Wes Moore's Duplicated Individuals Diverging

Duplicated Individuals Diverging The tale of the two Wes Moores start the same, but different paths take one to Oxford and the other to prison for life. Both born in Baltimore these souls will have similar childhoods. As the tales of these two individuals play out, decisions made differently changes the outcome of their lives. The fate of these two men are decided by themselves and their community around them. The advice that they are given, the choices their parents made and the choices they made are what shaped their future. The criminal, Wes Moore, was greatly influenced by the advice of his older brother. Tony Moore, Wes’s older brother, was a drug dealer before the age of ten, so his advice would not be the most reputable. Tony had

The last time Wes had seen him would be the last for a reason. His father was laying on the couch and he looked up at Wes and said “‘Who are you?” (Moore 102). When his father had left him as a baby and decided to never visit him little did he know he was setting his son up for failure. Not knowing how to be a father Wes had 4 kids in result led him back to the drug community and back to the drug game. Moreover, Westley, the author, had a different experience with his father. Wes’s father died when he was young but the middle name that he gave Wes really empowered him through many situations. The name “Wantande” (Moore 7) which meant “‘revenge will not be sought’” (Moore 6-7) would be a perfect foreshadow of Wes’s personality. He would be verbally assaulted and physically assaulted but his restrainment would keep him safe and away from trouble. Both of the parental decisions shaped the diverging future of these

Wes, the drug dealing criminal, had made wrong choices early in his life by getting involved with drugs at a young age. When Wes “Placed the headset over his freshly cut fade” (Moore 62) he sealed his fate in the drug game. This decision he made by himself would eventually lead him to sell drugs and inexorably be incarcerated. Furthermore, the author Wes was a basketball player in his childhood years. The fence around the court he played on created a “circle of trust” (Moore 45) and the people he played played with gave him a sense of “A brotherhood” (Moore 45). This environment had stalled Wes’s intermingling with drug use and supported the reason to not need them. Both of these choices made the Moores who they are