The Nonfiction Narrative: The Other Wes Moore

Areon Uglyass Mitchell
23 August 2016

The nonfiction narrative, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is about two African American men who both go by the name Wes Moore. These young men have a very similar background, which caused Moore to be fascinated about both of their lives. Despite having a similar background, one man had more success than the other. Moore created this narrative and started to examine his life in juxtapose to the other Moore’s life. This narrative demonstrates what life is like when dealt with struggle and shows how humans are able to overcome the adversity.
The author Wes Moore, was prestigious in his lifetime. When this man was young, he was a struggling student because he had a challenging time dealing with his

late father. If he did not have his mother, he would not have been sent to Valley Forge Military academy. Although he was a very successful man, he had friends that were not a good influence on him. One day he hung out wit his friend Shea, who suggested that Wes should vandalize the corner they were sitting at with letters “kk “ with a circle around it. Immediately the police shows up, they try to escape, but the police catches boys coinciding with their escape. Wes, while being arrested thinks to himself, “I became aware of how I had put myself in this situation – this man now had control of my body; even my own hands had become useless to me. More than that, he had control of my destiny. And I couldn’t deny that it was my own stupid fault. I didn’t have the energy for romantic rebellion – the possibility of losing all control of my life was like a depthless black chasm that had suddenly opened up in front of me” (Moore 83). This is when he realizes that he does not want this life for himself nor does he want to disappoint his mother who tried the best of her ability to guide him through the right path. But many people do not have the same mentality.
On the contrary, the “ other “ Wes Moore was not as successful, he was selling drugs as a way of living . One of his friends named Levy helped Wes when he was at a low point. He encouraged Wes to join the Job Corps and so he did. He became very success this but all the low paying jobs left him unsatisfied. In the beginning, his brother Tony also tried to lead him to the right path, he says to Wes, “If you won’t listen that’s on you. You have the potential to do so much more, go so much further. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, right?” (Moore, 72). Later on he gave up on helping Wes, he led Wes into doing a robbery at a jewelry store. This is when Wes’ life was completely damaged and there is no going back. Wes was charged with murder and sentenced to a full life in prison.
People do not realize the importance of education in our everyday lives.