Discussion Think about the second chances given to both Wes Moores. Why did the author become a Rhodes Scholar while the other Wes Moore has a life sentence in prison?
A person could have all the chances in the world to make their life better; however, those chances will always go to waste if they don’t do anything to change their behavior. The novel, The Other Wes Moore, is about two boys with the same name and same beginning, but very different outcomes. While both lived in poverty-ridden areas with many bad influences, their paths seem to separate when the author’s mother sends him to military school. At military school, he realizes that there’s so much more to life than the misconduct of the people in his hometown. He found role models that showed him he could become a better person, so he did. The other wes, however, never found a positive role model and as surrounded by negative influences all his life. Even when he went to Job Corps in hopes in making a difference in his life, he returned home only to find out that nothing’s really changed. This realization caused him to go back to his old ways and he ended up being sent to jail for the rest of his life. While the author visited the other Wes in prison, the other Wes states, “But if the situation or the context where you make the decisions don’t change, then second chances don’t mean too much, huh?” (Moore 66) This quote explains the difference between the author Wes’ and the other Wes’ situations. By being sent to military school, the environment in which he made his decisions change, causing him to make use of these second chances. On the contrary, the other Wes’ efforts to change his life failed when he returned to his hometown allowing the old problems to get to his head and cause him to make his old mistakes all over again. All in all, the value of second chances are nil if one does not completely escape what caused the mistake in the first place. Discussion In The Glass Castle and The Other Wes Moore, Jeannette and the two Wes Moores lived in crime-infested areas early on in their life. How does the town/city they live in affect the outcome of their lives? Living in a neighborhood full of bad influences can only negatively impact a person if they allow it to. In The Glass Castle, when Jeannette and her family first moved to Welch, a poverty-stricken town in West Virginia, the frequency of crimes and violence breaking out around her made her doubt how successful she would become in the future. It wasn’t until her sister Lori came back from summer camp where she finds out about the opportunities in New …show more content…
Which of the two Wes Moores were more affected by his father’s absence? Why did it have a greater effect on that …show more content…
Two of the characters who were massively influenced by this are the other Wes and Rex Walls. In The Other Wes Moore, Wes is surrounded by many substance abusers, including his alcoholic father and drug-dealing brother. Although Wes also follows in his brother’s footsteps of selling drugs, he makes an attempt to escape these influences by going to Job Corps. Sadly, when he returns and sees that the drug dealers are still in the same spot waiting for him, it causes him to become discouraged by the lack of improvement in his home town. This is the point in the novel where Wes completely loses hope for a better life and murders a police officer, ending up in prison for life. Furthermore, in The Glass Castle, Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, struggled with alcoholism. His drinking addiction often caused problems within his family and his ability to provide for his children was questionable at times throughout the novel. When Jeannette asked him to stop drinking for her 10th birthday, he tried to quit but quickly fell off the wagon. After one of Rex’s drunk temper-tantrums, Jeannette states, “But when Dad got up, he’d act as if all the wreckage didn’t exist, and no one discussed it with him. The rest of us had to get used to stepping over broken furniture and shattered glass” (Walls 112-113). From this
A person could have all the chances in the world to make their life better; however, those chances will always go to waste if they don’t do anything to change their behavior. The novel, The Other Wes Moore, is about two boys with the same name and same beginning, but very different outcomes. While both lived in poverty-ridden areas with many bad influences, their paths seem to separate when the author’s mother sends him to military school. At military school, he realizes that there’s so much more to life than the misconduct of the people in his hometown. He found role models that showed him he could become a better person, so he did. The other wes, however, never found a positive role model and as surrounded by negative influences all his life. Even when he went to Job Corps in hopes in making a difference in his life, he returned home only to find out that nothing’s really changed. This realization caused him to go back to his old ways and he ended up being sent to jail for the rest of his life. While the author visited the other Wes in prison, the other Wes states, “But if the situation or the context where you make the decisions don’t change, then second chances don’t mean too much, huh?” (Moore 66) This quote explains the difference between the author Wes’ and the other Wes’ situations. By being sent to military school, the environment in which he made his decisions change, causing him to make use of these second chances. On the contrary, the other Wes’ efforts to change his life failed when he returned to his hometown allowing the old problems to get to his head and cause him to make his old mistakes all over again. All in all, the value of second chances are nil if one does not completely escape what caused the mistake in the first place. Discussion In The Glass Castle and The Other Wes Moore, Jeannette and the two Wes Moores lived in crime-infested areas early on in their life. How does the town/city they live in affect the outcome of their lives? Living in a neighborhood full of bad influences can only negatively impact a person if they allow it to. In The Glass Castle, when Jeannette and her family first moved to Welch, a poverty-stricken town in West Virginia, the frequency of crimes and violence breaking out around her made her doubt how successful she would become in the future. It wasn’t until her sister Lori came back from summer camp where she finds out about the opportunities in New …show more content…
Which of the two Wes Moores were more affected by his father’s absence? Why did it have a greater effect on that …show more content…
Two of the characters who were massively influenced by this are the other Wes and Rex Walls. In The Other Wes Moore, Wes is surrounded by many substance abusers, including his alcoholic father and drug-dealing brother. Although Wes also follows in his brother’s footsteps of selling drugs, he makes an attempt to escape these influences by going to Job Corps. Sadly, when he returns and sees that the drug dealers are still in the same spot waiting for him, it causes him to become discouraged by the lack of improvement in his home town. This is the point in the novel where Wes completely loses hope for a better life and murders a police officer, ending up in prison for life. Furthermore, in The Glass Castle, Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, struggled with alcoholism. His drinking addiction often caused problems within his family and his ability to provide for his children was questionable at times throughout the novel. When Jeannette asked him to stop drinking for her 10th birthday, he tried to quit but quickly fell off the wagon. After one of Rex’s drunk temper-tantrums, Jeannette states, “But when Dad got up, he’d act as if all the wreckage didn’t exist, and no one discussed it with him. The rest of us had to get used to stepping over broken furniture and shattered glass” (Walls 112-113). From this