To be able to influence a positive or negative light in someone’s life is what means to be a role model. Both the author and convict were born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. The two controversially named Wes Moore, were like each other until role models were introduced into their lives. There were many people that influence the author and convict to make their life choices. People like Captain T.Y Hilton, as a influence for the author and Tony for the convict. Role models and their capabilities to influence others actions are the reason that both Wes’ lives are different. I'll be explaining how these people influence their situations, starting by talking about the author role models first. The author Wes Moore had role models early in his life. When younger, his father was there for him. His father a working man in entainment, he wanted Wes to do good so he would be in trouble. In one situation, Wes was acting up his father sat him and gave him a verbal lesson that stuck with for the rest of his life. This made his father the authority figure that he look up to at young age before he died …show more content…
from health problems. It was different for the convict as he didn’t have a father figure to tell him to be a good man in these streets yet his the convict’s father was a deadbeat alcoholic with no ability to help his sons. This was the beginning of how their lives became different. We converse to their early teens to talk about the role models at this age. During their early teens, a time where people start influencing them to be unique in their own ways. The convict starts to become trouble due to no one around him having good intentions. A person who influence the convict Wes was his brother Tony, a notorious criminal. This situation the convict was phase “Monkey see monkey do.” as he lived in the shadows of his bother trying to be the same. At a point, Wes became a exact resemblance of him by drug dealing and affiliating with criminals. Tony even got mad once because his negative light was rubbing off on Wes as looked up to because this was his authority figure. At this time, the author is also getting into a bit of behavior issue because no father being there. At this time, the role model is his life is his mother. Being his primary caretaker and a single mother, the only thing his mother wants from him is to prosper. During school, his grades and behavior were beginning to slip, a similar direction that the convict was in. Instead of allowing him to deteriorate his mother step up and gave him a chance to change by forcing to go military school. This allows him to become a better person over time because of the military school’s strict commitment. If his mother wasn’t a figure for him at this time the author would have become just like the convict. The similarity gap is becoming bigger at this point as they grow up and manifest into who there going to be for the rest of their lives and that takes me to young adult years. While being in military school for a long time, at the beginning he felt like he didn’t belong there so he constantly ran away from the school. Until one day, he had an unlucky call to his mother telling him she was not bailing him out. Now realizing his fate, he had to adapt to this situation. During the process, Moore is impressed by a fellow captain by the name of Cadet Captain Ty Hill. His mother spoke with Hill to make sure he would keep an eye on Moore while he was at the military school. Captain Ty Hill becomes a role model for Wes during his time at the military school. Wes is impressed because people show “real respect” to Captain Ty Hill. This new type of respect is different from what his fellow drug dealers demanded. With Wes under his wing, Captain Ty Hill starts to be more of a role model to Wes during this time at the military school. Back in Maryland, Wes is starting to get used to life in the suburb’s. He quickly befriended a girl named Alicia. Two months into their friendship, Alicia tells Wes that she is pregnant. At first, Wes is in total disbelief. He doesn’t know how it could have happened. Soon enough, Wes tells his brother Tony. Tony, who recently became a father himself, laughed and start teen pregnancy is common in Baltimore. Even so, Wes is unsure how to handle possibly becoming a father. Tony’s reaction to finding out about his brother inpregnanting a young teen while Wes is also just a young teen, has a negative impact on Wes. Wes would accept this as the norm instead of figuring out alternative ways to deal with the situation. Tony is not the only bad influence in Wes’s life. Woody, a fellow schoolmate, gets Wes involved with drugs and alcohol. Wes is also often in trouble with the police while around Woody. Woody ends up graduating high school, but Wes drops out for good when his baby is born. At this point, we can already start to see how different influences and role models affect each Wes Moore in their lives. Wes Moore from Baltimore has negative influences both from his older brother Tony and schoolmate Woody. Both have lead Wes to be a high school dropout who also has to raise a baby at this young age.Because of this, Wes has a hard time finding a job. On the other hand, Wes Moore from Brooklyn was down a bad path. However, because his family was able to raise the necessary funds needed for Wes to go to military school, Wes has found Captain Ty Hill, who has become a positive role model for Wes, making him a better person. Because Wes is unable to get a proper job after dropping out of high school, Wes turns to dealing drugs.
He is able to bring in over $4,000 on his good days. One day, while at his usual spot, Wes is approached by a an unfamiliar buyer. Others assume that he is a cop and refuse to sell to him. Wes attempts to sell to the buyer who turns out to be a cop. As soon as Wes hands accepted the money, he is surrounded by cops. Meanwhile, during this same time, under the eye of Captain Ty Hill, Wes Moore is able to shine at the military school. Moore starts to lead his own platoon. He has now spent three years at Valley Forge. His mother has noticed his changes. Wes Moore of Brooklyn is now more polite, has better posture and carries himself with more dignity wherever he goes. All these changes are positive and have come because of the people Wes Moore is surrounded and influenced
by. A person’s character is often shaped by those around them. This point was clearly proven in The Other Wes Moore. The first Wes Moore has had only negative influences in his life which has made him become influenced in negative ways. He is a high school dropout, who has a kid, which he can not see because he is serving a life sentence in prison. Negative influences in his life such as his older brother Tony and classmate Woody, lead Wes Moore down this path. However, we see the other Wes Moore prosper at Valley Forge. Originally, Wes Moore did struggle with school. At first, while at the military school, Wes tried his best to leave because he did not feel like it was the place for him. However, because Wes Moore was introduced to Captain Ty Hill, he was able to turn himself around and flourish. Even through, both Wes Moore’s had a shaky start to their lives, the influences in their lives lead them to live completely different lives in the end. The power of positive and negative role models come into play because without them, lives can be lived in totally different ways.
It’s in these subtle differences that one can identify where it went wrong for the Other Wes Moore. The reason that there was no father figure is drastically different, the author's father died when Moore was
Education standards. One Wes’s family took education very seriously and the other Wes’s family let education standards slip. This was one reason the two Wes’s went down completely different life paths. Author Wes Moore mom took education very seriously and did not let Wes get away with slacking. When author Wes Moore mom found out he was slacking so much in school she collected as much money she could and sent him to Military school.Author Wes states about going to military school “I knew my mother was considering sending me away, but I never thought she’d actually do it.” (Moore 87). Military school is a big factor in the reason author Wes turned out to be as
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
Wes Moore Paper Richelle Goodrich once said, “To encourage me is to believe in me, which gives me the power to defeat dragons.” In a world submerged in diversity, racism and prejudice it is hard for minorities to get ahead. The novel “The Other Wes Moore” is a depiction of the differences that encouragement and support can make in the life of a child. This novel is about two men, with the same name, from the same neighborhood, that endured very similar adversities in their lives, but their paths were vastly different. In the following paragraphs, their lives will be compared, and analyzed from a sociological perspective.
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
Despite the belief that people can achieve extraordinary things regardless of their circumstances, One’s environment plays a monumental part in the chances of their success. An example of how environment influences fate is through two men named Wes Moore in the novel “The Other Wes Moore” by author Wes Moore. Author Wes reflects on his and the Other Wes’ life journey and their difficult lives through constant struggle in their neighborhood, school, and family issues. In many ways, Author Wes and Other Wes shared very similar characteristics regarding their personality and environment, but what astronomically differed was their upbringings. Author Wes was given the gift of a supporting background in the form of his mother while Other Wes had
A child will not change their behavior if their parent does not show disapproval and does something about their behavior we they act out. With both of these combine, it made Wes’s opportunities starting from a young age, very slim of being successful. Growing up, Wes Moore had his mom and family around him to support him and when things got bad, his mom sent him to military school as a disciplinary action. This saved Wes from further becoming a bad kid because there, he learned discipline and respect. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore was off selling drugs and doing other bad things while his only influence was his brother. The other Wes Moore was so involved in his profits from selling drugs that he even sold to a cop even though he knew that he was undercover (Moore 112). Wes took this chance because he was so desperate for the twenty dollars he was going to receive, he didn 't care what the consequences were. I believe that if the author Wes Moore never went to military school, that he would have turned out just like the other Wes Moore. Weich from Lincoln County Jail stated that when investigating the jail, inmate were forced to garden as their “hardwork” this was supposed to change them. The inmates just had to be on good behavior and they were then able to garden while in jail (Weich). The point of going to jail is to be disciplined and learn and grow as a
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.
“I guess it’s hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances” (Moore 67). This is a powerfully central theme to the book The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore. For the two men this book is about, it all begins with a wide-open future. The mothers that gave birth to them and the influences they had, along with their own powerful choices, sealed their fate . People don’t ever stop growing or improving and the two Wes Moore’s are no different. Throughout their lives, they are constantly changing and in some places calling the shots. One chose correctly, and one did not.
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
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.
This book is telling a story about two African American boys (Wes A and Wes P) who have the same name and grew up at same community, but they have a very different life. The author, Wes A, begins his life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and end up as a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, and a white house fellow; The other Wes Moore begins at the same place in Baltimore , but ends up in prison for the rest of his life. Then why do they have the same experience, but still have a totally different life? I will agree here that environment (family environment, school education environment and society environment) is one of the biggest reasons for their different.
Growing up, Caine associated himself with groups that participated in drug dealing and street crimes. As he explains himself, “my father sold dope and my mother was a heroin addict…Growing up with parents like that, I heard a lot and I saw a lot. I caught on to the criminal life real quick. Instead of keeping me out of trouble, they turned me on to it” (Hughes). Thus, Caine’s deviance can be attributed to Differential Association Theory. He spent his entire life associating with groups that continually violated norms and provided him with negative sanctions for trying to conform to norms. For example, O-Dog, one of Caine’s friends, called Caine a “little bitch” when Caine stated he did not want to shoot any child...
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.
Role model is Who do you most admire? A former teacher, a world leader, a neighbor, your