seeing him day after day with new shoes, clothing, and accessories, young Wes fell victim to his environment and finally caved in. He quickly became a product of the worst streets in Baltimore. The anger, the savage, the aggression could all be seen through his eyes. Young Wes was not Mary’s son but a son of the damaged streets of