Do we control our destinies? The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore attempts to answer the uncertainty of our fate using a coming of age story of two boys with the same name in similar circumstances, but extremely different futures. Wes Moore is a successful author and Army officer. The Other Wes Moore is serving a life sentence for robbing a jewelry store that lead to a shootout and the death of a police officer. Both Wes Moores are defined by the choices they make, as well as the choices made for them. They have no control over the choices made for them, but they do have control over where they go and the choices they made to arrive there. Their family’s circumstances, their education, and their involvement in the drug game dictate how much control …show more content…
The mothers, Mary and Joy, push their sons to achieve an education in different ways. Mary, Other Wes’s mother, enrolls him in public schools and expects him to take control of his life and work hard. This arrangement does not work favorably; Other Wes stopped attending to school two years before he graduated high school. He eventually received his GED from Job Corps. On the other hand, Wes’s mother, Joy, enrolls her son in private school to avoid the public schools in the area. First, she sends him to Riverdale. Wes hates it there. He got suspended numerous times and let his grades slip. He was in charge of his own fate at Riverdale, but he botched it up. Finally, Joy sends Wes to military school. He is given a second chance, but “by the end of the fourth day at military school, [Wes] had run away four times” (90). Eventually, after an abrupt phone call, he agrees to stay. He embraces military school, and thrives there. He has the chance to escape Other Wes’s fate, which even Wes agree could have been his own. He may have had no choice but to leave to military school, but his success there is up to him. While Wes was sent away to avoid the ghetto’s problems, Other Wes is right at the center of
The Other Wes Moore is a book talking about two different men with the same name,Wes Moore. They were both raised up by a single mother and live in the same decaying city, Baltimore, where there are surrounded by drug and alcohol. However, the author Wes Moore’s parents completed their education and have a good job while his grandparents also were well-educated. But the other Wes Moore’s parents didn’t graduate from college, his mother tried to get the scholarship but failed, and his father left high school and don’t have a job either. This two Wes Moores both grew up with their mother. The author Wes’s father died for disease while the other Wes’s father left his family. With this situation, they went to the same direction, being absent from
The novel guides you through the 8 crazy years that led to Wes Moore 1's success and Wes Moore 2's life sentence in prison. Wes Moore 1 definitely did not have the perfect life but his life had more positives than Wes Moore 2. Wes's family, friends and the military impacted his decision making and life choices that make him successful today. But the more he tried to be like his brother, the more Tony pushed back.”
The book the Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is a story that talks about two people with the same name, and who lives in the same city. But unfortunately the circumstances where they lived were rough; both Wes Moore went through separate paths which their lives changed as they grew up. They both ended up doing badly at the beginning of their lives, but while the author Wes mother didn’t want him to waist his life to the trash, so she decided to send him to military school where his life changed towards a good ending. In the other hand, the other Wes Moore, when he started doing bad his mom didn’t do anything about it no one was there to help him guide his future life to a better ending , so he continued on going through bad steps and ended up
Education standards. One Wes’s family took education very seriously and the other Wes’s family let education standards slip. This was one reason the two Wes’s went down completely different life paths. Author Wes Moore mom took education very seriously and did not let Wes get away with slacking. When author Wes Moore mom found out he was slacking so much in school she collected as much money she could and sent him to Military school.Author Wes states about going to military school “I knew my mother was considering sending me away, but I never thought she’d actually do it.” (Moore 87). Military school is a big factor in the reason author Wes turned out to be as
Despite the belief that people can achieve extraordinary things regardless of their circumstances, One’s environment plays a monumental part in the chances of their success. An example of how environment influences fate is through two men named Wes Moore in the novel “The Other Wes Moore” by author Wes Moore. Author Wes reflects on his and the Other Wes’ life journey and their difficult lives through constant struggle in their neighborhood, school, and family issues. In many ways, Author Wes and Other Wes shared very similar characteristics regarding their personality and environment, but what astronomically differed was their upbringings. Author Wes was given the gift of a supporting background in the form of his mother while Other Wes had
Wes had so much support from his loved ones. After Wes’s father passed, his mother couldn 't handle being alone in the house she shared so many memories in without him anymore. So she called her mom, and they arranged to move in with her mom back in New York. Wes not only had his sisters, and mother but he also had his grandparents. Wes had strict rules to follow, he had to be home when the street lights came on, and as soon as he hears any gunfire or anything his grandmother considered foolishness he was to immediately come home. Wes was taught right from wrong, and got in trouble when he did wrong but soon learned from his
A child will not change their behavior if their parent does not show disapproval and does something about their behavior we they act out. With both of these combine, it made Wes’s opportunities starting from a young age, very slim of being successful. Growing up, Wes Moore had his mom and family around him to support him and when things got bad, his mom sent him to military school as a disciplinary action. This saved Wes from further becoming a bad kid because there, he learned discipline and respect. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore was off selling drugs and doing other bad things while his only influence was his brother. The other Wes Moore was so involved in his profits from selling drugs that he even sold to a cop even though he knew that he was undercover (Moore 112). Wes took this chance because he was so desperate for the twenty dollars he was going to receive, he didn 't care what the consequences were. I believe that if the author Wes Moore never went to military school, that he would have turned out just like the other Wes Moore. Weich from Lincoln County Jail stated that when investigating the jail, inmate were forced to garden as their “hardwork” this was supposed to change them. The inmates just had to be on good behavior and they were then able to garden while in jail (Weich). The point of going to jail is to be disciplined and learn and grow as a
The story of two men growing up in the same neighborhood with similar backgrounds with the same name and eerily similar circumstances that leads and ultimately has each character ending up in very different places in life. Taking completely different paths to their futures is the setting of this story “The Other Wes Moore”. The way a person is shaped and guided in their developmental years does undoubtedly play a huge role in the type of person they will become in life. The author Wes does a good job of allowing you the ability to read this story and the circumstances surrounding the character his mother joy played such an important role in his success, while comparing the roll of Mary the other Wes’s mother. Both boys grew up with strong, hardworking black women in their lives and yet it still allowed for two completely different journeys. I think the lack of fathers and having not so good male role models was also a contributing factor.
In their respective life journey, both Wes Moores often found them facing with some hard choices or decision to make or standing at a crossroads of life change without knowing which way to turn. Therefore, “for all of us who live in the most precarious places in this country, our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path or a tentative step down the right one” (Moore xiv). During their early childhood, both Wes Moores struggle at school and had troubles with the law. However, for the author Wes Moore, attending the military school was the biggest turning point in his life. Aware of his mother’s determination, his family’s sacrifice, and encouragement from classmates and instructors as well as the influence of role models, the author Wes Moore finally made up his mind that he wanted to succeed in the military school. At the end, the author Wes Moore fulfilled his dream and did well academically from then on. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore had tumbled on a series of missteps along the road: dropping out of school, getting involved with drug trade, committing violent crimes, and being a father of four when he was so young and immature. Even though there was a time when he tried to reinvent himself: joining the Job Corp, getting a high school diploma, and finding some decent jobs, the reality and his making-quick-money mentality eventually brought him back to the original path with no return. At last, by committing an armed robbery that left a police officer dead, the other Wes Moore irreversibly drove himself to the dead end of life. Obviously, based on their early life experiences, both Wes Moores would have gone the same route to failure. Nevertheless, at some critical points of their lives, the author Wes Moore made some good choices with intervention and guidance of good people while the other Wes Moore lost his footing under undue
Expectations influence who we become. Many factors come into play when we assess the lives of both Wes Moores introduced in the short novel The Other Wes Moore. Some of these factors are the expectations that shaped each man’s life. Moore illustrates his point when he writes, “The expectations that others place on us help us form our expectations of ourselves”(126). The explanation to the quote was it will help people to see the expectation of “thinking outside the box” means that think freely for themselves with better judgment in everyday life for their moral action in their society. Expectations from others have a strong impact on the choices an individual makes, and both Wes Moore’s choices were strongly influenced by the expectations
Analyzing the situation of a student getting kicked out of school. Billy parents often had conversations with him telling Billy that failure wasn’t an option and that while he stayed with him he will maintain a 4.0 grade average and will he graduates he will go to college then join the Navy. Although Billy was involved in many sports and organizations, Billy was not content with his life and often contemplated suicide. Billy was put under an enormous amount of pressure to excel in school that he had no personal life. Billy was a loner and had no friends in school except for his teachers. Six months into Billy’s senior year of high school Billy met some friends and he was so excited to have friends that Billy started getting into trouble from hanging with the wrong crowd. By the time Billy reached his senior year of high school he wasn’t in honors classes anymore and his well-off parents were furious that Billy had gone downhill and started hanging with students that were underneath him academically wise. One day Billy arrived to school with his new group of friends which his parents disliked and his friends decided to skip
At first things didn’t look to bright for Carver’s future, he tried to enlist into the school in Diamond Grove, but was turned down because of racism. They told Carver that African American’s were not permitted to attend the school. With the news of this, George left home on his own, to attend a color school in the community of Neosho. He had to find someone who ...
“I guess it’s hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances” (Moore 67). This is a powerfully central theme to the book The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore. For the two men this book is about, it all begins with a wide-open future. The mothers that gave birth to them and the influences they had, along with their own powerful choices, sealed their fate . People don’t ever stop growing or improving and the two Wes Moore’s are no different. Throughout their lives, they are constantly changing and in some places calling the shots. One chose correctly, and one did not.
Interacting with drug runners and dealers was a part of his everyday life as well, and he ended up getting picked up by the police for tagging a wall. It scared the boy but he did it again a week later. The final event that affected him was when his mother sent him off to military school. Wes tried to run-away a few times to no avail, but he eventually became a leader.
Education, environment and family factors can determined a person’s future life is success or failure. The other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates talks about two people with a same name and the environments they grew up were similar. However, the decisions they made let they ended up with a different life. The author Wes Moore became a successful political, and the other Wes Moore became a criminal in the end. The reason is the author Wes Moore made a correct choice to enrich his future life. The other Wes failed his life because he made a wrong choice. Overall, the author Wes Moore was more successful than the other Wes Moore because of the supporting family, and strong education.