The Other Wes Moore

The book, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is a nonfiction history of two young men with the same name. Both of them lived in the United States, in the same town, and in the same neighborhood, but one of them made poor decisions, and they ended up in drastically different circumstances. Both young men were born in Baltimore, Maryland, with just a year of difference. There were a lot of alcoholics, drug dealers, and low social class people in Baltimore during the mid-1970s. At the end of the book, the author Wes Moore said, “The truth is that his story could have been mine; the tragedy is that my story could have been his” (180). In other words, Wes I, the author of the book, was comparing his story and his fate with the other Wes Moore. But …show more content…
Even though Wes I’s dad died from acute epiglottitis when Wes I was three years old, for Wes I his father Westley was his protector. Wes I’s friends make some impact on him. For example, Shea was a bad influence on Wes I because he was involved in drugs. As a result, Wes I and Shea were arrested once, but they didn’t have to go to jail. Not all Wes I’s friends were bad at all; he made good friends too during his childhood. Paris was one of them. They used to play basketball in the neighborhood, which in my opinion, kept both of them out of the drugs. Colonel Batt, the head of Valley Forge, Mayor Schmoke, a major of Baltimore, and Ty Hill, a mentor, played an important role on Wes I’s life because they helped him to get an education, made wise decisions, and convinced Wes I to apply for the Rhodes scholarship. The biggest influence that Wes I had was his mom. Joy was Wes I’s mom. Joy was a single mom that lived on her parents’ house with three children; she had multiple jobs to keep his family through the right path especially Wes I. As a matter of fact, she sent Wes to a military school because Wes I went through the wrong …show more content…
Wes I knew exactly when it was time to change his life while Wes II never thought of thinking in a long term about his life. Because Wes II thought that short-terms were always smarter, when he thought of a long-term about his future it was kind of late. As matter of fact, Wes I confirmed that Wes II, “has spent every day of his life since 2000 in the Jessup Correctional Institution, a maximum-security facility in Maryland” (173). More noticeable, Wes II participated with Tony and two more people on a store robbery where a security guard was killed by Tony; that was the first time that Wes II thought about his future when he was in