The role model that had the biggest impact in wes’s life. I think would have to be his mother Joy. Throughout the book Joy has been there for wes and has always tried to give wes the best. And when Wes didn't make the best choices she disciplined him so he wouldn't do it again. She did what she could so that he would be good person. When Wes got bad grades in school his mother Joy would discipline him. So that he knew it was not fine to get bad grades. And that he had to do something about it so that his grades would get better. Teachers often told Joy that Wes had a real problem. Which was a learning disability. But Joy didn't believe it. “Well, your grades obviously aren't bad because you can't pick this stuff up or because you are stupid, you are just not working hard enough” (p.76) She knew that there was nothing wrong with Wes he just didn't want to try. She was being a role model to wes by showing him it is important to try. …show more content…
She wanted Wes to attend a good school so that he could become a better student and decided that the perfect school would be Riverdale. “My mother saw Riverdale as a haven, a place where I could escape my neighborhood and open my horizons.” (p.48) By making the decision to move somewhere else just so that he could get a better education is being a role model to Wes. Because making that decision wasn't easy but it was for his
Therefore, one of the two Wes Moores became a prisoner, convicted for robbery and murder. And the other one is Rhodes scholar and become a famous author. Even though they grew up in the same environment, but there is a big difference: the author Wes’s parents graduated from college and well educated, while the other Wes’s parents even didn’t finish school. So, according to the book, the most significant effect in the two Wes Moores lives is the education level of their parents.
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
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.
The author and Wes Moore faced very similar environmental changes and challenges. The differences that resulted these two on opposite ends of the spectrum was their family’s influence upon their decisions. The actions of each Wes Moore’s mothers had a great effect in their lives. The author Wes’s mother, as well as his grandparents, played a key role in his success as an adult. The sacrifices of time and the minimal amount of extra money she made went towards the author and his other siblings which ensured him the best educational environment. Without his mother, Joy, a college graduate herself, who “raised all of her children together, and she worked multiple jobs to send all of her children to private school” Wes could not have aspired to be where he is today (Moore 48). She persisted with him by laying down her expectations for him to excel in ...
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
They both grow up in a similar environment and was raised by a single mother. Author Wes can see how the other Wes 's life went and saw that there were Decisions and actions that were taken that made them made them into the people they become. American people are always talking about “keeping up with the Jones 's” and “the grass is greener on the other side”, and most people don 't ever know about a person who shared their name and grew up in the same environment. So it makes sense that if a person becomes aware of a person like that, who shared a name and grew up in the same environment, they want to know more about what that person 's life was
In this quote, Wes Moore, the author, was three years old, he had been playing a game with his sister, Nikki, which involved him chasing after her and “playfully” punching her. Wes’s mother saw Wes “playfully” punch his sister and was furious, ordering Wes up to his room and shouting that he should never hit a woman. Wes ran up the stairs to his room, which he shares with his youngest sister, Shani, unsure of why his mother was so heated. When he was up in his room he heard his father telling his mother not to be too hard on him, as yelling at a young boy will not do much good in the long run. Wes’s Parents had finished their conversation and he knew that one of them would be heading upstairs to talk to him. Wes could tell by the sound of the
Joy was a young girl when she became disabled. As described in the story, her leg was shot off in a hunting accident when she was just ten years old. Now as a thirty two year old educated woman, Joy’s mental state had been changed due to her disability. “Mrs. Hopewell, (Joy’s mother) was certain that she
The Mothers in this book play a large influence in relation to importance of schooling for the two Wes Moore’s. AWM mother, Joy, believed in schooling to the hilt and was obsessed with her children receiving the best possible education out there. She sacrificed a lot for AWM to go to the same school that John F Kennedy went to, Riverdale. She "worked multiple jobs, from a freelance writer for magazines and television to a furriers assistant- whatever she could do to help cover her growing expenses" (Moore 47). This woman clearly cared a lot about school and wanted her son to be the best he could be. She was also a college graduate, and before her, her parents. On the other hand, the OWM mother, Mary, did not get a chance to finish college. Ironically she dropped out of Johns Hopkins. This was because her grant was taken away; this might have had an effect on her because she was nowhere near as obsessed with her children’s education as Joy was. It is heartbreaking because Mary grew up in a rough part of Baltimore and she, "Made a pact with herself at that moment: she would get her education and leave the neighborhood no matter what it took" (...
The path of Wes, the felon, was a life filled with drugs, anger, and reckless choices. His mother and brother were the major influences in his life. During his youth he watched his brother, Tony, deal drugs, get shot and control a section of the neighborhood. His brother being the major male influence in his life, Wes idolized him. Meanwhile Wes was struggling with school, and in an attempt to give him a better chance his mother moved them to a different neighborhood.
When imagining school, some people look at this as a chance to increase the educational career of one, while others may not. But when looking at Military school, horror comes into mind, and there is no escaping from that. Wes had just started military school, and he does not like it whatsoever. He even tries to escape, though, the directions given to him by the Sargent were fake. This is a chance for Wes to change his life, and he needs to stay on track. Wes says, "By the end of the fourth day at Military School, I had run away 4 times. I had heard that there was a station somewhere in Wayne where I could catch a train that would take me to Thirteenth Street Station in Philadelphia....I had the entire plan set. The only thing I could not figure out was how to get to this train station in Wayne" (Moore 90). This quote supports the theme that in which it shows that one must stay true to decisions made or given to him. Through it all, one must stay strong, and face what comes it's way. Therefore, one must stay strong, even if the situation is not suiting, because success will be
However, the other Wes Moore did not get a good education. The author describes, “In spite of myself, I was impressed. I had never seen anything like that before. I had never seen a man, a peer, demand that much respect from his people. I had seen Shea demand respect in the neighborhood, but this was different. This was real respect, the kind you can’t beat out of people. That’s when I started to understand that I was in a different environment. It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations were inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns ostracized” (96). As we see, the Wes distinguished real respect between Shea and the man. Actually, the Wes had never seen this respect before, but he could see it now in this school. It means that the Wes could learn more and more different things in the place. Therefore, it can let him know what he need and how to achieve his goal. Overall, the training in military school helped him choose the successful life. For another Wes Moore, he went back to school after he got out of jail. However, it did not last long that he gave up the education. The author writes, “Not surprisingly, without a high school diploma or job training and with a criminal record-Wes found it almost impossible to find a job to support his growing family” (110). As we see, the Wes wanted earn money to support his growing family. In this way, he should continue to go to school to
Role models can make a huge difference in a child's life. My Physical Education teacher had a major impact of effecting of what I want to be now. Aleta Jo Crotty helped me to learn to take responsibility for my actions, and in my choices I am in control. By using guidelines that was set by her for my life, I hope to reach just one child.
I think the most influential people in my life are my parents. They are always there when I need them and sometimes when I think that I don't. They have taught me the value of honesty. I feel that they are the soul reason why I turned out the way I did. I don't drink or do drugs because they have taught me they are wrong and unhealthy. I was taught to respect my self as well as others.
Many of us have role models in our lives and to most people role models are athletes and movie stars, but to me a role model is much more. To me a role model is a person who has positively influenced someone in life, and is not a person filled with selfishness and greed. They help shape someone’s personality, and characteristics. They are people who someone can look up to for advice in a hard situation, and know that they will give those words of wisdom. They will never judge our past actions, instead only look to help because they really care. A role model is someone who we should never feel awkward talking to about our problems. A perfect role model for me is my mother. She is a wonderful human being. She’s smart, wise, ambitious, patient and such a loving person. There are no words that can describe my gratitude towards her, but through this essay I will describe some of her characteristics that makes her my role model.