The Other Wes Moore: The Impact of Family
The Other Wes Moore: The Impact of Family
Many people would say we are all just products of our environment. For two young boys from Baltimore, this could not be truer. In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore, two fatherless, young boys growing up in the same neighborhood with the same name, end up on two entirely different paths of life. The author becomes a Rhodes Scholar, college graduate, veteran, and much more, while the “other” Wes gets deeply involved with the drug game and spends most of his life in trouble with the law. When these boys come from such similar backgrounds, how is it that they take such different journeys in life? The reason why one Wes Moore became mixed up with drugs and the law, and why one became successful, is because of the family each grew up with. The expectations that each family held their Wes to set the tone for the way each would live the rest of his life. The author’s mother sacrificed what she had to in order to make sure her son wouldn’t become involved with drugs, while the “other” Wes’s mother told him not to, but she was in fact using drugs. They each grew up without a father, but for different reasons. Wes’s father, peace-loving with a stable career, died when Wes was just three, while the “other” Wes’s father, who was alive and well, chose not to be a part of his son’s life. Wes’s parents made a positive environment for their son, while the “other” Wes’s parents left him to suffer in the environment he was born into. The amount of expectations each family put on their Wes was, in turn, the amount of expectations each Wes had for his future self. The actions of each Wes’s mother played a large part in their lives. The author, Wes’s, mother, Joy, was very ambitious and finished college (Moore 8-9). She raised all of her children together, and she worked multiple jobs to send all of her children to private school (Moore 48). When Wes started to fall behind in his classes, she decided to send him
Many people would say we are all just products of our environment. For two young boys from Baltimore, this could not be truer. In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore, two fatherless, young boys growing up in the same neighborhood with the same name, end up on two entirely different paths of life. The author becomes a Rhodes Scholar, college graduate, veteran, and much more, while the “other” Wes gets deeply involved with the drug game and spends most of his life in trouble with the law. When these boys come from such similar backgrounds, how is it that they take such different journeys in life? The reason why one Wes Moore became mixed up with drugs and the law, and why one became successful, is because of the family each grew up with. The expectations that each family held their Wes to set the tone for the way each would live the rest of his life. The author’s mother sacrificed what she had to in order to make sure her son wouldn’t become involved with drugs, while the “other” Wes’s mother told him not to, but she was in fact using drugs. They each grew up without a father, but for different reasons. Wes’s father, peace-loving with a stable career, died when Wes was just three, while the “other” Wes’s father, who was alive and well, chose not to be a part of his son’s life. Wes’s parents made a positive environment for their son, while the “other” Wes’s parents left him to suffer in the environment he was born into. The amount of expectations each family put on their Wes was, in turn, the amount of expectations each Wes had for his future self. The actions of each Wes’s mother played a large part in their lives. The author, Wes’s, mother, Joy, was very ambitious and finished college (Moore 8-9). She raised all of her children together, and she worked multiple jobs to send all of her children to private school (Moore 48). When Wes started to fall behind in his classes, she decided to send him
Cited: Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Array New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010.