wes moore

The Fork in the Road… Have you ever thought about what your life would be like if you made just one wrong decision? In The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, written by Wes Moore, the two men, both with the same name, find out what their life could have been like if they had just made a few different decisions. Their names and the circumstances they grew up in made them the same, but the choices they each made is what granted them separate fates. Both Wes Moores did not grow up in the best circumstances. In the beginning of the book when the men were talking about their lives, the other Wes Moore says, “Your father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he chose not to be” (3). Both of these men lost an important person that could have potentially helped guide them into better directions. To make up for the lack of a father, both men had another role model whom they looked up to. The author Wes Moore’s biggest role model was his mother; he says, “She was my everything, the person I loved and respected the most in my world” (88). Wes’s mom took on the role of his mother and also his father, and that is why Wes respected her so much. The other Wes Moore’s role model was his brother, Tony. Wes respected Tony, even though Tony did not set the best example for his younger brother. Wes describes Tony as a “’certified gangsta’. Tony had started dealing drugs in those shadowy hallways of the Murphy Hoes before he was ten” (Moore 27). Clearly Tony is not the ideal model for a young boy who is in need of some sort of guidance from a father figure. Tony played the role of Wes’s father and from his gained experience he attempted to guide Wes in the right direction using his experience as an example of what not to do. Tony tries to help Wes because “Wes knew he was disappointing his brother, which hurt more than the beating he’d just taken. Wes was so confused. He loved and respected his brother. Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a

Cited: Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 2010. Print