Have you ever wondered how just a few different choices or experiences in your life could have changed your entire future? That is how Wes Moore felt when he wrote The Other Wes Moore. This book is a true story about two kids with several similarities growing up. The two boys not only have the same name, they also grew up in the same city, with similar backgrounds, around the same time. Although the two Wes Moore’s grew up with similar childhoods, they ended up having completely different futures. The author Wes Moore has several accomplishments such as being named the Rhodes Scholar. However, the other Wes Moore is spending the rest of his life in prison. In this book the reader will see the similarities between these two boys, and also the …show more content…
The author Wes discusses an article published about him in the Baltimore Sun. Wes had been named the Rhodes Scholar, one of the most prestigious academic awards for students in the world (xi). However, this was not the only article in the Baltimore Sun. There was another article that discussed the events leading up to the life sentence imprisonment of Wes Moore. The other Wes Moore had been involved in a jewelry store robbery, which resulted with an off duty officer being shot and killed. This article about the other Wes Moore interested the author, so he decided to reach out to the other Wes Moore in prison. The other Wes Moore agreed to meeting with author Wes, and after just a few visits they learned a great deal about each other. Not only did author Wes Moore have the same name as the criminal, he also had several other similarities with this man. Both of the Weses were born in Baltimore around the same time. Additionally, they both grew up fatherless, however, the circumstances were different. Furthermore, both of the boys had run ins with the law, and neither of them were interested in school. Although these two boys had several similarities, just a few minor differences influenced the people they are …show more content…
Although the boys had similar situations growing up they also had slight differences. For instance, both of the boys did not have a father growing up and both of their mothers worked long hours. Despite his mother not being home all day, author Wes still had his grandparents to look after him when his mother was not around. In contrast, the other Wes Moore did not have a real adult figure to look after him and keep him out of trouble. Another example of how outside influence has effected the two Wes Moores is how they were disciplined. When author Wes started to slack in school his mother sent him to military school. One of the other hand, when the other Wes used drugs and alcohol with his friends his mother did not punish him. Instead, she thought the whole incident was funny and said, “Well, at least now you know how bad it feels and you will stay away from drinking” (62). I think that the author did a fantastic job at accomplishing this aim because as the story unfolds, the reader can see the how the important figures in these two boys lives influenced them to be who they are
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.
"The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine... It's unsettling to know how little separates each of us from another life altogether (Moore XI)." The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is about two men who have the same name, Wes Moore. Both grew up in similar areas, each made choices that lead to one spending life in jail and the other spent his being in the military. The Wes Moore's grew up in the 1970's-1980's. They both were poor with single mothers who worked day in and day out, and still struggled to be able to be above the poverty line. For each man there was one moment that changed the future of their life. In the book,The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, the author explains the idea of poverty to develop the theme poverty can affect an individual negatively, but each action and decision a person makes can control whether his or her life is positive or negative.
Parenting played a big role in shaping the two boys lives. Having a parental mentor is important because they assist and guide children to take the right decisions about their lives. The author had his two parents at the beginning of his life. Also, the author’s parents, especially his mother, tried to raise him in an effective way wanting him to know the right from wrong at an early age. “No mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing” (Moore 11). This quote was a live example of the author’s life with his parents. It reflected the different ways his parents used to teach him “the right thing.” Though his mother was upset from his action toward his sister, his father
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
Many people would say we are all just products of our environment. For two young boys from Baltimore, this could not be truer. In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore, two fatherless, young boys growing up in the same neighborhood with the same name, end up on two entirely different paths of life. The author becomes a Rhodes Scholar, college graduate, veteran, and much more, while the “other” Wes gets deeply involved with the drug game and spends most of his life in trouble with the law. When these boys come from such similar backgrounds, how is it that they take such different journeys in life? The reason why one Wes Moore became mixed up with drugs and the law, and
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
The Other Wes Moore is a book about two young African-American lives that share the same name, Wes Moore. Both Wes Moores grew up with similarities, they both grew up in the same hometown. One of the Wes Moore is free and the other one is spending his life in jail. They both grew up without fathers. The author's father died in front of him when he was just three years old and the other Wes Moore barley knew his dad. The Author's father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, and the other Wes Moore, father wasn’t there because he chose not to be. Both mothers were working hard towards setting their families and to support and care for their sons.
“This is a story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free… The other will spend every day until his death behind bars...” (Moore, XI) In The Other Wes Moore, the author, Wes Moore, and the other Wes Moore both grew up in similar, yet different, circumstances and had completely different outcomes. This captivating narrative demonstrates how the choices you make, make you. In the introduction, the author Wes Moore validates this statement by saying, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore XI) The author, Wes Moore, shows the readers that a person’s environment, circumstances, education (or lack
How do two boys with the same name who live within the same community end up with lives on two completely different paths? The author, Wes Moore, begins life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and ends up a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, White House Fellow, etc. The other Wes Moore starts in the same place in Baltimore but ends up in prison FOR LIFE.
Wes Moore contributes his meaningful life to the help of his many mentors, who supported and encouraged him to greatness. In the book, he talks about his many mentors, especially the role his grandfather, and his mother played after the death of his father at the age of 4 years old. His mother was only twenty. Wes Moore went on to pursue his education at Johns Hopkins University, earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford,
The book The Other Wes Moore sells its self on being about “two hauntingly similar boys take starkly different paths… the other Wes his age and from the same area of greater Baltimore” (Publishers weekly, 2011). The book tries to convey the boy’s lives could have been the same through crime, education and family but against the odds fate, or choice changes their two fates. This is simply not true. The two boys could have nearly never had the same lives for the vary reasons the book proves itself. The two Wes Moores could have never been the same, not because fate but because of location, family values, and how the two men grew up living complete different lives.
“The Other Wes Moore” written by Wes Moore is an autobiography that tells two stories. Two unrelated humans with two different lives. Both kids grew up in Baltimore and had many similar life experiences. Even though the two kids with similar background and identical social class had nothing to do with each other, their life choices definitely affected their futures.
In the memoir, Discovering Wes Moore, the way the original Wes Moore and the second Wes Moore conducts their lives and the circumstances in which they were raised in directly corresponds to the ways in which they are different. First of all, one major difference is that the original Wes Moore lost his father when he was young, while the other Wes Moore's father left him and his family. These two distinctive events in both of their lives affected them in very different ways. The second Wes has to deal with the fact that his father chose to leave him, while the original Wes has to deal with his father’s death. Also, the original Wes went to Valley Forge in junior high school to get more serious about his
The novel The Other Wes Moore is a information book about two boys with the same name that grew up blocks away from each other. These two boys share similar characteristics like growing up fatherless, and getting involved with the wrong crowd of people at one time, but one's life took a drastic turn for the better and one for the worst. The author of the novel get in contact with the “bad” Wes Moore in order to learn more about the significant changes in his life that made him follow down a way different path. From the beginning one can tell that the author has certain feelings about Wes which makes the book bias. The author is very positive when talking about Wes and does not make him seem like the criminal he is. One could tell that he has a soft spot for him but he is not portraying Wes in the way he should be. Everyone knows the ending of Wes’ story but it seems like the author is trying to write it like something might change.
All over the world kids grow up with the same name, but rarely end up having the same fate. Wes Moore, the author of The Other Wes Moore, shares his story about two Wes Moores, who grew up in similar Baltimore neighborhoods, fatherless, with difficult childhoods, and with troubled lives. But both of their paths led to something very different, one towards success and the other towards failure. Role models and decisions both determined their lives, one ended up with a successful life and the other serving a life sentence for murder.