A New York Times Bestseller novel entitled “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore has told stories about two different people with same name and different fate and life. When I was about to finish reading the novel, I found out that my prediction of the stories did not turn out exactly as my imagination, but the other way. In chapter seven, the other Wes Moore seems has felt regret with all his wrong doings that he had done in the past and try to correct his mistake by joining the Job Corps. From that point, he started to be more concern about his daughter and other family members by started to learn carpentry skills in order to build a small house for his daughter. Besides that, Wes also has started to have better job such as landscaper after …show more content…
participating in the Job Corps program to support his family members. However, at the end, Wes was involved in a robbery at a jewelry store and accused murdering the security guard. I predicted this event will not happen as Wes has change to a better person, who started to become more concern about his family. But my prediction just did not turn out exactly like I imagined before.
I felt very difficult to accept this fact since I always expect for a happy ending for most of story. When I read that the other Wes has changed, I started to feel happy for him since this is a true story, however, that is not the end of the story. Next, the overelaborated facts about the author life also made me difficult as it made the story more boring. The author told about every single details about his life including the flashback that he was thinking when he was about to make a jump from an airplane. The overelaborated facts made the story become very slow since readers does not have any excited or eager feeling to know the next event that happen in his life. So, determining the important details to write in a story is very crucial step in writing a story because lack of details can decrease readers understanding and overelaborated facts can annoy the readers. As a conclusion, the feeling of difficult to accept my wrong prediction maybe resulting from my common habits of reading only fiction books instead of non-fiction. In fiction book, most of the story has a good happy ending which makes reader feel satisfied when finish reading the
story. Thus, trying to get myself used to non-fiction story will help me cope better in reading this type of story in the future. The overelaborated facts problem maybe can be overcome by skipping the minor facts and keep track on the main story line that the author trying to imply.
The diverse alternation of point of views also provides the story an effective way to reach out to readers and be felt. The characterisation is effectively done and applied as Sam, Grace, and the other supporting characters play individual, crucial roles in the course of the story. All the elements of a typical young adult novel, consisting of a gap-filled relationship between children and parents, emotion-driven teenagers, and a unique conflict that makes the book distinct from fellow novels, combined with the dangerous consequences of the challenges the couple encounter, make the book different from all other of the same genre. The plot unfolds slowly giving readers enough time to adjust and anticipate the heavy conflict when it arises. It has gotten us so hooked but the only thing we could possibly dislike about it was the slow pace of plot. The anticipation was too much to handle and we were practically buzzing and bouncing to know how the story turns out as we read. It builds the anticipation, excitement, thrill, sadness, grief, loss, and longing in such an effective way to entice and hook readers further into the world of Sam and
The novel guides you through the 8 crazy years that led to Wes Moore 1's success and Wes Moore 2's life sentence in prison. Wes Moore 1 definitely did not have the perfect life but his life had more positives than Wes Moore 2. Wes's family, friends and the military impacted his decision making and life choices that make him successful today. But the more he tried to be like his brother, the more Tony pushed back.”
In the passage from The Other Wes Moore, author Wes Moore uses an event to display a moment when he matures and realizes if he screws up his life, he may never get control of his fate back. After getting caught spray painting a wall, Author Wes Moore, AWM, states, “he had control of my destiny–or at least my immediate fate. And I couldn’t deny that it was my own stupid fault”(83).
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
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.
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
In “The Other Wes Moore”, by Wes Moore, the author takes the readers through his life growing up as well as the life of someone who was a stranger to him during his childhood but turned out to be a huge part of his life later on. His name was also Wes Moore and both he and the author grew up in poverty and did not have the best childhood. Although they grew up similarly, their adulthoods were the polar opposite. The author Wes Moore became the top in his class, a Rhodes scholar, and studied at Oxford University to later become very successful. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore is in prison for the rest of his life for a robbery and murder. How did these two grow up so similarly, yet had completely different adulthoods?
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.
Expectations influence who we become. Many factors come into play when we assess the lives of both Wes Moores introduced in the short novel The Other Wes Moore. Some of these factors are the expectations that shaped each man’s life. Moore illustrates his point when he writes, “The expectations that others place on us help us form our expectations of ourselves”(126). The explanation to the quote was it will help people to see the expectation of “thinking outside the box” means that think freely for themselves with better judgment in everyday life for their moral action in their society. Expectations from others have a strong impact on the choices an individual makes, and both Wes Moore’s choices were strongly influenced by the expectations
The other Wes’s father was not a good father because he was a drunk, and cannot guide his son better. The author Wes’s father gave positive influence to him, although they lived together just a short amount of time. The author Wes writes “I tried to copy his walk, his expression. I was his main man. He was my protector” (11). After the Wes did not know why his mother mad at him, his father patiently explained that Wes could not hit people especially women and you should defend them rather than fight them. Later, his father also led the Wes apologize to his sister and mother. As a matter of fact, the series of behaviors have deeply affected the Wes. Therefore he wanted to copy his father and become a good man. For the other Wes Moore, The author writes, “Finally, after some more jostling, his father’s eyes cracked open. He saw Wes standing over him. Still squinting, he looked his son in the eyes. “Who are you?” (102). When he met his father on his aunt’s house, his father was sleeping on the couch. At that time, the Wes had not seen his father in years. Therefore, his father did not care about his life. Although the other Wes considered leaving the house, he still intended to say hello to him. As a result, his father said that who was Wes when he woke up. Obviously, the other Wes did not feel any love from his father, and he was not responsible for the Wes’
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.
discusses his life as a kid, and how he was accidentally placed in a vocational program in his
The main character, Edie, provides the narration of the story from a first person point of view. She tells her story based on an event from her past. Because she narrates the story the reader is unable to be sure if what she tells of the other characters is completely accurate. Because one does not hear other character's thoughts one could question whether Edie interpreted them correctly. Or has time caused her to recall her story different from the way it actually happened? For example, Edie says it is hard for her to recall how she felt when she had to do dishes without a dishwasher and heated water. It had been so long ago her perception had been altered. Sometimes time can play a role in why truth can be so hard to see.