The Other Wes Moore (Final Post––by Sunday 5/26 @8:00 p.m.)
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.
The Other Wes Moore seems to be a book based on one question. What was different between the two Wes Moores and their lives that made their paths so drastically different? I don’t see this question ever being directly answered in the book, but there are several ideas that I can pull from the book that seem to show where their paths diverged. The first being their level of education that they received throughout their lives. For author Wes Moore, he was much more fortunate in this realm. His mother worked many jobs just to send him to a certain high school that she knew would set him on the right path. However, when he took that opportunity for granted and blew off many days of school, Joy Moore decided to send him to military school. He was taught discipline and responsibility which I would say is certainly one of the main reasons he succeeded in life. As for prisoner Wes Moore, he wasn’t so lucky. He went to a high school where rather than escaping the drug game like author Wes Moore, he was just got more involved. The other students at his school were also roped into that aspect of Baltimore causing him to not feel the need to stop. He skipped a lot of school to keep selling drugs and eventually dropped out. Another huge aspect of their lives that I would say was very different was the mentors they had along the way. For author Wes Moore, he had huge role models at military school. Starting with Sergeant Austin, he was taught how to follow rules and how that would actually get you somewhere. Later, when continued his service in the military after Valley Forge, he met Mayor Schmoke whom he got to work with closely. Having successful people around him pushed Wes to work harder and in the end accomplish something just as impressive. Unfortunately, prisoner Wes Moore seemed to be left to figure things out on his own. No teachers or close relatives were reaching out and he didn’t have a place to meet new people that he could look up to. Rather he was setting an example for himself. However, at one point in his life he reconnected with his friend Levy and inquired about a program he was in called Job Corps. It seemed like Wes was putting in real effort to turn his life around when he applied, went through the program, and then ended up getting a real job. However, the jobs he received, such as a home landscaper and a food preparer, were inconsistent. He could not rely on his work to give him a steady income so he went back out on the streets. I think that the lack of support prisoner Wes Moore received as he was going through Job Corps was the point where his life made a turn for the worst. He was on his way to doing something with his life but no one else was helping him. Even though it is hard to pinpoint some of the reasons for why the Wes Moore’s lives turned out the way they did, I am quite sure that two differences were the education they were given and the support they had along the way.
ReplyDeleteGood insights and very specific––which I like.
DeleteThere are many reasons why the author was more successful than the prisoner Wes Moore. Some reasons are individual decisions that each Wes made while other reasons were just about the environment that each Wes grew up in. Reasons for Wes’s success start with his family, his mother in particular. When Wes was failing in his private school his mother decided to send him to military school. Military school taught Wes leadership, independence, and led him to more opportunities late in life. His mother was very important in his education because she worked multiple jobs for him to go to military school. Since Wes was secluded from the Bronx and other corrupt areas he was not influenced or pressured to join the drug game and fall into the same path as the prisoner Wes. Once Wes graduated military school he had many connections and was able to find out what he wanted to do with his life and become successful. As for the prisoner Wes, his mother wasn’t able to get Wes out of the drug environment in Baltimore which caused him to fall into the drug game. His friends were also drug dealers which influenced him even more to be a part of it. Once you get in the game it is hard to get out as we are told throughout the book, and we see that when he does get out by completing the Job Corps program but resorts back to selling again because of money problems. I don’t think there is not a real answer to why one Wes became successful and the other didn’t but I think it has a lot to do with family and the environment that they grew up in. I’m sure there are many other factors but I think the main and most important are family and environment.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about the impact of the drug game, Elliott. I think you're right.
DeleteThroughout the whole book, we see the author Wes Moore wonder why he was more successful than the prisoner Wes Moore. And although this question is never clearly answered, we can see it is something that crossed the author's mind frequently. I think that many different things were big factors, but especially education. The author had a family who really valued education and worked to get him into good schools. That was not the case for the other Wes Moore. For the author, when his private school in New York City wasn't working out, his whole family came together to get him into military school. That is something that the other Wes Moore's family didn't have the resources to do. I think the people you are surrounded by play a big role in how you turn out, and the private schools the author went to surrounded him with more motivated people. Both Wes Moores spent most of their early childhood in Baltimore, but the author Wes Moore ended up moving to New York City. In my opinion, moving to New York gave the author a fresh start, and I think that was much needed for his future. Although he did not necessarily start it off like he should have, the new schools seemed to really help him out and get him on the right path eventually. There were times when it looked like the other Wes Moore was going to try to turn his life around, but it never worked out. The other Wes Moore wanted to get off the streets, so he enrolled in the Job Corps program but was not able to sustain a stable job due to money and resorted back to the streets. He was not in an environment of people who encouraged him to stick it out, whereas the author Wes Moore always had lots of support from the people around him. Like the author Wes Moore said in the epilogue, it's not clear why he made it, but these are a few possible reasons why.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about Job Corps, Lily. It's like he was trying to do something different and change his life, but it wasn't enough. Sad.
DeleteI think the reasons why the Author Wes Moore was more successful than the other Wes Moore trace back to the whole education thing. Author Wes Moore was given an opportunity to turn his life around at military school after he failed private school. Military school played a big role in how Author Wes Moore's life turned out. Prisoner Wes Moore didn't have the opportunity to change. He grew up around drugs and crime, and only went to his local public school. Because he didn't get the same opportunity as Author Wes Moore did, he didn't turn out as successful. Since he didn't move away from all the drugs and crime, it was kind of all he knew. Author Wes Moore was disciplined, and was taught how to become a mature and responsible person. Military school offered a lot for him. For instance, he ended up going into the military, which can open up so many future opportunities for him. Prisoner Wes Moore fell down the drug path, and once you fall down a certain path, it's hard to come out of it. Prisoner Wes took a big step towards turning his life around, and joined a Job Corps Program. Money became an issue, so he resorted to selling drugs again. I don't think Prisoner Wes had the resources to change his life, or the money. I think that the answer to this question has been led up to with what we've been talking about throughout the course of the book. How their environment plays a huge role in how they both turned out. I think it is also because of the resources that they have. Author Wes had more resources to send him away to a life changing school. Prisoner Wes didn't, so he wasn't able to get very far in turning his life around. I think all of the questions we've answered have led up to this final question, and that's why each of them ended up where they did.
ReplyDeleteI like how you called the military school a life-changing school. It so clearly was. There are so many little turns in our life that have a bigger impact than what we realize at the time.
DeleteAuthor Wes Moore and prisoner Wes Moore had extremely similar lives. Only small fractions of their lives were different. Prisoner Wes Moore grew up in a different environment than the author Wes Moore. Prisoner Moore's mother didn't send him to private or military school. In my opinion military was school was the main difference between the success of author Wes Moore and prisoner Wes Moore. When author Wes Moore’s mother realized that Wes was starting to get into the drug business she sent him to military school. At military school it was unacceptable to not follow the rules. Wes learned right from wrong. He also learned about himself, he learned that he was a good leader. Learning this about himself gave him a purpose, he was able to find something that needed him. While Wes was at military school prisoner Wes Moore was was skipping school, dealing drugs, commiting crimes, and having multiple children with multiple people. At one point during the book prisoner Wes Moore was messing around with a girl from out of town. Her cousin ended up finding out and paid a visit to Wes. Wes ended up getting beat up by her cousin, when he escaped Wes ran into the house and grabbed his gun. He chased after the girls cousin and ended up shooting him, and he was sent to jail. Prisoner Wes Moore never found a purpose of life. After a while he tried to get his life together by going and getting his gpe, but after that he quickly got back into the drug game because he was not making enough money to support his family. I also think that the choices that author Wes Moore and prisoner Wes Moore made was the reason why one was more successful than the other. Because prisoner Wes Moore kept making decisions that ended up sending him to jail it was harder for him to find work and a purpose.
ReplyDeleteI like this line, "He also learned about himself, he learned that he was a good leader. Learning this about himself gave him a purpose, he was able to find something that needed him." I think discovering that he had leadership potential was big---good for you for noticing that.
DeletePrisoner Wes Moore and author Wes Moore came from very similar backgrounds. They came from poor families with not very much money and neighborhoods with a lot of drugs and crime in them. One question that arises throughout the novel is why author Wes Moore was more successful than prisoner Wes Moore. I think that everything had an effect on them, somethings more than others. One big thing that had an effect on how successful they were was education. The author Wes Moore had a huge help with going to private school, which his mother worked very hard for, which is another reason he was so successful. He also went to military school. Military school was very helpful to Moore, he went on a good path instead of a bad one, one that he was headed on. Prisoner Wes Moore did not have that much help from education and his family. He went to public school, which was full of drugs, and his family never gave him the opportunity to go anywhere else. The environment they both grew up in also had a big effect on them. They both grew up in drug and crime places and that really pushed them both to do them and take part in crime. One thing that really differed from them was the military school for author Wes Moore. I think that is the thing that really set them apart; the military school. The prisoner Wes Moore never got that opportunity to have a better path and get him out of his bad ways so he just kept going until he was arrested and sent to prison. The author Wes Moore realized what he was doing and he needed to change his ways and that all happened because of military school. If the author didn't have this opportunity I think that he would have been on the same path as the prisoner and been sent to jail because of some illegal thing that he did. Everything in their lives affected them in a better way, or worse way, but the thing that really had a big effect on their success was their education and being sent to military school.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right to credit military school. I really appreciate the credit that you give to his mother, too. She was a pretty important factor, too, I think.
DeleteIn this book it compared two lives. I think author Wes Moore was influenced by his family, and prisoner Wes Moore was influenced by his environment. In the beginning of the book I was comparing their similarities and towards the end I was comparing their differences. I started to do this because their lives became more and more separated as both of their stories continued. I think they really started to have different lives when Author Wes Moore's family made him go to military school at Valley Forge. After this he would become a secondary lieutenant in the army, and attend college at Johns Hopkins University. If his family wasn't so stern on him getting a good education and staying out of trouble he would not be where he is today. As author Wes Moore was at military school prisoner Wes Moore was still stuck in Baltimore. I think the closest prisoner Wes Moore was to getting out of trouble was when he went to Job Corps. He got his GED and decided to be a carpenter and landscaper. I guess he still couldn't get work and was paid very little. "Wes realized the only consistency in his employment was inconsistency." (144). I think this is why prisoner Wes Moore decided to rob the jewelry store. If prisoner Wes Moore stayed out of Baltimore and didn't hangout with his brother Tony, he probably wouldn't be in prison for the rest of his life. It would be a lot easier to make a list of similarities than differences for the two. I think they were both given good opportunities throughout their lives, It's what they did with them that changed their lives.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting point that you make: "In the beginning of the book I was comparing their similarities and towards the end I was comparing their differences." I think it says a lot about how their lives started to diverge. Good work.
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ReplyDeleteFrom Mack...
There were two main factors that made the author Wes Moore more successful than prisoner Wes Moore. These factors are heavily intertwined. Education and family support. Education played a massive role in where each Wes ended up. Author Wes Moore’s family, especially his mother, pitched in to help Wes go to Riverdale. Riverdale is a very good private school in the Bronx. Joy Moore hoped that Wes would put in extra effort to succeed there and she tried to make him do so so that he would be able to get out of the Bronx. Wes however didn’t do that. He started skipping school and wandering the streets of the Bronx. Wes’s mother had finally had enough of Wes mixing out on opportunity in life to get ahead. She sent him to military school so Wes could get a shot at a better life. To do this she needed lots of money. She dug down deep and worked multiple jobs, and asked for money from her friends and her family. At first Wes hated it but soon he got used to the routine. Wes excelled. He become a top student there because he knew that this was a gateway to a better life for him. Prisoner Wes Moore wasn’t so lucky with his education. He went to the local public schools and received a mediocre education because most public schools don’t have the resources to educate each individual properly. But the time high school rolled around Wes was occasionally showing up to school. He had lots of troubles outside of school. He was wrapped up in the drug game, and with girls. His mother had a hard time supporting him because she was working all the time to keep themselves afloat. Prisoner Wes Moore didn’t receive a good education but part of that was because he didn't have The support author Wes Moore had from family, friends, bosses and teachers.
"Support," as you note, Mack, is pretty important in terms of how each of them did. I agree.
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