A Literary Analysis Of The Other Wes Moore's Life

In “The Other Wes Moore” the author, Wes Moore, tells the story of his life and compares it to Wes Moore’s life, a man who was born in the same area at the same time. The story takes place in the city of Baltimore around the year of 2000. Both Wes’s grew up in similar situation’s, raised solely by their mothers. Wes Moore the author grew up with only two memories of his father after he passed away while the other Wes Moore’s father left him and his mother before he was born. Both parents lived paycheck to paycheck and struggled to provide for their children.
Wes Moore the author had the support of his grandparents, who end up playing a huge role in his success, while the other Wes had the support of his brother Tony, a well respected drug
As Wes settled in colonel Bratt, his commander, took Wes under his wing and taught him new values such as honor, sacrifice and courage. I personally agree with Joy’s decision to send Wes to military school. She realized that even with her strict parenting he was still slipping in to the lifestyle provided by the environment and culture of Baltimore.
Wes Moore the author had all of this available too him thanks to his protective family, which is described in the book by Moore and Asay as a family “low in conversation and high on conformity.” (pg. 207, 2013) While the other Wes Moore had more of a pluralistic family that is high in conversation but low in conformity. This allowed Wes to fall through the cracks and get into his drug life, by the time his mother Mary realized he was selling drugs he was already in too deep.
Joy did a great job throughout the entire decision making process, identifying wants and needs, evaluating and reevaluating constantly. I feel that it was pivotal for her to let Wes try to figure it out on his own at a young age and offering him the guidance necessary. Once she felt he wasn’t figuring it out and her guidance wasn’t enough anymore her decision to send him to military school was the right
The other Wes Moore didn’t have to go out and get involved in the drug scene and get a girl pregnant at a young age, those were his decisions. I do however understand that young children are very impressionable and if he had stricter parenting maybe his life would have been different. However, as Wes’s older brother Tony said, “You have the potential to do so much more, go so much further. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink right?” (Moore, p. 72, 2011) In my opinion this speaks volumes to the stubbornness of the other Wes Moore, even though he had so many people trying to keep him out of the drug lifestyle, he still chose