The Other Wes Moore Final Post (Please respond by Monday night, January 18th, at 8:00 p.m.)
1. Finish reading the book.
2. Please respond to the book in at least 300 words. You can respond any way you like, but you might consider the question below. What made the author Wes Moore traditionally more successful than the other Wes Moore?
In your response, consider the many influences on each Wes Moore’s life (such as family, friends, education, the neighborhood, and environment). Consider, too, each man’s personality and actions.
I think the reason that author Wes Moore is more successful than prisoner Wes Moore is because of the influence of a combination of their family, friends, education, neighborhood, and their environment. All of these are in a way tied to each other. Someone’s family affects their environment as well as their friends, education, and neighborhood. The people you choose to be around make up your environment. Of course, it is not always by choice that we are around certain people.
ReplyDeleteTheir families obviously had something to do with their successes. For example, because prisoner Wes Moore’s brother was already in the world of drugs it brought him closer to that world. In a place where drugs already seem like the easy way out having someone that you are close to in that world is even more tempting. However, author Wes Moore’s family was not as close to the drug world as prisoner Wes Moore was and when they felt they were getting too close they sent him to another school. While prisoner Wes Moore’s family did not have this option his brother still tried to turn him right but it was not enough.
The people that the Wes Moores choose to hang out with will definitely have an impact on how they behave. As successful as author Wes Moore was you can not forget that he chose to hang out with the wrong crowd and was headed down the same path as prisoner Wes Moore until his family told him it was enough and sent him to military school. As crazy as it sounds when your younger the way you behave has an impact on who you become as an adult. If author Wes Moore had continued down that path of bad behavior and delinquency he probably would have had the same or similar fate to prisoner Wes Moore.
As far as education goes that has a huge impact on who you hang out with. If you go to a lower class school in the city where drug and crime rates are high you are likely going to have at least one friend that is already in a bad way, and many more that will be. And as I explained before the people you hang out with affect your behavior and your behavior affects who you become. Your neighborhood is kind of the same as who you hang out with and who you go to school with because most of your neighborhood will go to the same school. A better education can also have an impact on your life because the better education you get the more opportunities open to you.
All of these things your friends, your family, your education, and your neighborhood all go into your environment. All of these things affect who you are and who you become. While I agree with what author Wes Moore wrote at the end of the book “it’s up to us, all of us, to make a way for them” (180) I think that it is also up to us to determine our own future. You can choose to fall into a bad crowd. Maybe you go to a school that has a lot of drugs going around but you can choose to stay out of it. Is it easier? No, not at the moment but later in life yes it is easier, much easier. You have to choose how you want to live your life and want you want to achieve and it is not always easy.
Aden Perry
ReplyDeleteMr. Joseph Deffner
English 9 Honors
16 January 2021
OWM Final
Author Wes Moore of The Other Wes Moore was considerably more successful than prisoner Moore for a number of reasons. He came from a family that had a little more money, and none of them had anything to do with drugs or were even on the wrong side of the law. Growing up in an environment like this puts a different emphasis on things than a place like prisoner Moore’s home did. Having more money allowed author Moore to start off in a better school, which was a key thing in his childhood. He was also able to go to a military school when things got bad, but prisoner Moore’s parents were unable to do anything like that. Though their environments were similar, these relatively minor differences played a huge part in who they became.
Author Moore went to a better school, which may have taught him better, but it definitely segregated him from people who openly talked about drugs as something cool. This changed many expectations, both of himself and for himself. People tend to try to live up to or surpass expectations and fit in that way. In the author’s environment the expectation was to stay away from drugs, but in the prisoner’s school people would offer to pay him to watch for cops. These give very different messages to youths, which is when people tend to be most impressionable.
When the author’s situation got bad, his mother sent him to a military school that had a profound impact on his life. His environment and expectations changed to be something even better, and this time he wasn’t allowed to visit other people. Without the influence of the drug users and dealers of Baltimore he was able to escape that life and move on. Prisoner Moore was not so lucky, and despite his efforts to fall out of it the pressure forced him back. It was a choice between letting his kids starve or make an honest living, and he wanted them to have a good life.
Good response, Aden. I especially like your final line.
DeleteThere were a variety of reasons that contributed to author Wes Moore’s success and prisoner Wes Moore’s lack thereof. Both mens’ family situations, social lives, environments, and motivation influenced them greatly.
ReplyDeleteFor example, author Wes Moore had many more positive role models in his life than prisoner Wes Moore. The author was raised in a family that valued education, and sacrificed a lot to send him to military school. His mother and grandparents didn’t have much money, but they managed to scrape together just enough to send him off to school. Although Wes wasn’t happy about it, over time he realized that boarding school was a perfect opportunity to turn his life around. He finally became interested in academics, and was far away from the inner-city life that the other Wes was dealing with.
Prisoner Wes Moore unfortunately didn’t have the same support and guidance. He was raised by a single mother who wasn’t financially stable, and his only mentor was his brother, Tony, who was involved in selling drugs from a very young age. Even though Tony tried to protect Wes from the dangers of drug dealing, it didn’t work. The temptation was too strong for Wes, and he eventually gave in once he saw how much money he could make. Wes’s friends were in the same situation as him, and since he dropped out of school, he didn’t have any teachers to positively influence him either.
While author Wes Moore was at the top of his class and motivated to go to college, prisoner Wes Moore was a father of four and deep into the drug ‘game’ as an adolescent. The prisoner Wes Moore tried to turn his life around by going to the Job Corps; he got his GED and studied to become a carpenter. But when he went home to visit family in Baltimore, he was sucked back into the life that he had tried so hard to avoid. He didn’t have the willpower to put his life back together and get a job so he could support his family; instead, he took part in a jewelry store robbery where a police officer was killed, and he ended up with a lifetime in prison.
I find it very easy to empathize with prisoner Wes Moore, since he made an honest effort to have a successful and crime-free life. However, returning to his neighborhood made it too easy for him to fall back into his old ways. On the other hand, author Wes Moore had the ambition, motivation, and support needed to become very successful. Even though his family was far from upper-class, they did what they needed to do to keep him safe and push him in the right direction. This could have been the case for the other Wes Moore; the odds were merely not in his favor, since he was surrounded by so many horrors. Author Wes Moore was a product of hard work, but prisoner Wes Moore was a casualty of his environment.
Very nice way of turning a phrase, Ceci. I especially like what you said here:
DeleteAuthor Wes Moore was a product of hard work, but prisoner Wes Moore was a casualty of his environment.
I think one of the reasons that Wes Moore (A) was more successful than Wes Moore (P) had a lot to do with their role models. Education and determination played a huge part as well but I think the stark difference in role models played a large part in who these two men grew up to be. When Wes Moore (A) went to military camp he was exposed to men who demanded respect and who earned through their actions and how they treated the people around them. This was a big difference for Wes and these were men who gained respect and trust through the things they did and not through fear and intimidation like the boys on the street that he had respected before. This kind of role model was new to Wes and he started to shape up to try and be more like those men that he now respected so much. Wes Moore (P) on the other hand had his older brother Tony as a role model. Tony was well known as one of the most aggressive and dangerous boys on the street. Wes (P) looked up to tony as he was his older brother. One could argue that Wes set down the path he did because of Tony. Wes could always see the amount of money that his older brother was making from the drug game. Wes probably set down this path so he could get a chunk of that money for himself. Wes (P)s mother tried as best she could to turn her son away from the path he was taking but to no avail. Wes Moore (A)'s mom however decided enough was enough and went around asking for money to send Wes to military school. I think that this school was one of the first things that drove to two boys apart. Not only did this school teach Wes new meanings of respect but it also gave him a type of education that he could not run away from. This school made Wes really consider his future and what he wanted to do with his life. This thought that he might not want to sell drugs his entire ;life was a new one to Wes (A). Wes (P) never had this kind of intervention though. The closest he ever came to this was when he was sent to prison. When he was locked up he had plenty of time to think about his future. But instead of trying to change his ways he went right back to it after he got out. I also think that their moms played a big role in their life. While Wes (P)'s mom despised the path her son was taking the measures she took to try and stop it did not work. However Wes (A)'s mom collected the money, worked extra jobs and asked family members for the money to send Wes to military school. This in the end did work for Wes (A).
ReplyDelete-Finn Liland
DeleteThroughout the book, many reasons were shown why each Wes Moore went down different paths. Because I knew early on that prisoner Wes Moore was going to end up in jail, I could notice many factors that eventually contributed to him being convicted. Same with author Wes Moore. I knew that he would become very successful in life, so I also could see the steps that brought him closer to that goal. The biggest factors are their environments, family, and dedication.
ReplyDeleteAuthor Wes Moore was traditionally more successful than prisoner Wes Moore in many ways. One reason was Wes’s family. Wes’s family seemed like very hard workers and always wanted the best for their children. Wes’s father loved his children very much, and he died, his mother was very strong and was very good at continuing to support her family. When she noticed Wes was veering off into a not good path, she made the difficult decision to send him to military school. She did risk her relationship with him but knew it would benefit him in the end. Wes’s mom wanted a good life for her son and wanted him to be successful, which he is now very grateful for, seeing how much it benefited him. Wes’s environment also shaped him to become who he is now. As I said, he had a very strong family which helped him be strong like them. Also, at military school, he worked very hard to be where he wanted to be. He knew that he wanted to lead people, so he made sure that he could do that. Military school taught him to be respectful and helped him realize what his passion was. Wes was raised in an environment where they valued education and success and went through the precautions to make sure he would be successful in the future
For the prisoner Wes Moore, although he did have loving, supporting people in his lives, some signature people did influence his life in a not so good way. Wes’s mother, Mary, wanted the best for him but was very busy trying to support her family. Because Wes’s father had chosen not to be in his life, he looked up to his older brother Tony instead. But, Tony was deeply involved in the drug industry, which caused Wes to go down the same path. Without the support of his father, he had no one else to be influenced by. This also contributes to Wes’s environment as well. His mother was busy trying to provide for Tony and Wes, which unintentionally let Wes have more freedom. He eventually stopped going to school, once his girlfriend had his first and second child, and in order to provide for them, he continued to sell drugs.
I think what mostly impacted both of them was their fathers. Although they both did not have them around, one was by choice and the other was not. Author Wes Moore’s father had died when he was younger, and that impacted him a lot. However, his father was known to be very nice and a hard worker who was passionate about his job. If he had not died, he would have been involved with Wes’s life. Prisoner Wes Moore’s father was not around at all, and that was his choice. He could have helped raise Wes but decided not to be a part of his life. This really affected Wes as well. Another thing I noticed was that prisoner Wes tried to turn his life around for his children. He decided to get out of the drug industry and got his GED. Wes got a regular job to support his children, his children’s mothers, and his mother. However, he did not have enough dedication to not getting into trouble and got involved in a jewelry store robbery. And obviously, the biggest difference between the two Wes Moores is that author Wes Moore became very successful in his career and prisoner Wes Moore was sent to a lifetime in jail.
You make a good point about the impact of his brother, Tony.
DeleteI really liked how you talked about his brother Tony's influence. I agree that this was a person with a very strong impact on Wes's life and the fact that he was one of the few people that Wes had to look up to. The points you made about how Wes viewed Tony's lifestyle as one that he wanted was particularly interesting. When you initially said that you thought they were most impacted by their fathers I was a little confused but when you explained it it made a lot more sense to me. This was a good point and I had never considered how the different ways that their fathers left their lives may have affected them in the long run. The way you worded it made it easy to understand and one could see what made you think this. I also agree that when we knew Wes (P) was going to end up in jail we were able to pick up on more of the wrong things he was doing.-Finn Liland
DeleteAs Wes mentioned in the epilogue, I do not think that there is any one thing that made these boys have such different lives. However, I do think that there were some important factors that contributed. The backgrounds of their families are also mentioned in the epilogue, which was the biggest difference that I noticed early on. It continued to be prevalent as their lives unfolded. Author Wes’ parents and grandparents had college educations, experience, and connections that helped Wes to succeed with schooling. By going to Valley Forge, he was surrounded by educators who cared about him and his future. Unfortunately, the other Wes did not have the same opportunities. He was not supported, and dropped out of high school. Because he had children so young, he needed to work to support them. He did not have a high school diploma so he did not have access to most jobs. As a result of this, he had to sell drugs to make money. The other Wes did eventually get a GED and did construction for a while, but eventually turned back to crime because he was not making enough money to support his family. He, like many others, could not escape the seemingly inevitable trap that he was subjected to by his community.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I really enjoyed this book. It was incredible to read about these contrasting lives that were depicted with such detail. The most powerful thing was reading how the book affected so many people. Parents have used the resources in the back to help themselves and their children. Young boys have written to Wes expressing their gratitude to sharing his story, telling him how it made them realize things about themselves and inspired their aspirations. They told him that it made them feel heard and represented. This biography of sorts was extremely powerful, and I am a white person living in Vermont. I cannot even begin to imagine what literature like this would do for someone who can personally resonate with all of the experiences and struggles that Wes and Wes have gone through. Author Wes writes about how readers have spoken to him about “The Weses they’ve known, or even been themselves,” a reminder that the story of these two men is real and a representation of the hardships of so many (178-179).
Author Wes also mentioned how the book has been distributed to police officers so they can be educated on the effects on youth in their communities. This was amazing to read, especially with the uncertainty in these institutions currently. There is a common misconception with the phrase “defund the police.” The phrase can sometimes suggest taking when it is really reallocation. Money needs to be redistributed to education programs for officers on racism, and mental health. Reading that this book has been used to make a difference in police forces is incredible and gave me hope for the possibilities of change in institutions going forward.
I like what you said about defunding the police. It really is about reallocation and a lot of people don't realize that.
DeleteI want to start off by saying that in no way was one Wes better than the other. I think a big perception of people who end up in the criminal system are given this target that they are bad people, or worthless, which is not true. Although both Wes’s grew up similar, without dads, both black men in Baltimore, they ended up on different paths. Author Wes Moore, at the beginning of the story, loses his dad at a young age from an unexpected death, and Other Wes from his dad leaving when he was young. Author Wes, starts his life out in his younger years on a bad track, and eventually goes to military school. Through military school, Wes learns discipline and has a stable strong environment that guides him in a successful and structured path. Author Wes, later becomes successful, and goes to college, finishes high school, Military school, and leads himself on a successful path. Other Wes, does not have the opportunity to go to a school that was structured like military school. Other Wes, had children and had to jump into the workforce at a young age to take care of them, but unfortunately because of his lack of education, it was hard for him to provide which led him on the path that he eventually ended on. Whether or not Wes was at the crime is something I do not know which side I believe, but either way, he ended up in jail. Lack of education I do think played a role here, but it was also the lack of opportunity to receive proper education. Author Wes had the opportunity although he did not want it at first, he took it and he ran with it and received a good education. As I mentioned before it was pretty much impossible for Other Wes to receive that because of the way his life was shaped, and he HAD to provide for his family like the good man he was. Their lives did end up very different, but in the end I do not believe that one of them is better than the other. Was Author Wes more successful? Of course he was. But we also have no way of knowing how life would have gone for Other Wes without the robbery. Overall, I really did enjoy the book, and it did give me a good perspective of two different lives.
ReplyDeleteGood response. Yes, it's not about who is better. It seems to me though that it does have something to do with choices and opportunities.
DeleteIn my opinion, Wes Moore author has two primary things to thank for his success over prisoner Wes Moore. The forces that lead his fate are the structure Valley Forge granted to his life and his family's sacrifices. The structure of the military academy is what corrected author Wes Moore. The Valley Forge killed his toxic young attitude, humbled him, and gave him ambition. All the previous traits were not granted to prisoner Wes Moore. Because of this change in the author's life, he was removed from his family, friends, and terrible; urban environment. Gone were his lazy damaging habits, replaced with a rigid military structure, Wes learned a strict moral code and formed productive friendships with good people. This point was when the two paths of both these boys separated. Life started almost the same for the two boys. They both had unideal family lives; both were angry and rebellious and grew up in rough environments around horrible people. Author Wes moors' mother pooled money from family resources to pay for Wes's first year at Valley Forge. This sacrifice is what made all the difference. While prisoner Wes's mother obviously loved him, she didn't have the money to do this for her son which settled his fate. After that point in the book, the two boys' stories grew apart. The Author's life became better and better and the prisoners the opposite. This educational difference is what changed the fate of author Wes Moore. This difference is what broke him out of the expected trajectory for a young boy in his neighborhood. Both Author Wes Moore and Prisoner Wes Moore's Fates were fulfilled one in a tragically expected way and one in an extraordinary tale of victory and conquest. This true story shows the value of structured education, the difference it makes, and how to help people in bad situations break free from an overwhelming negative trend.
ReplyDelete-Daniel Markwood
The difference between prisoner Wes Moore and Author Wes Moore is all the relationships he had. Author Wes Moore had his mother and grandparents who cared about and did whatever they could to help him and pushed him to be his best. When Wes Moore’s grades were slipping his family made him go to military school even though at the time Wes Moore didn’t want to, his life was better because of it and he's glad he went. Prisoner Wes Moore’s grades were slipping and there was no one to push him so he ended up dropping out. When Prisoner Wes Moore got control of his life and got his GED everything was on a smooth track but his previous life decision came back and overwhelmed Wes Moore and he started getting on the wrong path again. Author Wes Moore’s path through education was more forced than Prisoner Wes Moore and there was less obligation to continue with school. It also must not have been super to succeed when he has to pay for his mother, his 5 kids, the mothers wanting child support, and himself. That's a lot of bills to pay for with only making 9-10 dollars an hour. Author Wes Moore went to college and also did deployments, he had degrees which helped in the search for jobs and careers. Prisoner Wes Moore was making more as a drug dealer than he was making 9- 10 dollars. The Wes Moore’s had different lives, grew up in different environments, had different friends and family and a lot of things contributed to their paths in life. It wasn't one thing that made their life turn out the way it did, many things happened and developed for their lives to turn out the way they did. Author Wes Moore’s family forced him to go to military school if they hadn’t done that he wouldn’t have gone to John Hopkins college and another college and he wouldn't have done deployments in Afghanistan and he wouldn’t be on the path he is. If Prisoner Wes Moore hadn’t started selling drugs he probably wouldn’t be in the same path he is.
ReplyDelete~Mary Veracka
I think you make a good point about what prisoner Wes Moore did in terms of selling drugs.
DeleteHe had a lot of bills to pay---doesn't excuse it----but you can kind of understand the pressure he was facing.
I think many aspects of each Wes’s life had an impact on their success, but the two that I think had the most impact were their education and the role models in their lives. Prisoner Wes Moore’s father left him when he was young, and author Wes Moore’s father passed away. Even though both Wes’s grew up without a father, prisoner Wes Moore had to grow up knowing that his father left him by choice, while author Wes Moore knew that his father had no control over why he wasn’t in his son’s life. I think this had a huge effect on prisoner Wes Moore because he might have wondered if he had done something wrong to make his father leave, whereas author Wes knew that his father had not wanted to leave him. Prisoner Wes Moore had his mother and occasionally his brother to support him growing up, but author Wes Moore had his grandparents in his life as well. I think this had a huge impact on author Wes’s success because he had more adults to care about him and make sure he was doing well in life. For example, when author Wes started going down the wrong path, his grandparents and his mother used their money to send him to a school that they knew would help him. When prisoner Wes Moore started going down the wrong path, his mother tried to help him, but she was very busy and there weren’t really any other adults in Wes’s life that could help him. Wes had his older brother Tony, but Tony had gone down a bad path himself, and while he tried to discourage Wes from following in his footsteps, Wes looked up to him and mimicked his actions.
ReplyDeleteI think the other factor that contributed to author Wes Moore’s traditional success was his education. Author Wes Moore started out going to a school that wasn’t great, and he began hanging out with the wrong crowd and got into some trouble with the law. Once his family sent him to military school however, he was around a lot of positive role models who pushed him to do his best. He then went to a very good college, which helped him become even more traditionally successful. Prisoner Wes Moore also started out going to a not very good school, but he eventually dropped out of school altogether to sell drugs. He later went into a program for “disadvantaged youth” to try and get a better education and a job, but he eventually went back to selling drugs when he couldn’t get a permanent job that paid enough.
While there were many small things that may have impacted each Wes Moore and the path they chose to go down, I think their education and the role models in their life had the biggest impact on their successes. Author Wes Moore had many positive role models who cared about him and acted to help him succeed, and he went to very rigorous schools that expected him to succeed as well. Prisoner Wes Moore did not have a lot of role models in his life, and the ones he did have were more negative than positive influences. Prisoner Wes Moore also dropped out of a bad school, and even though he tried to get additional education later on, he couldn’t find a permanent job afterwards. He eventually ended up in prison, while author Wes Moore became a traditionally successful businessman.
There were a lot of reasons for the author and the prisoner to end up in different places in life. A good example is their upbringings and their parents. The author’s parents were ready for him and were prepared for a family while the prisoner’s mother was not. The prisoner's mother was still a teenager when she had Wes’s brother and was very young when she had Wes. With no father figure, the prisoner's mother had a more difficult time providing as she still wanted to party with her friends. The author was raised to appreciate school and to try very hard and when he did not do this, he was sent off to military school by his mother. While the prisoner’s family was still very dedicated to having a good education and graduating from school, Wes’s mother was still in school herself when she had Wes and found it difficult to juggle both school, work, and her two kids. When Wes and Tony dropped out of school, their mother was not as upset as the author’s entire family would have been. While school heavily influenced the author and the prisoner’s successes, their friends, and the people they were around also influenced them greatly. The author’s friends were from similar households and his close friends were sent to the same schools as him. Wes the prisoner hung around drug dealers and was always on the job that there were very few people who didn’t deal with him. His brother Tony was also a drug dealer and although against Wes dealing, worked with him. Even as an adult Wes didn’t have anyone who sat him down and told him to quit dealing because of the danger. In the end, Wes quit on his own only to get back in it because he had nothing else. The author spent a lot of time in military school and continued with military training after he graduated. Wes was in a very professional environment for a long time that his old self who directed school was no longer a part of him. Wes’s life was being directed towards a very professional environment and was expected to succeed. The two Wes lead very different lives this is partly because of the choices they made. The author chose to make his mother proud and to try even though some of what she made him do were not by his choice. The prisoner had many opportunities to choose a different life. Although it might have been difficult for him to see other outcomes, he continued to choose to sell drugs and eventually got himself in prison. Family and environments play a very big role in an upbringing and life but the choices one will make and the effort and work one puts into one life will change everything.
ReplyDeleteI think when determining why exactly one Wes Moore ended up more successful than the other, something that the author says in the afterword is very important to keep in mind: “Very few lives hinge on any single moment or decision or circumstance.” Although it’s clear that the author Wes Moore ended up in a much better and more stable position than the prisoner Wes Moore, I don’t think it was due to one single factor--it was likely due to a combination of things. I think the reason why the author Wes Moore had a more successful life than the prisoner Wes Moore is because of several significant things, like the two men’s family, friends, financial situations, education, and responsibilities. To start, I think an important factor was education. The author Wes’s family clearly put stock in receiving a good education--his mother sent him to a good private school because she didn’t want him going to a public school, then later sent him to a military school. The author Wes had a very good education: private school, military school, junior college, then university. The prisoner Wes, on the other hand, didn’t have the opportunity to go to college or any other schools besides college, which prevented him from pursuing a stable career path. Instead, he worked minimum wage jobs like preparing food at a mall after high school. This ties into another possible factor in the two Wes’s differences: their financial situations. From the start, although it’s clear that the families of both Wes Moores struggled with money, it appears that the family of the author Wes had more financial stability than the prisoner Wes. The author Wes’s mother was able to scrape together the money to pay for his tuition at a private school as well as the military prep school he attended, Valley Forge. After his schooling, he also had several steady, paying jobs, such as a soldier, a film producer, and even a financial analyst. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore didn’t have the same job opportunities, leading to a lower income.
ReplyDeleteAnother event that could have influenced the differing courses of the two men’s lives is the fact that the prisoner Wes Moore had to deal with more responsibilities at a younger age. The most significant of these responsibilities was his daughter. Having a child at high school age is an incredibly taxing responsibility, both emotionally and financially. This put an immense strain on Wes, which is seen when he arrives home from the Job Corps. Though he enjoyed the Job Corps, as soon as he got back to his old neighborhood, all his responsibilities came flooding back to him. Multiple people in his life were asking him for money, putting a lot of pressure on him. It looked like Wes understandably cracked under the pressure, so to speak, and seemingly fell back into his old life of drugs.
These things all could have resulted in the author Wes Moore being traditionally more successful than the prisoner Wes Moore. Though it’s difficult to determine exactly how it happened, these are all things that can greatly influence the course of one’s life from a young age--money, schooling, and responsibilities. Though at a glance, the two Wes Moores appear to be similar--same name and same location--they both had very different experiences with these three major factors.
- Leo
Well done, Leo. I think your point about the responsibilities that prisoner Moore had, at an early age, is really a good one.
DeleteI believe the reason why author Wes Moore was more successful than prisoner Wes Moore was because of their peers and the people that surrounded them. I think the main person behind their lives though was their mothers. Both of the author’s mothers were both struggling with supporting their children and “keeping them on the right path”. They were also struggling with being their children’s only available parent. But there are also many differences between them.
ReplyDeleteJoy moved her family to the Bronx because that was where her parents lived. She needed the extra help and she knew she could count on her family. She also knew the area well and put her kids into a private school because she knew the public schools there were not very good. Unfortunately, Mary did not have the resources and help that Joy had.
I think another difference would have to be the differences in personalities between the two moms. Mary seemed to expect the best from everyone, especially her sons. She always tried to believe the best-case scenario and not let her fears get the best of her. An example of this would be when Tony found the drugs in (prisoner) Wes’ room. Mary did not want to believe Tony at first and prayed that her son was mistaken. When she did find the drugs though, she was heartbroken and sad. Joy was quick to make her children face the consequences of their actions and not make empty threats. An example of this was when she sent (author) Wes to military school when he thought she was just exaggerating.
I am in no way blaming their mothers for how prisoner Wes Moore and author Wes Moore turned out, I am just pointing out the differences between how they handled their family’s situations. I am also not saying that one family had it worse than the other, because both families had their own struggles. I also understand that it was not only their mother’s influence that made them turn out the way they did and that many other factors played a huge role in their stories.
I think that what you said about Mary not having the resources that Joy had is really true. So much of it comes down to luck/fate.
ReplyDelete