Compare And Contrast Scarlet Letter And The Other Wes Moore

The Other Wes Moore is a novel written by Wes Moore, about two men with the same name, and their life stories of growing up in similar Baltimore neighborhoods. Wes lost his father at a young age, which really affects Wes at the time and in his future. When Wes was 3, Wes’ father was sent to the hospital for a sore throat and a fever, which the doctors didn’t know what to diagnose him with, so they sent him home, later that night Wes’ father suffocated to death, right in front of Wes, and his mother. Wes has two sisters; Nikki has a different dad and is a few years older than Wes, and Shani who was a few years younger than Wes. After the death of Wes’ father, his mother was left to raise her three kids alone, along with dealing with the death of her husband. In contrast, the other Wes’ father, left his mother, and his never been around for him, in fact never even met his father until he was 12. The other Wes has an older brother Tony, who has a

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is a non fiction novel focusing on Moore himself and another man sharing his name. Moore notes how both men have strikingly similar backgrounds but have eventually ended up later in life with very different outcomes. To begin, both Wes Moores were from Baltimore but their paths couldn't differ more. Wes grew up to become a Rhodes Scholar and cherished veteran while his counterpart has a life sentence in jail. Although both had little to no father figure present, the circumstances that followed could not be interchangeable by tweaking the timeline of each kid. Although Moore himself states, "The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his" (Moore xi)

The book “ The Other Wes Moore” is a narrative story that shows the lives of two young men whom share the same name; Wes Moore. This book shows how two little boys came to be two very different people. Such as how both of them encountered the problems of drugs in their neighborhoods but how they decided to react. Or how both Wes Moores were successful students at one time in their life but one of them will be behind bars. Also both Wes Moores had encounters with the police during their childhood. But what made the two Wes’ who they are today? Whereas genetics make them who they are, both Wes Moores are impacted by external factors given his role models that surround him , his early life, and his successes and failures in life.

The characters from the book, The Other Wes Moore, shared one name, which was “Wes Moore” but lived two different lives. The Author Wes describes his life by saying, “ I was taught to remember, but never question” and he describes the Other Wes’s life by saying, “ taught to forget and never ask why.” (4). How both characters were taught to live their lives is shown throughout the book as they gained and lost respect throughout their life experiences.

Wes Moore wrote a captivating novel, The Other Wes Moore, to divulge the importance of family. The author explains the inconsistencies within his family, but clarifies the strength and willpower of his family led to his success. He compares his life to that of the Other Wes Moore, a man who lived a similar, but very different life. The most common similarity between the two is neither had a father in their home. The difference, though, relied on how the two Wes’ allowed society to alter their personal morals. The author allowed himself to commit a few crimes and skip school. However, Wes Moore later allowed his mentors, in military school, to influence how he respected others and their well-being. The other Wes accepted violence and dealing

Although the two Wes Moores had similar backgrounds, there are many reasons as to why their lives took very different paths. One of the key reasons they had different lives is that the author Wes Moore had a hard working mother and sisters which made him respect women. The other Wes had a very lazy mother and no sisters, therefore, he did not respect women very well. The author Wes’ father died when he was little and the other Wes’ father left him when he was young. Author Wes’ mother forcefully sent him to military school to get him on the right track and the other Wes followed his older brother Tony into drug dealing.

When Swami Sivananda said, “A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching.” He was correct because every microscopic action that we commit has an unintended consequence. Some consequences, are good. Other consequences, on the other hand, can be miserable. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore, both stories exhibit that each choice a person makes has a consequence, good or bad.

Public shame is never a pleasant occurrence, although every society has its own way of punishing others who have committed a crime. Humiliation is present in everyday life and most of the time is unavoidable. The Scarlet Letter and The Other Wes Moore both deal with public degradation. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is the story of two men who live extremely different lives, yet share the same name. Both faced similar difficulties in their youth, although they went down opposite paths in their adult lives. The other Wes Moore chose a path of drugs and violence, which led to him committing murder during a robbery. Following his arrest, Moore’s mugshot was shown all over the news and he had a criminal trial. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne has committed a horrible sin in her Puritan community, she has committed adultery. Her punishment was being branded with a piece of scarlet cloth shaped like the letter A on her chest for the rest of her life. Hester must deal with the continuous judgment of the townspeople. Hawthorne and Moore, both described in their novels the effect humiliation has on an individual's life and how public shame is present in all societies, past and present, through the use of tone and descriptive imagery.

“A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists. Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song,” (Vera Nazarian). People let others control them and their actions which causes serious consequences and very few virtues. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, wrote a novel about a woman, Hester Prynne who has committed the most dreadful of sins. When her story is revealed to the civilization, ignominy follows her and the ones closest to her. The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore, it the chilling story of two men who were raised in comparable neighborhoods, but end up with

Communities, families, and friends all drastically affect the young men and women into which every child eventually matures. Their lifestyles, choices, and even fates can be determined by these elements in their lives. Two boys with the same name, each born and raised in Baltimore in the presence of a loving family, somehow managed to end up on two completely different life paths. While one is forced to endure a life sentence in prison, the other has accomplished many notable achievements, including writing a New York Times bestselling novel titled The Other Wes Moore.

Well-known american author Caroline Myss once wisely wrote, “Never blame another person for your personal choices- you are still the one who must live out the consequences of your choices”(Simple Reminders). Choices and decisions are made everyday, but to make good choices is vital in order to have no bad consequences. In The Scarlet Letter and The Other Wes Moore, all protagonists are faced with difficult decisions to make. Along the way they make some bad decisions but reflect on them time and time again. It is up to them to make the right choice and stay on the right path or they just might have to live with the consequences of their mistakes that they could have fixed easily. In both Nathaniel Hawthorne's and Wes Moore’s novels they include stream of consciousness and imagery to portray how your actions now will impact your future later.

One of the oldest and most approved psychological theories is empiricism, or the belief that knowledge stems from our experiences. According to John Locke, a prominent empiricist, “no man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience”. This concept often transpires into normal life, demonstrated throughout the two novels, The Other Wes Moore and The Scarlet Letter. In The Other Wes Moore, the author describes the narrative of himself and a man with the same name whose similarities go further than their names. Although the author overcame his turbulent childhood growing up in the ghetto of Baltimore, the other Wes’s fate was a prison sentence for murder of a police officer. Similarly, in the Scarlet Letter, the protagonist, Hester Prynne conquered the punishment that came as a result of her adultery and rebuilt her life as an independent woman. However, the counterpart to her sin, Arthur Dimmesdale, was crushed under the overwhelming guilt, and succumbed to physical and mental infliction. Throughout The Scarlet Letter and The Other Wes Moore, the authors utilize tone and diction in order to convey the idea that one’s experiences can either make them stronger or overpower them.

Everyone makes mistakes or laments an action they executed in the past. However, what if all of these actions could have been a result of how people were raised? In the novels The Scarlet Letter, and The Other Wes Moore readers are shown how one action can decide your fate and how not often is it one person's fault. The “sins” of the other Wes Moore, and Dimmesdale in both novels proclaim the two different ways of grieving and moving through life, after conspicuous events. Consequences for your actions illustrate your whole future of one event and is portrayed through symbolism and direct characterizations by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the author Wes Moore.

People have the extraordinary ability to be different. People make different decisions, and in doing so, affect their future. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne begins her new life of ignominy by committing adultery. Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale had a child, but the town only knows that Hester is the mother, Dimmesdale’s fatherhood is a secret. A new arrival, Hester’s husband, whose true identity is obscured to the town, haunts Dimmesdale in the guise of a helpful physician. In The Other Wes Moore, two boys, both named Wes start out in similar situations. They both live in Baltimore, and are exposed to the streets that go along with it. Eventually, the author Wes ends up in military school and on the path to success, while the other Wes is on the streets, on the path to life in prison. Using diction and characterization, Hawthorne and Moore both develop a theme of two people in similar situations, who make different decisions, having vastly differing futures.

When people think about how a person follows a crowd, they can think of “A choir [which] is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent, then all that will be left are the soloists. Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song,” (Vera Nazarian). People let others control them and their actions which cause serious consequences and few virtues. Violating the social standards, like in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, is how people begin to collaborate differently. When Hester’s story is revealed to the civilization, ignominy follows her and the ones closest to her. While The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore, where it is the norm to do dreadful things. The story is the chilling truth of two men with the same name, that were raised in comparable neighborhoods, yet end up with two extremely different lives. Wes Moore turned into a military man, while the “other” Wes Moore will spend the rest of his life in prison. They both had the chance to do something outstanding, but the people around them affected where they are today. Involving or excluding a character of society can change the events in their lives, which is shown through imagery and direct characterization in a crafty technique by both authors.