The Other Wes Moore Analysis

“The Other Wes Moore,” by Wes Moore is a memoir written to showcase how one choice can affect everything. This story follows two boys both growing up in Baltimore in similar households, and shows how one became a scholar/military figure and the other became a convicted murderer. Although some people may think otherwise, the author uses juxtaposition to convey the purpose of the book, which is to try to encourage people to make good decisions and that one choice can affect everything. One way the author shows the purpose is by looking at their different decision-making skills. In addition, the author’s decision-making skills tend to be more advanced, despite being two years younger than the other Wes. “But I had to let this one go. I had to look at the bigger picture. My assailant was unknown, unnamed, and in a car. This was not a fair fight, and the best case scenario was …show more content…
The Wes that ended up in jail was raised by his single mother, who worked long hours, and he also had an older brother named Tony, who was in the drug game. Wes often got into trouble with the neighborhood kids, and he also didn’t have a support system. He got two (if not more) girls pregnant and also ran into a lot of trouble with the law. The author also got in trouble with the law, though his mother didn’t like that, so she shipped him off to military school. He eventually learned respect, and to pick and choose his battles. His family consisted of his mother, his grandparents, one older sister, and one younger sister; his father died when he was about three years old. Unlike the other Wes, the author did have a support system, and military school is pretty strict and rigorous, so it knocked some sense into him. Anyway, these passages represent decision-making close to the time when the book ends. It possibly might have been the other Wes’ upbringing and life events that sent him spiraling to