The Other Wes Moore (Reading to Page 45) Due: Sunday, December 13th @8:00 p.m.
Please respond to all of the questions below. Responses should be at least one paragraph. Number your responses so that it is clear which question you are answering.
Due: Sunday, December 13th @8:00 p.m.1. What drove author Wes Moore to write to the prisoner Wes Moore? Why do you think prisoner Wes Moore wrote back to the author?
2. What was the fate of author Wes Moore’s father? Do you think his father might have survived under other circumstances?
3. Author Wes Moore states, “Soon it became clear that the Riots were about more than the tragic death of Dr. King. They were about anger and hurt so extreme that rational thought was thrown out the window – these were people so deranged by frustration that they were burning down their own neighborhood” (19). Does this “deranged frustration” make sense to you? Are there places in today’s America that feel like this?
4. Author Wes Moore talks about the Bronx in the 1980s and early 1990s as an apocalyptic place to be with drugs, burned out buildings, and crime everywhere. Are there still cities like this today? What causes cities to crumble like this? How does living in a neighborhood like this affect a person?
5. What was your first impression of author Wes Moore? What about your first impression of prisoner Wes Moore?
Response #1:
ReplyDeleteAuthor Wes Moore wrote to prison Wes Moore at first for a fairly simple reason. They both share the same name of Wes Moore, they grew up on the same street in the same city, and they both lost their fathers at a young age. Yet their lives are so very different. After thinking about this other Wes Moore and eventually writing to him, author Wes Moore becomes more intrigued at not only the similarities but the differences in their lives. Because of this, he writes to prisoner Wes Moore with this mind set that he wants to get to know prisoner Wes Moore’s story the best he can. I think that because he wrote to prisoner Wes Moore in this way he got a response. Because he wanted to know about prisoner Wes Moore and not talk about himself prisoner Wes Moore was more willing to communicate. I also think that prisoner Wes Moore was in jail for the rest of his life so the thought of having some communication with the outside world was probably exciting. Not that he was completely isolated from the outside world but to be able to have a conversation with someone was probably a nice change. He also probably did not have a lot of people who wanted to listen to his story which also could have driven him to respond.
Response #2:
Author Wes Moore’s father passed away a month before Wes Moore was turning four. He passed away from acute epiglottitis. This virus closes off the passageway to the lung so one can not breathe. It was curable at the time but the hospital had thought that he was faking it and was not truly in need of medical attention. So only a few hours after he was released from the hospital he died with his three children present, collapsed, gasping for breath at the bottom of their staircase. I believe that he could have survived if the hospital had not judged him when he came into the emergency room seeking help. It is not the hospital’s job to judge its patients it is their job to treat them. If the hospital had treated him immediately or keep him in the hospital until they figured out what was wrong maybe he would have made it through.
Response #3:
ReplyDeleteI have never heard it referred to as “Deranged frustration” but never the less it is the same idea. When one is so frustrated that they are angry, they can cross a line the becomes “deranged frustration”. This is when you are so frustrated or upset that you become violent. Maybe it is just yelling but maybe it is not maybe it is throwing things, smashing things, hurting things. I think that “deranged frustration” is something that everyone has felt at one point in their life. I think a smaller, mild example of this is often seen between siblings. One sibling annoyed the other until they get a reaction. The sibling reacting is at that stage of “deranged frustration” and will do something to retaliate maybe it is hitting the other sibling, maybe it’s breaking their toy. The point is that “deranged frustration” is something that everyone has felt but as you grow you are expected to be able to control the frustration. Not that there are not things like Dr. King’s death that have such an impact that you can not control it no matter how hard you try. I think that within the year we have seen a lot of “deranged frustration” from the black lives matter movement that turned to riots.
Response 4#:
I think some cities are still crime ridden as they were in the 80s and 90s. But being from rural Vermont it is hard to say. I haven’t really been to many places to be able to tell and I could not tell you what it was like to be in one of those cities in the 80s or 90s. Therefore, while it thinks that a lot of cities are safer than they were I think a lot of places are worse as well. I am not sure what causes a city to turn so violent but if I was to guess I would say it had something to do with money. Crime and drugs are often found together, and I have found that a lot of the stories you hear about drug dealers is that they needed the money and that it was their only way to survive. I think this is what breaks the city everyone’s trying to survive and it gets dangerous and bloody. I can only imagine what growing up in a place like that could do to a kid. I am sure it would have a huge impact on your life and more way than I can think of.
Response #5:
My first impression of the author Wes Moore was that he was educated and proud of it. One of the first things he says about himself in the book is that he “received one of the most prestigious awards for a student in the world”. This gave me the idea that he was smart. As we got a little further into the book I thought his childhood was kind of interesting and that the tragic death of his father was horrible to go through at such a young age.
My first impression of prisoner Wes Moore was a lot different than I had expected. When author Wes Moore received a letter from prisoner Wes Moore it was worded in a way that made me think that he was also somewhat educated, smart, but also that he had taken his time and truly thought out how we have going to respond to the author Wes Moore’s letter. Being that he was a prisoner I had not expected the thoughtfulness of it all and found it interesting.
Sorry for the inconvenience of two posts it would not allow me to post them as one.
DeleteResponse #1:
ReplyDeleteI think the Author Wes Moore wrote to the Prisoner Wes Moore because they both have the same name and because they lived on the same road growing up and they both just have a lot in common. Honestly it’s really interesting that they started writing and they found each other. It's just very crazy to me that they have so much in common with their dads and their home life. I really think that because they had so much in common that it was easy for the Author Wes Moore to understand the prisoner Wes Moores story.
Response #2:
Author Wes Moore’s father passed away a month before Wes Moore was turning four, He passed away from acute epiglottitis. Acute epiglottitis closes off the passageway to the lung so one can not breathe. He could have been cured but the doctors thought he was faking it. Sense the hospital didn’t believe him they realized him and only a few hours later he died in front of his family and it wasn’t pretty collapsed, gasping for breath at the bottom of their staircase. I do think that his death could have been avoided if the doctors did judge him by what he looked liked.
Response #3:
I have never heard “Deranged frustration” but I guess it’s the same idea. “Deranged frustration” This is when you are so frustrated or upset that you become violent. Maybe it is just yelling but maybe it’s throwing things, smashing things, hurting things. I think that “deranged frustration” is something that everyone could have felt in their life but on different scales. I know I have had “Deranged frustration” with a sibling and that could be from different things. One could be them pushing you down the stairs so you break your foot Specific I know, But there are smaller ones to taking something, telling your parents what you did like snitching, or even going in your room. There are way bigger things than those that don’t only affect you but the whole world Like Dr. King’s death almost everyone at that time felt “deranged frustration” which is understandable because Dr.King was making a real impact.
Response 4#:
I think some cities are still crime ridden like the 80s and 90s. But because I live in Vermont it is hard to think about. I don’t really travel much so I don’t really know what it’s like to be in one of those cities in the 80s or 90s or anytime.
I think that a lot of cities are safer than they were and I also think that there are just safer places to be. I want to say I don’t know why our country is in such a divide but I can’t because there are so many reasons why. It’s scary to not know why right now but I can’t believe what it could have been like then. Kids then are treated so much different now than then. In the 80’s and 90’s kids would have to play outside they would get cuts and bruises and it would be scary because you never know what else was going on and what could happen.
Response #5:
My first impression of Author Wes Moore was his strength. I think that because he went through a lot and it also takes a lot to go through things. Like school he was educated and he was proud of it. Which I think takes some strength because you have to want to learn or you are just going to fail.
My first impression of the Prisoner Wes Moore was a lot different than I expected. I think it might have been because I judged him because he was in prison. I don’t think that he’s a bad guy, I just think that he has been through so much. His dad died when he was young and I know that's not an excuse but I think it takes a toll on people especially at his age.
I like how you pointed out in Prompt 3 that this feeling of "Deranged frustration" can be felt on a small scale as well not just after the murder of such an important individual in american history. I also like how you talked about the strength that you felt from author Wes Moore in prompt five.-Finn
Delete1.I think one of the things that made author Wes Moore reach out to prisoner Wes Moore was the striking similarity's between their lives and the fact that they could have both been in the same situation had one of them made different choices. I think that Wes Moore (A) wanted to reach out to Wes Moore (P) because for him it almost felt like Wes (P) carried a part of him with him. He compares it to the opening line of John Edgar Wideman’s :Brothers and Keepers quoting the line “The distance I’d put between my brother’s world and mine
ReplyDeletesuddenly collapsed… Wherever he was, running for his life, he carried part of me with
him.” . I think that he was compelled by forces beyond him to write to this man and ask him about his life. I believe that Wes (P) wrote back because he was kind of shocked at the fact that someone he had never met and who he shared so many similarities with would write him. Someone who was so educated and so much different then he was still took interest in his affairs.
2. Wes Moore (A) had his father die when he was just a child. His father had been feeling ill for about half a day with a fever and a sore throat. When he returned home from work at around midnight he ate dinner and tried in vain to take a Tylenol to rid himself of the pain. It failed after the pill was lodged in his throat. At 7 the next morning he woke his wife and told her he was going to drive himself to the hospital. At the hospital the doctors chalked all his symptoms to minor things. To reduce the pain they anesthetized his throat. This only served to prevent him from feeling his throat swelling. He was eventually released at around five in the evening and told to get some rest. By six in the evening he was so dazed and out of it that while trying to walk down the stairs he fell and hurt himself badly. An ambulance was called but he died before they could reach the hospital. He ended up having been suffering from acute epiglottitis, a rare but treatable virus that causes the epiglottis to swell and cover the air passages to the lungs. I think that this could have been easily avoided if the doctors at the ER had been a bit more careful and had try to think more of diseases with these kind of symptoms and had taken a bit more care in their work.
3.This sort of deranged frustration makes perfect sense to me. They had been stewing in feelings of anger over many issues that were plaguing their homes, their neighborhoods and their city. The murder of the Martin Luther King .Jr was just what pushed them over the edge. And once the riots and looting started all these feelings of anger and helplessness spilled like blood into the city streets. I feel like there are still plenty of places like this in America today. There are none that immediately come to mind but this kind of frustration and anger is not a thing that was confined to any one incident or any one city.
4.I do believe that cities like this still exist today. This is the kind of place that on paper seems like it could not exist in our country but cities like Philadelphia and Atlanta have very violent inner city life. Drugs and crime exist in many neighborhoods and violent crime is an issue one may face everyday.I think cities like this crumble due to a large gang presence and drugs are a major issue. These kind of things often go hand in hand and can lead to the crumble of many cities. I think that living in a neighborhood like this would probably scar a child and might even cause them to start falling in with the wrong crowd. They could become addicted to drugs at a young age and could even be killed.
5.My first impression of the two Moores are the startling similarities. Both are almost the exact same age and grew up in the same neighborhood. Although they seem slightly different at first the similarities emerge quickly. With similar home lives and things such as this could have raised them to be almost identical. Both seem like good people however one was just led down the wrong path as a child.
-Finn Liland
Response 1:
ReplyDeleteIn 2000, the author Wes Moore read an article about the imprisoned Wes Moore. The article stuck with him and he couldn’t let go of the feeling that he and the other Wes Moore were connected somehow. In an attempt to resolve this internal tension, he decided to write a letter to the prisoner Wes Moore. I think that the other Wes Moore wrote back partially out of intrigue, like anybody might, but also out of gratitude. In his letter, he profusely thanks the author Wes Moore for sending in a letter, which makes me think he must really not have much connection to the world outside of prison. The knowledge that you’re going to spend the rest of your life imprisoned has to be bleak, and I think Wes Moore was just grateful that someone wanted to engage with him.
Response 2:
Wes Moore’s father died of suffocation due to a condition called acute epiglottitis. Though I don’t know a lot about medical issues like this, I do know that when epiglottis is diagnosed soon enough, most patients recover quickly and without much problems. This leads me to think that Wes Moore’s father would indeed have survived if his condition was diagnosed sooner. That’s not to say that anyone was to blame for his death, though. Under different circumstances, he might have survived, but he didn’t under these particular circumstances, which happens. You could say in the case of anybody dying that they would have survived if the circumstances were different, which is probably true. This is why I don’t think that, after a tragedy, we should spend time worrying what might have happened if things were different or if others had acted differently--it only leads to more grief and guilt. Since the circumstances can’t be changed after somebody has died, everyone in the situation is forced to accept that tragic things like this happen, and there’s unfortunately nothing that can be done.
Response 3:
This frustration does make sense to me, and I think that’s why protests can easily turn into riots--people get rightfully angry, and that anger can carry them away. Though I don’t know enough to say whether or not there are places in America that feel like this currently, I think this is a common occurence. A recent example of this would be earlier this year, with the George Floyd protests--though many were peaceful or organized, sometimes it devolved into rioting. This is understandable, because people were very angry and frustrated, which led them to taking out their anger in the form of riots.
Response 4:
Some cities like this definitely exist today, and I imagine growing up in a violent place where crime is common would affect someone greatly. It must be more common to lose family members--through drugs, violence, and other things--which can take a toll on one’s mental health. In some places, you also would grow up with a different mindset. It seems like you would constantly feel more in-danger than if you lived in a relatively crime-free place. You might also develop different sets of skills than someone growing up in a peaceful town. For instance, you would learn how to get by with less resources, and you would also have a strong sense of self-preservation, out of the need to keep yourself safe.
Response 5:
My first impression of the author Wes Moore from the introduction was that, as an adult, he seems like a rather anxious, introspective person, based on how he agonizes over the letter he sent. He was very worried about how the letter might have made him appear--self-indulgent, presumptuous, even insulting. Based off the letter that the prisoner Wes Moore sent back, he seems like a very polite, respectful person--greatly thanking the other Wes Moore for his letter, very responsive to the questions.
- Leo D.
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DeleteGood responses, Leo. I liked the connection you made to George Floyd. Well done.
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DeleteI enjoyed reading these responses they were all very detailed and insightful. I was especially intrigued by Leo's response to number one. I wrote something similar to him, and agree with his statements about prison Wess Moore's possible reasons to write back. As I read the book it is easy to forget that one of these boys eventually ends up in prison. It seems so far away at the point of the book. Because it spans over many years, each chapter only capturing one year of their lives, it is hard to think of the approaching fate of Wess. However, it is crucial to remember because the boys seem so similar as children. It is also interesting to factor into the thought process of why he might have replied to the Author Wess, like Leo did. I also thought Leo had some great thoughts on how author Wess took much care in how his initial letter would come across to the other Wess. Leo writes about how he was very careful of his language to be sure that he did not come across in a bad way, after all, it is an odd topic to put in a letter. This makes me think that after learning so much about the other’s life if prisoner Wess felt any sort of bitterness towards the author Wess. Obviously, he was responsible for his own actions and the author Wess had nothing to do with anything, but his life is a reminder that society does play a role. It is very big of him to compare experiences with author Wess. I know that if I was in his shoes all I would see him as is the symbol of the life I could have had, but never will. Perhaps by agreeing to be analyzed and published, he is using his experiences to fight back against the systems that oppressed him, which I think is quite brave.
Delete1.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason that the author Wes Moore decided to write to the prisoner Wes Moore was that they were so similar and yet so different. They grew up just a few blocks away from each other, both did not have their dads in the picture, and were the same age. However, even being this similar, they grew up to be completely different people. The author wanted to know more about the prisoner and decided to send a letter to him, not expecting him to write back. I think that the prisoner Wes Moore did decide to write back because he also wanted to know about the author, and how his life could have been different and would not have been in the situation he was in.
2.
The author’s father died of acute epiglottitis, which was a virus that causes the body to suffocate. He died when Wes was very young and he did not fully understand what had happened. The really hard part for his family was that the virus could have been cured and his father could have lived. Wes’s father did not feel well one day, and when brought to the hospital, his neck was anesthetized because of the pain he was in. This ended up to be a big mistake when later he collapsed and when brought to the hospital again, he was announced dead. I do think he could have survived under different circumstances because the first responders were not trained to recognize the symptoms. Wes’s mother did take the case to court and won, and with the money, she donated it to educate the first responders to know how to identify acute epiglottitis, so other families would not have to go through the same thing.
3.
The deranged frustration seems to be when people get so mad and frustrated that they do something reckless or violent to make a point. It seems like a very harsh way to describe it but I understand what it means. Although they were burning down their own homes and neighborhoods, I think that it made a point. People of color (POC) were not being treated right and after Martin Luther King Jr, it was the breaking point of what POC were going to put up with. Although they were destroying their homes and neighborhoods, it let people express how fed up and so angered they were. I definitely think that there are places that might feel like that today, after George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter Movement. There have been many protests and riots to express how POC are feeling.
4.
I do think that there are cities that do have drugs and violence today. However, I think there is less than when the Wes Moore’s were growing up. Major cities, like New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta still have drug activity and crime. Because I have grown up in a small town in Vermont, it can be sometimes hard to imagine seeing violence and drugs regularly and it can be a shock too. The reason these cities tend to fall apart or crumble is when there is a heavy drug presence and gangs that bring more violence to the area. I think that people who grow up in places like these tend to fall into the drug/gang crowd when they are older. Like for example, the prisoner Wes’s older brother, who was deep in selling drugs at age 14.
5.
My first impression of the author Wes Moore was that he seemed like a very intelligent, determined man. I think because he grew up in such a hardworking and loving family, it gave him the motivation to work hard for what he wanted. Wes seems to have accomplished a lot in his lifetime and glad for the opportunities that he was given. The prisoner Wes Moore seemed to have a hard life. Because he did not know his dad for a long time, his mother had a hard time trying to work to support him and his older brother, while also trying to graduate college to move out of their dangerous neighborhood. Wes seems to just have been brought up in the wrong place, especially since he later goes to jail.
Well done, Maddy. You clearly gave this some thought.
DeleteHi Maddy!
DeleteI love reading your responses and I agree with you in your responses completely.
For number one I completely agree with you on how they were similar but SO SO different.
For number two, your attention to detail and explaining is really important especially in this specific response because it is a really big part of the book.
Three I completely agree with you and this is really good.
Your point on number four is really good because you explain about the general area rather than people in the area, I think it is really well done that you said it like this because it is kind to talk about the situation rather than the people in it.
Yes! number 5 is so right I agree with you. Both boys at an early age learned to be independent and they both were very good at different things but they were also similar and they ended up on different life paths. You can clearly see that although they were in fact different when they meet they are alike, I think that both of them are really smart people but life hit them differently.
These are really good responses, thanks!
1: I think Wes Moore (the author) was driven to write to Wes Moore (the criminal) because he felt that there was some sort of connection between them. Not only do they have the same name, but they are the same age, they grew up in the same city, and they were both raised without a father. However, one grew up to have a prestigious education and receive the Rhodes Scholar award, while the other was charged with murder. I think the author was curious about how this could possibly be; two people who are incredibly similar on the surface ended up in completely different places. I can imagine that the prisoner Wes Moore felt the same way when the author reached out to him. Talking to someone who shares so many characteristics with him probably gave him a new perspective on his own life.
ReplyDelete2: One thing that stood out to me about the author Wes Moore’s father’s death was the description of how he was treated when he went to the hospital. He hadn’t been feeling well recently, so he wanted to get help. Only “His face was unshaven, his clothes disheveled, his name unfamiliar, his address not in an affluent area” (14-15), so the hospital shrugged off his complaints and assumed he was exaggerating about his symptoms. Later that day, he died. The virus that killed him, acute epiglottitis, was extremely rare, so the hospital hadn’t been trained to recognize the symptoms. If they knew more, he might have survived. But it seems like another contributing factor to their dismissal of Wes Moore’s father was the fact that they judged him unfairly by his appearance. This is yet another example of bias, since the hospital’s original view of this man caused them to treat him differently than they might have treated other patients.
3: I can definitely understand the idea of deranged frustration. It caused a lot of damage during the civil rights movement, but it is also extremely relatable now. This year, especially after the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, the US has been in outrage. The Black Lives Matter movement has taken off even more than in recent years. Ideally, fighting against police brutality should be done peacefully; a resistance rather than a battle. However, it comes to the point that fury overwhelms rational decisions, and I think that’s part of the reason why there have been so many riots in the past few months.
4: Living in a neighborhood filled with drug dealing and crime seems like it would have a very strong effect on people who live there. Being surrounded by such terrible things might make it hard to avoid becoming part of those things. There are lots of cities like this today. Typically, it’s not an entire city, but a part of a city (like the Bronx in NYC during the 80’s, or Cherry Hill and Murphy Homes in Baltimore). From reading this book, it seems like a big reason for this divide is leftover from segregation. There were neighborhoods designated for white people, and neighborhoods designated for POC. After the Civil Rights movement, the neighborhoods were no longer segregated, but the difference was still noticeable. The original areas for POC became home to drug dealing, poverty, and violence. This is a huge problem in the US during present times.
5: I had a very positive first impression of author Wes Moore. I was impressed not only by his academic achievements, but his open-mindedness and willingness to reach out to a criminal. That seems like it would take a lot of empathy to do. I was surprised to read about the prisoner Wes Moore in his childhood, because at this point in the book, he doesn’t seem like a criminal at all. I think his circumstances were the reason for his actions as an adult, rather than his personality. In a different time and place, he would be just like any other child.
You wrote: From reading this book, it seems like a big reason for this divide is leftover from segregation. There were neighborhoods designated for white people, and neighborhoods designated for POC.
DeleteThat's an excellent point. We are still dealing with the legacy of slavery and segregation.
Ceci, I really liked how you said that you thought that the prisoner Wes Moore would be just like any other child had he grown up differently. I think that’s a good example of how the places where we grow up and the time period when we grew up can really shape a lot of our lives. I also thought it was very interesting how you mentioned that reaching out to the prisoner Wes Moore probably took a lot of empathy from the author Wes. I was struck by the usage of the word empathy because of the ongoing discussion of empathy in the other English book, To Kill A Mockingbird. I think some similarities can be seen between the characters’ displays of empathy in To Kill A Mockingbird and the displays of empathy in this book, especially because of what you said about it taking empathy to reach out to a criminal. At the end of TKAM, it’s revealed that Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell to save Scout and Jem’s lives. Though it’s not usually technically a crime to kill in self-defense, it must have been similarly intimidating for Scout to show Boo Radley empathy, just like it likely was for the author Wes Moore. Even though the author Wes made the decision to correspond with the prisoner Wes, as far as he knew Wes was a convicted murderer. It must have been difficult to summon the courage to start up this letter-writing with him. For Scout, in TKAM, it also must have taken courage to empathize with Boo Radley’s situation as he had just killed somebody. Though the character’s situations in TKAM and The Other Wes Moore are obviously different, both Scout and the author Wes Moore show a lot of open-mindedness and empathy to two people who have both killed someone.
Delete- Leo D.
Good connection about empathy, Leo.
DeleteAden Perry
ReplyDeleteMr. Joseph Deffner
English 9 Honours
13 December 2020
English 9 Honours Response 1 of Wes Moore
Prompt 1:
The author Wes Moore was struck by the similarities between himself and the prisoner, and was considering how easily they’re roles could have been reversed. He was sometimes kept up at night imagining himself in prisoner Moore’s situation. The prisoner was facing a life in jail, and he probably wanted someone to talk to and share his story with.
Prompt 2:
The father of author Wes Moore died from epiglottitis, which is a disease that causes something in the throat to swell, blocking food and air from going through the esophagus and trachea. His death was definitely avoidable, but the doctors made a rather large mistake that cost him his life.
Prompt 3:
I would say that many of the riots we’ve had recently were examples of people being deranged by frustration, and they happened for a similar reason. When George Floyd was killed, along with all those other people, people got very angry that no one cared about such blatant racism. It effectively caused the same thing as the assassination of Doctor King.
Prompt 4:
Having constant exposure to any environment tends to force a person to acclimate. Growing up in a neighborhood full of crime will, at the very least, grant a new perspective on morals. It would very likely for a person to become considerably more accepting of crime, which is good for the criminals but bad for the law.
Prompt 5:
Both of them seem like generally nice people, and both were severely affected from the lack of a father at home. They also both seem pretty smart.
I especially like your response to prompt 3, Aden.
DeleteThat's very thoughtfully done.
Hey there Aden!
DeleteI love reading your responses and I loved how you were detailed but straight to the point at the same time. For your prompt number one, I love how you mention the way how he was "Struck by their similarities" which is exactly what I thought too, their life was very different but even though they just have the same name they share other very close similarities which is very cool. For your prompt two, it was very well explained and if I had not read that part and I needed a summary I would completely understand and it was not confusing at all. I think for a lot of people it is hard for them to sum up everything that happened and why with the perfect amount of detail which this was so very well done on that one. For number three, your close connection with the riots that happened in 2020, and with the relation to deranged frustration are very good, it makes it relatable to current time which is really good. For prompt four, I personally had quite a hard time thinking of how to make this in a well said manner, which you managed to accomplish really well. I said this on Maddy's too, I like how you talk about the way the city is and not shading on the people who live there or the people who do get themselves in a drug abuse situation, this is really kind and thoughtful which is really great. For five, you said it really well, they are similar but different and that is that, but they ended up becoming close through both of those things.
This is really good Aden! As I mentioned before you did really well with proving your point, and giving a great amount of detail. Thanks!
1. I think Wes Moore wrote to the prisoner out of curiosity. Their situations were so oddly similar that he couldn’t wait any more to contact him. If I found out about someone who shared my name and grew up right near me, I would be curious as well and would probably want to reach out to them. But the two Wes Moores had even more similarities than that, so I’m sure that made the author’s curiosity even more intense. The prisoner was probably surprised about their similarities as well, and that compelled him to write back. He might have also been bored in his jail cell, and once he got this exciting letter he had nothing else to do but respond.
ReplyDelete2. Author Wes Moore’s father died because the virus acute epiglottitis caused his throat to swell and stopped him from breathing. The staff at the hospital he went to did not have the proper training to deal with these types of respiratory issues, and they misdiagnosed him. I definitely think his father would have survived under other circumstances. The author says that the virus is treatable, and I believe that maybe another hospital somewhere else would have been able to help him. The hospital he went to also made a lot of assumptions about Wes Moore’s father. They judged him because of his looks and the part of town where he lived. They accused him of faking his illness, and Wes Moore’s father didn’t get the correct treatment. I think he would have definitely survived at a different hospital or with doctors and nurses who were less judgmental as well.
3. I definitely understand what this “deranged frustration” is. These people in the Bronx had seen all sorts of terrible things happening where they lived, and when Martin Luther King died, I think they got fed up with everything that had been going on and they had had enough. There are places in America now where similar things are happening. There were many protests that were happening for the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer that were sparked from the same sort of “we are fed up with this” feeling as in the Bronx. More recently, there have been some protests because of the election results. People are sort of destroying their own towns and cities with these election protests, just like people were doing in the Bronx then.
4. I think there are definitely cities today that are crumbling like the Bronx was in the 80s. Cities that are in the midst of wars are definitely shells of themselves. I’m sure it’s hard for the people living there to see their once beautiful city turn into a war-torn version of itself, just like it was hard for the people in the Bronx to see their borough turn into a crime-filled, not-so-nice place. War isn’t the only thing that can turn cities into alarming places though. Gangs and drugs can have huge effects on a place. They can both lead to crime, and all of these things can push wealthier families out. The cost to live there then goes down, and the city gets poorer and the conditions worsen over time, which I think is how cities turn into “apocalyptic” places.
5. My first impression of author Wes Moore was that he seemed like a regular kid. He was just play-fighting with his sister and hiding from his parents in his room. Then he moved to the Bronx and wanted to fit in with the other kids there. So far he doesn’t seem like someone who’s going to grow up to be super successful or someone who will grow up to be unsuccessful for that matter. He just seems like an average kid to me. My first impression of prisoner Wes Moore was that he seemed like a really sweet kid. He goes to check on his mom and make sure she’s okay and it seems like he cares about his family and friends a lot. That being said, he was also pretty violent after the boy he was playing football with punched him. He doesn’t necessarily seem like a criminal though, just that he was taught to fight, which he was by Tony. I guess this goes to show that you can’t really tell what someone will be like as an adult based on what they were like as a child; they can always change and surprise you, whether that's in a good or bad way.
1. In the introduction, Author Wes expresses that he did not truly know why he got so caught in thinking about the other Wes Moore after seeing an article about him in the newspaper. The fact that they have the same name was what initially drew his interest but when Moore writes “I was struck by the superficial similarities between us...” the reader knows that his wonderings go much deeper (xii). As for why the other Wes wrote back, I do not know. Perhaps for the same reasons he was reached out to in the first place, or maybe he was just looking for a pen pal.
ReplyDelete2. Author Wes Moore’s father contracted Acute epiglottitis, a treatable virus, but because the doctors only viewed him as a poor black man, he was not taken seriously when he visited the hospital originally, and died because of it. Author Wes Moore would likely have grown up with a father if not for that hospital's systemic racism. This is not the only time in the early chapters of the book this happens either. Alma, non-author Wes Moor’s grandmother, died from kidney failure. It was not completely clear what happened to her but she had doubts before her surgery and told her mother that her doctors had “never really given me good treatment” and that she was not sure she wanted to go through with her operation (21). Although this was in the 70s, these are still very apparent issues in today’s America as well.
3. I cannot begin to comprehend the amount of anger felt by people who have experienced this kind of oppression, but it does make sense to me. Especially now, I think more people in this country than in a long time have felt this rage and it has been seen in the past year. However, now I think people are putting their anger into productive causes like protests and initiatives for the BLM movement, and the fight to keep the democracy of the US true. However some of the rioting described in the book is still seen today. This is not to say that in the time Moore is describing important stands are not being taken against systemic injustices, they certainly were.
4.I do not have extensive knowledge on the topic, but I do know that there are still many cities in the US like this today. Once a place becomes subject to drugs, crime, and poverty-- three things that are related-- it is hard for a community to come back from economically because it depends on the industries that make the community suffer so much. Living in a place like this may put a young person at a disadvantage because of the lack of good public education and opportunities.
5. I do not have very big first impressions of the two men so far. I have enjoyed the book and look forward to learning more about the lives of both Wes Moores. The interesting thing about this book is that it is about real lives and the things that those lives represent. Because of that, it is more powerful than books we have read in class before.
Excellent point about systemic racism, Mary. I also like the connections you made to BLM.
DeleteWell done.
Question #1
ReplyDeleteWes Moore saw a news article about the other Wes Moore and the robbery of a jewelry store. He thought about it and saw all the similarities. He tried to forget it but he couldn't. It's all he could think about for months. Wes Moore finally decided to reach out to the other Wes Moore, what harm could it do. I think the other Wes Moore who went to prison answered because was intrigued. Someone with the same name as him. He mailed him a letter to his prison. I would be curious, I’m sure he was curious as to why the author Wes Moore was writing to him and what his movies were.
Question #2
We find out early in the book that the author Wes Moore’s father died early in his life. Wes Moore only remembers very few memories with him. His father was in the hospital less than twenty-four hours before his death. The hospital told him that all he needed was a good night’s rest. Come to find out the father had a virus that was treatable but the doctors didn’t do anything about it when they were in earlier, he was taken from their home and died before they made it to the hospital. Wes Moores’s father maybe would have survived if he was a different race, maybe the doctors would have run all the possible tests to get the real illness.
Question #3
I understand the frustration, It wasn't only Martin Luther King himself in dying but what he represented dying that caused all the riots. Martin Luther King stood up for civil rights for black and for peace and when Martin was killed it was like a direct move against that. Riots in America happen for the same reason still today. When George Floyd was killed it was about him but also what he stood for. Riots all across America have happened because people were angry and wanted justice for negative and wrongful actions.
Question #4
In the Bronx, in the 1980 and 1990's drugs, crime and wrongful doings were more common than in other areas. I’m sure now there are still many cities and towns like this, but maybe less common because of its illegal usage. Cities that were like the Bronx filled with drugs, crime, and bad behavior crumbled because if everyone is hooked on drugs that any income is being made is going into drugs instead of important bills. If you do have a business, crime and being broken into is very likely to happen. Having to pay for those damaged or stolen items cost is not easy in a low-income household.
Question #5
My first impression of both Wes’s was that they both didn’t have easy childhoods. Both of their dads weren’t in the picture either because they couldn’t be or didn’t want to be in their life. Their stories easily could have been each other and could have had different fates. They were both smart boys. My first impression of Wes Moore the author was that he was smart and he had a good heart. My first impression with Prison Wes Moore is that he was a good guy just in a bad situation.
~Mary Veracka
I like your response to Question #2. The systemic racism around medical care was clearly an issue in terms of his father's survival.
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ReplyDelete1) I would guess that the author Wes Moore wrote out of curiosity. The fact that they were both so similar would be more than enough to get me to write to him. I would understand if he thought that he and the other Wes Moore would need to be connected in some way. All this is what I imagined prompted him to write. I would also assume that if I was in prison I would just respond to anyone from the outside world, longing for freedom and liberty.
(2) Author Wes Moor’s father died from a medical condition. He suffocated from a condition that should have been easily survivable and curable. He shouldn't have died and in the book it says because of his name and appearance and where he was from the doctors didn't take his ailment seriously and denied him proper care. He was discriminated against and died wrongly at the hands of the doctors.
(3) It is of course hard for me to fully understand this. I do understand however in the example given how if a symbol of hope and justice such as MLK is killed the frustration caused by that could lead some people to hysterical behavior. I don't know enough to make a factual statement about the last part of this question but I would assume there are. I know there are still housing projects looked away from by the government and officials who are supposed to help. This I could see could cause some great frustration maybe not on the same level but definitely to some extent.
(4) I think there are still places like this. Cities like Cleveland, Detroit and others are infamous for being dangerous and crumbling. I would say a few things cause cities like this to crumble. One of these is an economic crash on the local level. For example Detroit was once booming with an industry rich vibrant culture and a truly great thriving american city. Things changed and when the industry left no money was incoming and everything went downhill. Without money from a local industry schools fall hospitals fall and people fall. Living in a neighborhood changes how people think. People grow up pessimistic and cynical. It hurts people to grow up like this and can damage their families and chances of success.
(5) My first impression of author Wes Moore was that he is a fighter. He grew up in terrible circumstances but he fought. He fought for his education and had in him a limitless ambition and drive. I think that his circumstances growing up caused him this ambition and witnessing the terrors of such places made him fight hard to break out. My first impressions of prisoner Wes Moore was that he is largely a victim of conditions out of his control. He ends up in jail perhaps because he was unlucky and wasn't able to break free of the system like author Wes Moore.
1. Wes (author Wes) saw an article about a robbery and it had his exact name in it. Wes felt a connection to Wes for some reason, and he wanted to know his story. Because they had the same name, I think it did really compel the author to write to him and ask him questions. The questions are about him, his life, and how he got here.
ReplyDelete2. Wes’s Father died from a condition where his body suffocated itself. Wes was really close to his father and when he slowed down, Wes and their family got worried. When they went to the hospital, the doctors just told him to go home and rest. This ended up being a bad diagnosis for what to do, and later that day he died. Because the doctors did not see this, he died. If he had been treated properly he would have lived. When they went to the hospital, he was already gone because the paramedics did not know what to do.
3. I think that a lot of the time, people do things out of anger, and when they do it can turn pretty violent or bad. People who were grieving King’s death so much, did not know what to do other than to fight back for him. This today closely relates to riots and other members who will and did change racism forever. People who are angry fight back for the people or person who cannot. Yes, this does relate, and today is a version of the way the 1900’s racism was.
4. A lot of times when a city goes from being fine, to filled with different types of violence, from drug to gang, to any, it can come from the overload of the bad people which drives the good people out. He mentions that the cities felt abandoned and that there was a lot of bad feeling when he moved to NY. I think that living in an environment like that is not chosen for some people, and it does not always lead to getting into trouble but sometimes can become dangerous to people who live in a city or place with violence.
5. I feel as though I was more into learning about the story of prisoner Wes, learning about his story I could learn about him becoming his definition of him becoming the man of the house at such a young age, and having a close relationship with his mom because of his dad never being there. Prisoner Wes’s story kept me on my toes, whereas Author Wes, made me sad, and wondered about the life of living with the loss of a parent, which I think for a lot of kids, is really hard to imagine. Prisoner Wes’s independence came at birth, whereas Author Wes’s came slower over time.
Your response to #5 was very interesting. The point you made about author Moore losing his father is a good one.
Delete1. Author Wes Moore wrote to prisoner Wes Moore because of their shared name and because of their similarities. He wrote because of the coincidence that they lived just a street apart from each other when they were both growing up. It was important to the author that he recognized he could have ended up with the prisoner’s fate and the prisoner Wes Moore’s fate could have been the author’s. The prisoner Wes Moore wrote back because he was intrigued. He was intrigued by the idea that his name was not only responsible for his fate but also another’s own fate.
ReplyDelete2. The author Wes Moore’s father died of a rare virus, acute epiglottitis, which causes the body to suffocate. Before the author’s father died, he had been experiencing pain throughout his body and was brought to the hospital where they anesthetized his neck. When he returned home, he later collapsed and was returned to the hospital where he then passed away. I don’t think Wes’s father would have survived even under different circumstances. The first responders were not prepared or trained to recognize the symptoms of the author’s father.
3. Deranged Frustration does make sense to me. It means to be so frustrated that you go over the limit and do something catastrophic and reckless to make a point. After Martin Luther King’s death people were so angry and upset that they wanted to do something extremely bold and violent to show their pain. We saw events like this happen after George Floyd’s death. We didn't see entire neighborhoods burned but we saw statues torn down and stores and cars burned.
4. I feel like living in a city or a neighborhood with violence would have a negative effect on someone. When living in a crime watched neighborhood, it would be difficult to avoid interactions with crimes and challenging to avoid being a part of them. From reading this book, it seems like a lot of the separation between neighborhoods is leftover from segregation. There are still a lot of cities like this today. Neighborhoods with violence and drug problems are still an issue in present-day and harm and negatively affect a lot of young people who might have been able to escape.
5. My first impression of the book was positive. I thought it was very interesting how the author switches back and forth from the author’s childhood to the prisoner’s childhood. The Author and prisoner Wes Moore have very similar childhoods. Both without a father figure and their mother and family members for everything. The two boys lived in the same environment, just a street apart with only one income parent. The author Wes Moores is very accomplished and was given many opportunities that the prisoner was not. The prisoner Wes Moore did not seem like he would get involved with crime because at a young age he saw how it affected people and was always told to stay away from it by his older brother. Wes seems to have been raised in the wrong place and without a father figure who wanted him, it must have been challenging for him to find a new place.
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ReplyDeleteThe author Wes Moore was driven to write to the prisoner Wes Moore because of all the questions and wonderings he had that made him unable to focus. A. Wes Moore was “struck by the superficial similarities between [them]...[they had] grown up at the same time, on the same streets, with the same name” (xii). I think P. Wes Moore wrote back to the author because he was also surprised by their similarities.
ReplyDeleteThe father of the author Wes Moore died. I believe that his father may have lived under different circumstances. The doctors at the hospital did not seem that focused on his father and they did not give him that much thought. But there are a bunch of other factors that play into this. Maybe he should have gone to the hospital sooner, or maybe he should not have walked down those stairs at the time. There are a lot of what if’s that could have had alternate endings.
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The frustration makes a lot of sense to me. Dr. King was an extremely important human rights activist who made a lot of change. So when he was killed, many people became outraged, and rightly so. One of the fathers of the civil rights movement was killed and the people had enough of black leaders being killed.
There are still many cities like that today. I believe the main reason that cities “crumble” like that is because of funding and money. Neighborhoods that have a predominantly black population are severely underfunded while in neighborhoods with a high white population are funded perfectly fine. I think this can greatly affect a person. Author We Moore had to learn the rules at his grandparents’ house and he very easily made friends with a few boys. I think these neighborhoods affect a person’s sense of obedience and trust.
My first impression of the author Wes Moore is that he is very friendly and open. He is a family person and loves to connect with others (like how he connected with prisoner Wes Moore). My first impression of the prisoner Wes Moore is a bit different though. I think he is a family person as well, but he is also very defensive and protective. He also has a lot of pride for the things he does. Something they both have in common is they want to be the “man of the house”.
- Saylor Billiau
Well done, Saylor. In regards to prompt 2, do you think one of the other factors you mentioned could have been race? Anyhow, good work.
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