I live a life of considerable privilege. I am a white, upper middle class, straight, young adult, living a comfortable life. I have learned to recognize these facts, and thought I understood the meaning of my privilege; until I read this novel. The Other Wes Moore gave me a new perspective on the meaning of ‘privilege,’ and how it affects the workings of our society. This novel really opened my eyes to some of the troubles in this world, and how everyone has a story that isn’t seen on the surface. The Other Wes Moore is both a memoir, and a biography. The novel contains the story of two men, Wes Moore and Wes Moore. These two men grew up in the same area, were the same age, and were both raised in fatherless, impoverished families. However, …show more content…
Yet, despite the length, the book was an enlightening experience. It was very well written, with a quick, intriguing pace. Although I typically avoid non-fiction, Moore’s writing style was captivating. The point of view alternated throughout, switching between the two Wes Moore’s stories. This was a tad confusing to read at first, as there were times that the point of view changes mid chapter. Nevertheless, once I figured out his method, it was easier to follow. When he was writing about himself, he would use first person, and he would use third when writing from the point of view of the other Wes. However, I feel this confusion could have been entirely avoided if there was more organization. Perhaps he could have avoided switching between stories unless at the beginning of a new chapter, or putting some kind of symbol or key on the top of the page to signify who was speaking. However, his formatting did make sense to me after several chapters. This was my only complaint on the book …show more content…
At fifteen, his life was taking a very different path. He had been slacking in school, barely scraping by, ditching to hang out with kids who were a bad influence. This caused his mother to take action. She had already been sending him to a private school, but this did not prevent the tragic neighborhood trends from influencing him. Consequently, he was sent to military school. After many attempts to escape, Wes adapted to the life, and flourished. Consequently, he entered the army after graduating, and held a high rank, becoming very successful. Yet, his childhood had been the exact same as the other Wes’ up until the point of being sent
The book The Other Wes Moore is a book that is mainly about choices and their effects. The two characters had very similar childhoods, yet one became a criminal and the other was extremely successful. This book helped me understand that choices we make, even small ones, can greatly affect our future. An example of this was on page 100, the author writes that “The news of imminent parenthood did not stop Wes from making time for other girls.” This leads to Wes having several more children.
In “The Other Wes Moore” Wes Moore, the author, and Wes Moore, the eventual murderer, make different decisions that ultimately determined their destiny. Wes Moore, the author, made many valuable decisions, of these the most crucial choose that he made was choosing to stay at Valley Forge Military School. For the first few days of Military School Wes wanted nothing to do with it, He hates the idea of being away from everyone he knew, and always being told what to do. He even admits to trying to run away a few times. In spite of this after the first year was said “I’d actually started to enjoy Military School.”
During the book The Other Wes Moore the author proves that good parenting will ultimately decide a child's future, This can lead to two vastly different life styles for both the author and the other Wes Moore. The book is written by Wes Moore and tells a story about two boys nearly the same age, live relatively close to each other, and have the same name. As a result of Parenting the main character Wes had gotten himself into a lot of trouble at school. This would eventually lead to his Mother making the rational decision of sending him to Valley Forge Military Academy.
In the book,”The Other Wes Moore,” Wes could have prevented himself from a tragic future. Throughout the story, he made terrible decisions that would impact his future forever. These decisions led him to his future of regret and misery. Wes grew up on the criminal side of Baltimore, where drug dealers ran the streets. At a young age, Wes was fighting other people,selling drugs, lying to his mother, and he became a father in his teens.
This week we were assigned to read to different articles. The first article was written by Peggy McIntosh titled, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. Throughout the article, Peggy showed the readers what it means to have white privilege. She showed the readers 50 different types of “advantages” that whites get over other races, such as African Americans. This is the biggest theme throughout her entire piece.
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude for achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” This quote said by Thomas Jefferson relates to both Wes Moores throughout the book. The Author Wes had to make an important decision that would point him into the right direction by getting enrolled into military school, and deciding to join college too. The Other Wes got his General Education Diploma (GED) and was enrolled in the Job Corps to try and turn his life around by leaving the drug game, ultimately wanting to provide more for his kids in the future. Both had positive goals that they wanted to achieve but one was mentally stronger than the other thus leading to the fact that one is a very
The Other Wes Moore, is a chilling, eye opening story in which one man’s life could have easily been the others. Both Wes’s were raised in the same neighborhood, just blocks away from each other in Baltimore, Maryland. At a young age both young men became involved in the drug trade in Baltimore, one turned his life around, the other however continued to follow down that dark path. The author of the book went on to graduate from Oxford University and speak at INVESCO before Barak Obama accepted the democratic nomination for presidency. The Other Wes, continued with his life of crime until eventually he was arrested and found guilty for murder.
The Other Wes Moore was written by Wes Moore (the one not in jail). This book isn’t just one of the usual autobiographies written by a successful African American. The stories of the two men depicted in the book show how a person’s decisions can affect their entire life. The idea that two people can come from the same background and have similar ethnicity and economic status, but end up with different outcomes, is very intriguing and genius as a book. The responsibility, self-sufficiency and ability to be a leader all have an effect on how a person experiences life.
Which character in the book is your favorite, and why? Do you like characters who are sympathetic, or funny, or irreverent, or daring, or what? My favorite character in the book is Wes’ mother. She is willing to sacrifice her time and energy, work hard at her job, and think and do the best thing for her children to protect them, even if it means extra work to lead them to success. I believe, that without her caring and compassionate personality, Wes could easily have had the same story as “the other Wes.”
A great deal of people would say we are all just products of our environment― for two adolescent boys from Baltimore this couldn't be any truer. In the autobiographical memoir, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore, unbeknownst, two fatherless African American boys with an identical name and living in the same neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, ended up on two entirely different paths of life. One evolves to be a Rhodes Scholar, honored and respected combat veteran, and business leader. The other is spending the rest of his life in a federal prison for committing a murder. However, in their separate lives, they both started out as young boys that grew up in single mom households in the rough streets of Baltimore.
The Other Wes Moore is an interesting nonfiction novel about the challenges and adversities that children growing up in poor inner city communities face. The author, Wes Moore, examines how the support systems and role models a child has when growing up are crucial to their development. He explain that while the inner city children have control over their own decisions, the influences around them all put pressure on them to make the wrong choices. There was not a huge difference in the lives of Wes and Moore while they were growing up, and the end result of their lives could have easily been reversed if it had not been for the intervention of Moore’s mentors and family. Moore was on a bad path as he was growing up, but the intervention of
When we study about relationships between living organisms, (i.e humans) and our physical environment, it is imperative for one to comprehend the vital connectivity within our micro, macro, and mezzo systems. Ecology also provides a great deal of information about the benefits of our ecosystems. This can be viewed in the tale of The Other Wes Moore; One Name, Two Fates. When we look at the life of Wes Moore Watende Omari Moore, there is a validity to the many systems and subsystems aided in his advancement in life choices and ultimate outcomes. Some of the examples of such systems which played an intricate role in his life journey are 1)
There is no exact answer to our questions. Inside of “The Other Wes Moore”, two similar tales are told, however, there are two different outcomes. The author, Wes Moore, deals with a lot of obstacles throughout his childhood. The story seems to begin after the death of his father.
I sometimes get irritated when people don’t agree on the same ideas that I have or when the other person says something that I don’t agree with. The objective of this chapter made me comprehend that based on an individual’s experiences and viewpoints impacts the person’s behavior. Some experience may deal with the oppressions and privileges a person has, the article “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person…” made me realize that I am more privilege than what I thought. The author didn’t think she was privilege until she read a book she got recommended and from her article she summarizes
How can someone avoid social privilege, or privilege in general that restricts people? In the material Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates examples of how the majority is constricted of how far they progress in life due to social advantages and relations. With the characters in Of Mice and Men, readers get a wide variety of diverse negative and positive benefits across the palate of struggling people. Privilege is a harsh reality defined by social status and molds humans into a predetermined way of living. Women are generally less privileged due to the gender barrier and roles.