Category: The Other Wes Moore

A 2010 nonfiction bestseller The Other Wes Moore: One name, two fates, depicts the true story of two namesakes from Baltimore. The two main characters with identical names pursue very different life paths, which are significantly influenced by their background and upbringing. In such a manner, Wes Moore contends that public servants  the teachers, mentors, and volunteers who work with our youth  are as imperative to our national standing and survival as are our armed forces (Plain Talk about Literacy and Learning, 2017, p. 31). By comparing and contrasting their lives, the author addresses the issues of destiny, exploited opportunities, and life choices and thus provides a profound contemplation upon the concept of identity in American society.

The other Wes Moore chronicles the life stories of two African American boys  Wes Moore, The Author, and The Other Wes Moore. The author depicts their life scenarios, which have very much in common, I was surprised to find just how much we did have in common, aside from our names, and how much our narratives intersected before they faithfully diverged (Moore, 2010, p. xiii). Both characters grew up not far from each other but whose path in life differed dramatically (Strom, 2016, p. 37). Both of them faced racism at some points in their lives. Hence, this is a coming-of-age novel, featuring how these characters with similar backgrounds ended up with very different lives, One of us is free and has experienced things that he never even to dream about as a kid. The other will spend every day until his death behind bars& (Moore, 2010, p. xii). As a result, Wes Moore, The Author, is a successful author and a Rhodes Scholar, whereas the Other Wes Moore is a life-sentence prisoner.

The authors father died as a very young man, and his mother worked hard to provide her son with education at a private school. However, the teenage author did not succeed at school. Instead, he kept company with street gangs and even got a warning from the police. The authors mother realized that he had troubles at school and continued to communicate with drug dealers and thieves. He had forgotten how to act naturally, thinking way too much in each situation and getting tangled in the contradictions between my two worlds (Moore, 2010, p. 54). Therefore, she decided to send him to a military school. It was a difficult change in the authors life since he had to get used to strict regulations and to live away from home. However, he gradually began to appreciate the benefits of this education and realized that: the journey I took was never mine alone (Moore, 2010, p. 171). In other words, he understood that military services provided him with support and reliable friends, and it eventually had a beneficial effect on his subsequent life. The protagonist continued to pursue a military career, having achieved considerable success in politics.

The Other Wes Moore was also raised in Baltimore by a single mother. His father had abandoned the family, and his half-brother Tony was involved in selling drugs. The Other Wes struggled to escape the criminal path. In fact, his brother Tony tried to persuade Wes that his criminal future was not predestined: If you wont listen, thats on you. You have the potential to do so much more; go so much further (Moore, 2010, p. 71-72). However, the Other Wes eventually received a life sentence for first-degree murder. In this context, the author asks a range of existential questions: Who is to blame for this? Tony, the neighborhood, the school system, Wess friends? (Moore, 2010, p. 75). Thus, the two characters ended up with very different lives, in spite of very similar backgrounds and circumstances.

Moore raises a range of important issues, in particular, the role of upbringing in a persons life. As a matter of fact, the authors mother had a significant impact on his life, and her efforts to provide him with a decent education made an essential contribution in his development as a child and a teenager. Indeed, the authors mother sincerely believed in his potential, which eventually encouraged his academic progress, since supportive relationships are critical for the positive development of youth at risk (Johnston, & Onofre, 2017, p.130). Meanwhile, the Other Wess mother gave up and lost hope in her sons future. As a result, this attitude directly influenced his life because The expectations that others place on us form our expectations of ourselves (Moore, 2010, p. 126). Instead, Wess delinquent brother Tony served as a role model for him, and Wes wanted to be just like Tony. Tony wanted Wes to be nothing like him (Moore, 2010, p. 72). Thus, a persons family background and upbringing are essential vehicles in his/her life.

The effect of life choices is another significant aspect of the development of both characters. Hence, the author admitted that both Weses had encountered chances that could have drastically changed their lives: From everything you told me, both of us did some pretty wrong stuff when we were younger. And both of us had second chances (Moore, 2010, p. 66). At some point, the author managed to abandon the criminal path, whereas the Other Wes failed to escape it. Indeed, the two characters could have easily interchanged their life scenarios because The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his (Moore, 2010, p. 180). Hence, learning another persons history helped the author to comprehend his own life path as Learning the details of his story helped me understand my own life and choices& (Moore, 2010, p. xiii). In such a manner, the author emphasized that a persons destiny was basically a construct of his/her life choices.

Yet there are two deeper messages in The other Wes Moore. The first one is the authors appeal to parents, youth practitioners, and educators who have a paramount role in a persons development. The second one is the idea that each person bears responsibility for his/her life choices, and, therefore, it is necessary to carefully consider ones steps, since its hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances (Moore, 2010, p. 67). Hence, the author of The Other Wes Moore extensively contemplates the concept of identity by addressing the American society in general and each person in particular.

Thus, a persons identity in The other Wes Moore is the result of the collective influences from ones family and mentors, as well as ones own decisions. That is why the two Weses had such different lives in spite of their similar background and identical names. In other words, a persons upbringing and life choices eventually constitute his/her identity, which is a key message of Moores novel.

References

Johnston, G. D., & Onofre, A. L. (2017). Book review: The other Wes Moore: One name, two fates. National Youth-At-Risk Journal, 2(2), 128-131.

Moore, W. (2010). The other Wes Moore: One name, two fates. New York: Random House Publishing Group.

Plain talk about literacy and learning (2017). Metairie, LA: The Center for Development & Learning.

Strom, B. (2016). Using service learning to teach The other Wes Moore: The importance of teaching nonfiction as critical literacy. English Journal, 105(4), 37-42.

Introduction

The Other Wes Moore is a 248-book written by Wes Moore in 2010 and published by Spiegel and Grau. While in his final year at university and after being given a Rhodes Scholar award, Moore learns of another man with whom he shares a name from the newspapers (Moore, para. 1). The man is on his way to prison accused of murdering a police officer.

Moore learns that he shares a great deal with the suspect and not just a name: they are from the same neighborhood, were born almost in the same year, lost their fathers during their childhood and were raised by their mothers, however, their later lives differed immensely.

The Other Wes Moore looks at why the lives of the two men who shared a common background ended so differently. How did Wes Moore end up in the army, speak at the 2008 National Convention, and get employed by Condoleeza Rice while the other Wes Moore was serving time in prison. How did one man achieve so much in life while the other is simply known as the ‘Other’ Wes Moore?

Critical Review

Why the Immense Difference

At first glance, The Other Wes Moore looks interesting as the author discovers the odd coincidences between him and the man who is charged with shooting and killing a police officer. These coincidences make Wes Moore wonder how he had evaded the destiny of the other Wes Moore, even though their background was very identical. In a way, the author narrates an “It could have been me” situation.

This interesting introduction would have perhaps prepared the reader for an interesting read, however, Moore opts to examine his life in parallel with that of the other Wes Moore in an attempt to establish where, and most significantly, why, there lives ended up so differently. This comparison makes the book an important read as it brings up a very critical question: What makes many young men, especially black, poor young men from single parent families, take up drug trade as a source of livelihood while knowing the risk that comes with it.

Going through the pages, it is evident that Moore does not have an answer to that question, he writes, “What made the difference?…The truth is that I don’t know” (Moore, pp. 76). He can only point out to the similarity to the background of the two men, and leaves the final decision to the reader.

The Source of all the Differences

Although he does not categorically state it, it is evident from Moore’s account of the two lives that the main point of divergence between him and the second Moore is in the way they were brought up by their mothers, and their mother’s own lives. Moore’s mother was brought up by college-educated parents , and she worked hard to create her own success and that of her family.

She moved several times in the struggle to find suitable place where her children would grow up in some degree of comfort, and she worked in many jobs so that her children would have decent education. When she realizes that Moore is on the brink of joining the criminal lifestyle, she sacrifices emotionally and economically and enrolls him in a military school.

In short, she simply refused to yield to the harsh conditions that often encircled them. On the contrary, the second Wes Moore’s mother attempted to fight off the harsh conditions and temptations, but ultimately gave up the struggle. She often leaves Moore behind as she goes to night outs. She quits college after losing her scholarship. Differences at home are squared with beatings. Moore’s older brother gets into the drug business, and soon all three of them are in it: mother and her two sons.

A Similar Background?

Moore’s argument that he had a similar background with the other Moore is simply unbelievable, and is plainly evident from the first chapter, where we observe the cast differences between in their upbringing. It is easy to understand why the two lives ended up very differently- the Johns Hopkins graduate was born into a loving, closely-knit family with two college-educated parents.

Although his father dies while he was young, the family remained intact and he received immense emotional and financial support from a number of relatives. This is in deep contrast with the second Wes Moore, who is born to a single mother and whose father does not care of him at all.

The two Moores are simply worlds apart but the author does not acknowledge this, maybe he does not comprehend this. Although he admits that having an adult who is invested in your welfare is vital to a child’s healthy development, he does not relate this to his own upbringing and that the second Moore. He had a supportive mother uncle, grandfather and a strong-willed mother while the other Moore was left unattended by his mother from age 8 while his older brother engaged led a criminal lifestyle.

Biased Presentation

Coming to the end of the book, The Other Wes Moore looks more like a vanity project for the author. The segments on his own life receive more coverage at the expense of that of the second Moore. In the epilogue, Moore dedicates several pages just listing his achievements in life- these are not related to the main topic of the book (why the two men’s lives ended up so differently), neither are they evaluated in any way to increase the readers understanding of the book’s theme- it is simply a listing of the things he has done or accomplished.

The author writes that he “searched for ways to fill that hole, sometimes in places I shouldn’t have looked. I made some tremendous mistakes along the way” (Moore, pp. 168), however, the readers never gets to know of those mistakes while the second Moore’s mistakes are laid bare.

The book also seems to give the author a platform to prove his poor background. He seems frantic to attest to his poor and disadvantaged upbringing- that is contrasted by the fact that he and his brothers attended an expensive private school. This is misleading. His claim that they had run-ins with the law ignores the type and severity of the offenses: the author was scolded by a police officer for spraying a building while the second Moore was arrested for intimidating another child with a knife.

Conclusion

The Other Wes Moore exposes the effect of fatherlessness in the upbringing and fate of children. Both men lost their fathers and were brought up by their mothers in single families, this background greatly affected their future life: one ends up as a university graduate and a Rhodes Scholar while the second is charged with the murder of a policeman.

Although the author tries to argue that they had a similar background, this assertion is misleading: the two men’s early lives were worlds apart. The author also fails in his attempts to prove his poor and disadvantaged background, which is negated by several factors that he seems to ignore. Rather than give the topic a fair outlook, his writing appears biased, focusing on his own strengths and the second Moore’s weaknesses.

Works Cited

Moore, Wes. One Name, Two Fates. 2011. Web. Web.

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore. NY: Spiegel and Grau, 2010

Introduction

The story The Other Wes Moore: One Name ,Two Fates is one of the modern bestsellers and the most interesting stories. While reading the story we are following the life paths of two individual persons who seem to have only one thing in common: the name. However, later it becomes obvious that although their lives are different, there are a lot of parallels in their fates. The story is written by Wes Moore who tells us his real-life story of getting acquainted with a man with the same name.

The Analysis of the Plot

Wes Moore, the author of the story, met his hewing accidentally. However, this accident changed a lot in his life. First of all, it has made him think about his life encouraging him finding out which factors from his past have influenced his life path and have made him of who he is nowadays.

Wes Moore, his hewing, is the person who lived in the same neighborhood as the author of the story, he went the same school, and it can be said that he experienced all the life troubles on the path of the formation of his personality as the author did. However, some factors had played their roles making their fates so different.

The influence of parents was one of the factors. Although the author of the story experienced hard way of growing up living in Bronx, the inner intelligence of his mother helped him to choose the right path in life. He says that “when my mom first landed in the Bronx, she was just a small child, but she was a survivor and learned quickly” (Moore 8). His mother managed to become integrated into the lifestyle of Americans. Undoubtedly, her education and the way of children rising made a great contribution to the future destiny of her son.

The other Wes Moore did not have the support of relatives. He was actually on his own in the life battle. This made him embittered. However, not only social isolation and the lack of help were the roots of his misfortunes but also the absence of the guide for the right path in life.

The author summarizes the message of his book by the words of Samuel Beckett who said, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better” (Moore 185). These words represent the guide which the other Wes Moore did not obtain in his childhood and teenage. The author thinks that these words represent “the ebb and flow of life itself” (Moore 185). He says,

“Failing doesn’t make us a failure. But not trying to do better, to be better, does make us fools” (Moore 185).

In my opinion, the book should be read by teenagers because they are in the age when they have to choose the right path in life and make their choice consciously. As the resident of New York City, I know how different this city is and I can imagine how difficult it is to choose the right path and to become the architect of your own fortune when you live in the unfortunate neighborhood. The message which Wes Moore gives to us in his book represents the right model for life.

Conclusion

In summary, The Other Wes Moore: One Name ,Two Fates is a very interesting story which I will advice to read everyone. The plot of the book makes it clear how important the help of others is for our well-being and, what is more important, how important it is to be a strong-willed personality being able to overcome the life failures.

Works Cited

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name ,Two Fates, New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2010. Print.

A 2010 nonfiction bestseller The Other Wes Moore: One name, two fates, depicts the true story of two namesakes from Baltimore. The two main characters with identical names pursue very different life paths, which are significantly influenced by their background and upbringing. In such a manner, Wes Moore contends that “public servants – the teachers, mentors, and volunteers who work with our youth – are as imperative to our national standing and survival as are our armed forces” (Plain Talk about Literacy and Learning, 2017, p. 31). By comparing and contrasting their lives, the author addresses the issues of destiny, exploited opportunities, and life choices and thus provides a profound contemplation upon the concept of identity in American society.

The other Wes Moore chronicles the life stories of two African American boys – Wes Moore, The Author, and The Other Wes Moore. The author depicts their life scenarios, which have very much in common, “I was surprised to find just how much we did have in common, aside from our names, and how much our narratives intersected before they faithfully diverged” (Moore, 2010, p. xiii). Both characters “grew up not far from each other but whose path in life differed dramatically” (Strom, 2016, p. 37). Both of them faced racism at some points in their lives. Hence, this is a coming-of-age novel, featuring how these characters with similar backgrounds ended up with very different lives, “One of us is free and has experienced things that he never even to dream about as a kid. The other will spend every day until his death behind bars…” (Moore, 2010, p. xii). As a result, Wes Moore, The Author, is a successful author and a Rhodes Scholar, whereas the Other Wes Moore is a life-sentence prisoner.

The author’s father died as a very young man, and his mother worked hard to provide her son with education at a private school. However, the teenage author did not succeed at school. Instead, he kept company with street gangs and even got a warning from the police. The author’s mother realized that he had troubles at school and continued to communicate with drug dealers and thieves. He “had forgotten how to act naturally, thinking way too much in each situation and getting tangled in the contradictions between my two worlds” (Moore, 2010, p. 54). Therefore, she decided to send him to a military school. It was a difficult change in the author’s life since he had to get used to strict regulations and to live away from home. However, he gradually began to appreciate the benefits of this education and realized that: “the journey I took was never mine alone” (Moore, 2010, p. 171). In other words, he understood that military services provided him with support and reliable friends, and it eventually had a beneficial effect on his subsequent life. The protagonist continued to pursue a military career, having achieved considerable success in politics.

The Other Wes Moore was also raised in Baltimore by a single mother. His father had abandoned the family, and his half-brother Tony was involved in selling drugs. The Other Wes struggled to escape the criminal path. In fact, his brother Tony tried to persuade Wes that his criminal future was not predestined: “If you won’t listen, that’s on you. You have the potential to do so much more; go so much further” (Moore, 2010, p. 71-72). However, the Other Wes eventually received a life sentence for first-degree murder. In this context, the author asks a range of existential questions: “Who is to blame for this? Tony, the neighborhood, the school system, Wes’s friends?” (Moore, 2010, p. 75). Thus, the two characters ended up with very different lives, in spite of very similar backgrounds and circumstances.

Moore raises a range of important issues, in particular, the role of upbringing in a person’s life. As a matter of fact, the author’s mother had a significant impact on his life, and her efforts to provide him with a decent education made an essential contribution in his development as a child and a teenager. Indeed, the author’s mother sincerely believed in his potential, which eventually encouraged his academic progress, since “supportive relationships are critical for the positive development of youth at risk” (Johnston, & Onofre, 2017, p.130). Meanwhile, the Other Wes’s mother gave up and lost hope in her son’s future. As a result, this attitude directly influenced his life because “The expectations that others place on us form our expectations of ourselves” (Moore, 2010, p. 126). Instead, Wes’s delinquent brother Tony served as a role model for him, and “Wes wanted to be just like Tony. Tony wanted Wes to be nothing like him” (Moore, 2010, p. 72). Thus, a person’s family background and upbringing are essential vehicles in his/her life.

The effect of life choices is another significant aspect of the development of both characters. Hence, the author admitted that both Weses had encountered chances that could have drastically changed their lives: “From everything you told me, both of us did some pretty wrong stuff when we were younger. And both of us had second chances” (Moore, 2010, p. 66). At some point, the author managed to abandon the criminal path, whereas the Other Wes failed to escape it. Indeed, the two characters could have easily interchanged their life scenarios because “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” (Moore, 2010, p. 180). Hence, learning another person’s history helped the author to comprehend his own life path as “Learning the details of his story helped me understand my own life and choices…” (Moore, 2010, p. xiii). In such a manner, the author emphasized that a person’s destiny was basically a construct of his/her life choices.

Yet there are two deeper messages in The other Wes Moore. The first one is the author’s appeal to parents, youth practitioners, and educators who have a paramount role in a person’s development. The second one is the idea that each person bears responsibility for his/her life choices, and, therefore, it is necessary to carefully consider one’s steps, since “it’s hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances” (Moore, 2010, p. 67). Hence, the author of The Other Wes Moore extensively contemplates the concept of identity by addressing the American society in general and each person in particular.

Thus, a person’s identity in The other Wes Moore is the result of the collective influences from one’s family and mentors, as well as one’s own decisions. That is why the two Weses had such different lives in spite of their similar background and identical names. In other words, a person’s upbringing and life choices eventually constitute his/her identity, which is a key message of Moore’s novel.

References

Johnston, G. D., & Onofre, A. L. (2017). Book review: The other Wes Moore: One name, two fates. National Youth-At-Risk Journal, 2(2), 128-131.

Moore, W. (2010). The other Wes Moore: One name, two fates. New York: Random House Publishing Group.

Plain talk about literacy and learning (2017). Metairie, LA: The Center for Development & Learning.

Strom, B. (2016). Using service learning to teach The other Wes Moore: The importance of teaching nonfiction as critical literacy. English Journal, 105(4), 37-42.

Notably, 2Pac, in his song Changes, sings about the social status differences and demonstrates the suffering that poor African Americans are experiencing. He claims they have no way to a bright future and that their only destiny is to live in poverty. Moreover, even the police do not care about the fate of the impoverished stratum of society. The singer raises the severe topic of racism and proclaims that the country needs changes. The state should pay attention to ensuring equal rights for all members of society.

The song Changes by 2Pac goes well with the theme of the book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. The book traces themes as crucial as racism and social differences. Moreover, The Other Wes Moore is based on the true story of two men with the same name who lived just a few blocks from each other in Baltimore (Moore). Their fates were utterly different as one was successful, and the second experienced difficulties in life. The writer Moore graduated from Oxford with a Rhodes Fellowship, became an officer in the US Army and a White House Fellow to train with the president’s team, and is currently the director of Robin Hood, a central homeless aid fund. Nevertheless, his namesake, Wes Moore, is serving a life sentence for participating in a robbery in which an off-duty police officer was killed.

Thus, this is a story about how community support and intervention can play a critical role in the fate of a young person and an entire city. The comparison also illustrates how the future of a person can develop and change under different conditions. To conclude, the song by 2Pac and the book ask for a change to ensure equal opportunities for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, neighborhood, or socioeconomic status.

Work Cited

Moore, Wes, 1978-. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011.