Wes Moore's Short Stories

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Not far from each other lived two men who shared the same name, Wes Moore. Both men had the same name but had different paths that lead one to be a Rhodes Scholar meanwhile the other would spend the rest of his life behind bars. In the introduction to the book, the author, Wes Moore says, "The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his" (Moore, xi). Wes Moore wasn't often the brightest of all teenagers and it would not be until he was sent to military school where he would figure out what life meant with out his mother and the obstacles he had to face. The other Wes Moore tried to fix his life and provide for his four kids; however, making money the correct way wasn't something that
It's also a personal connection to some people who live in the struggle and have their parents take on multiple jobs to make sure that the family can be supported. In addition, the other Wes shows how emotional it is to be a father of four and a husband. The author describes Wes's actions, "Tears welled in Wes's eyes but never fell. He'd realized long ago that crying does no good" (Moore, 145). Moore describes how Wes's pain to try to support his family is difficult. Wes's tears symbolize his struggles to try to thrive and overcome the obstacles of being a father. However, tears mean nothing since it doesn't propel you to move on forward to become more successful. Evidently, Wes had to change the way he made more money, which would eventually end up costing him his rights of being a free human. The description was
"After grabbing $438,000 worth of watches and jewels from the store, one of the robbers yelled "Let's go"… Once the thieves cleared the door, these few quickly rose to their feet. Sergeant Prothero followed his instincts and ran out after the robbers. Drawing his weapon from his holster, he sprinted through the entrance… a black-gloved hand reached out of the window holding a handgun and let off three shots, striking Prothero at point-blank range" (Moore,
Wes was fortunate to have a mother that cared for him and didn't want to see him end up failing like the other Wes Moore, and therefore ended up in Military school. He learned that playing pro-basketball isn't meant for everyone and would need to back it up with something more realistic. Going to South Africa and connecting with Zinzi was symbolically good for Wes because it showed Wes that anyone can be successful without doing the same things you did. Wes, being underprivileged due to his income and lack of care for school mirrors what most children in public schools suffers. However, he proves that if you try and commit yourself to being the best, you will receive opportunities to succeed. Wes says, "His tribes influence in making him a man was obvious and indelible. At that moment, I realized the journey I took was never mine alone either" (Moore, 171). Everyone is different, but finally, Wes lets the reader know that in order to be given great opportunities, you must overcome obstacle to let the new opportunities come to

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  • What Is The Other Wes Moore Essay

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    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

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  • Criminality Of The Other Wes Moore Summary

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book basically talks about two young boys both with the name Wes Moore, who grew up in Baltimore and in the same neighborhood but never knew of each others existence. This is until the author Wes Moore, the one who escaped his rough childhood in Baltimore and the Bronx, began meeting with the other Wes Moore and questioning him who is spending his life in prison because of attempted murder. The author Wes Moore who managed to escape his situation growing up had a much more supportive mother who moved him away from Baltimore and continued to push him to get an education. He lived in the Bronx for sometime with his grandparents and mother, and attended a well renowned school in the Bronx. His mother worked several jobs in order for him to

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  • The Other Wess Moore's The Other Wes Moore

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    In the high criminal neighborhood where the other Wes lived, people who live there need a positive role model or a mentor to lead them to a better future. Usually the older family members are the person they can look up to. The other Wes’s mother was not there when the other Wes felt perplexed about his future and needed her to support and give him advises. Even though the other Wes’s mother moved around and tried to keep the other Wes from bad influences in the neighborhood, still, the other Wes dropped out of school and ended up in the prison. While the author Wes went to the private school every day with his friend Justin; the other Wes tried to skip school with his friend Woody. Moore says, “Wes had no intention of going to school. He was supposed to meet Woody later – they were going to skip school with some friends, stay at Wes’s house, and have a cookout” (59). This example shows that at the time the other Wes was not interested in school. Because Mary was busy at work, trying to support her son’s education, she had no time and energy to look after the other Wes. For this reason, she did not know how the other Wes was doing at school and had no idea that he was escaping school. She missed the opportunities to intervene in her son’s life and put him on the right track. Moreover, when the author was in the military school, the other Wes was dealing drugs to people in the streets and was already the father of a child. The incident that made the other Wes drop out of school was when he had a conflict with a guy. The other Wes was dating with the girl without knowing that she had a boyfriend. One night, her boyfriend found out her relationship with the other Wes and had a fight with him. During the fight, the other Wes chased the guy and shot him. The guy was injured and the other Wes was arrested

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  • Nurture Vs. Nature In The Other Wes Moore

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    In the memoir, The Other Wes Moore, the author Wes Moore compares his life with another man's, whose name was also Wes Moore, and shows how shockingly similar they were. Particular coincidences are certainly strange, like the fact that both of their fathers were not around, both mothers cared about their child's well being, they both lived in the Bronx at one point in their childhoods, and the obvious one, their names are the same. Not only were their home lives similar but they also had similar social experiences, including being caught breaking the law; however, this book also illustrates, through these social experiences, the subtle differences in their lives as well.

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  • A Positive Role Model In The Other Wes Moore

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    In a person’s life, one must overcome obstacles that have the potential to either negatively or positively impact their future. Whether it is a serious obstacle, such as being involved with drugs, or a minor obstacle, such as procrastinating an important essay for the night before it is due, the choices people make can influence the way they live their lives. In Wes Moore’s inspiring non-fiction book, The Other Wes Moore, two boys with the same name start off living a few blocks away from one another, but turn out to be completely different individuals. At first, they were both troublemakers, getting in trouble with the law. However, as time progressed, the author, Wes Moore, became a Rhodes scholar and quite successful, while the other Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison. The difference between these two men was the surrounding influences that shaped their growth as people. In a person’s growth, the most important factors are a positive role model in a positive environment because a positive role model will provide the path to success and will aid that person in achieving prosperity.

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  • The Other Wes Moore

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the book, The Other Wes Moore we learned about the lives of two young kids who unexpectedly share the same name but like everyone else have totally different life’s. This book explores the concepts that deal with a person’s path in life and gives us an understanding of which factors are the ones that greatly influence the type of person we will become. I believe that the factors that have a bigger impact on our life paths are; the environment we live in, our family and friends.

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  • The Other Wes Moore Essays: The Story In A Tough Environment

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    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

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  • Examples Of Expectations In The Other Wes Moore

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    Moore quote including said, “It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns ostracized” (96). The quote The (author) Wes Moore seen in his Military School that the lower freshmen was respects the higher ranking. The (author) was very amazed that in his military school the students were respect their superior and follow their command and their honor code rules to obey by. At the Military School teaches (author) Wes Moore about learn the discipline, leadership, and teamwork. The military do care about the (Author) Wes Moore successes. The (author) Wes Moore have the stronger mentor giving him the responsibility of their trust on him to force him to change his bad behavior that impact his teenage and adulthood

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  • The Other Wes Moore: Do We Control Our Destinies?

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    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

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  • The Importance Of Joy In Wes Moore's Life

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    In The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, many people were able to grasp ahold of the author Wes’s life and help him get steered into the right direction. I feel that his mother, Joy, had the biggest impact on his life and meant the most for him. “When we moved to New York, she worked multiple jobs, from a freelance writer for magazines and television to a furrier’s assistant- whatever she could do to help cover her growing expenses (47).” Joy was a very hardworking woman. She worked not one but two jobs to cover her expenses, her kids expenses, and to help her parents out. She did this because she wanted what was best for her children. This later comes back to make Wes respect his mother for all that she has provided and sacrificed for him to get all that he did.

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  • The Other Wes Moore

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    Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Print.

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  • Choice Versus Fate In The Other Wes Moore

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    The two ultimate choices to send him to a private and a military school, plus Moore’s own choice to not pursue a career in the NBA but to stay in school were three powerful choices that shaped him to become the man he is today. On the other hand, Moore’s destiny is one that is striking differently from the other Wes Moore’s destiny. As previously stated, these two boys who share a similar identity and started in the same circumstances ended up in two discrete places, due to the decisions they made, and what their fates had in store for

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  • The Other Wes Moore Substance Abuse

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    Everyday, there are teens that are putting themselves in unbearable situations. Wether if it is being influenced by others to do drugs or alcohol, both causes are very dangerous. Just as one thinks he is ok, standing away from those situations, is the time when danger will strike, and there will be just a few chances to get out. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is written about two boys with the same name growing up in similar situations. Both grow up to be surrounded by crime and substance abuse, and both do in fact have several chances to escape those holdbacks. Crime and substance abuse was common because of the locations that both Wes's grew up, and that was ghettos. In the book, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, the author explores the

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  • Analysis Of The Other Wes Moore

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    4.Wes Moore the author says that “I was taught to remember but never question. Wes was taught to forget, and never ask why.” Are these things different and if so how are they different? How do they point to differences in each of Wes’s upbringings? How might they connect to the differences in their outcomes?

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