Two men grew up in the same city, but are similar in many ways, created a difference in their lives. The author Wes had factors that affected his life, also the Other Wes. Wes had support from his strong mother and from the military. The other Wes didn’t quite have support from his mother and Tony, who wanted the best for Wes, telling him to stay in school and out of the drug game, but Tony was a bad influence to Wes. Due to both Wes’s path’s they took, led them to their destinies. The author Wes was growing up in a neighborhood that was a bad environment for everyone.
He grew up with no father but had a strong mother that went out of her way to provide what was best for the family. Joy would always be protective of her kids. “My mother slept in the living room to stand guard. She was determined to protect us. ” (pg. 36). Joy would put her life at risk to keep her kids safe. Joy decided to move the family elsewhere to get away from the violence. “But no matter how much the world around us seemed ready to crumble, my mother was determined to see us through it”. (pg. 47).
Wes’s mom really cared about how her kids would turn out and wanted the best for them to stay out of trouble. Wes went to a private school that was upper class and did well there, but got lost between living the “rich” and “poor” lifestyle. His grades began to slip and was almost put on probation. His mother threatened Wes to get his act together, if not he would be sent to military school. Eventually, Wes was sent to military school for accidentally hitting Shani in the lip but Joy didn’t see it that way. I knew my mother was considering sending me away, but | never thought she’d actually do it. ” (pg. 87)
Since Joy had no other choice, she sent him away to military school to get his act together. Wes had already escaped the school 4 times on his fourth day of being there. “Listen Moore, you don’t want to be here, and quite honestly, we don’t want you here, so I have drawn you a map of how to get to the train station. ” (pg. 91). Sergeant Austin gave Wes a map to a train route to escape the place but turned out to be a trap. After a while running through the woods, he was scared, and crying.
He found his sergeant waiting for him at the “escape route”. Later he met Ty Hill who inspired Wes to believe he can do more in life. From that moment, he knew this school was the place for him. Wes’s mom and the Military school supported Wes to become a better person to society and succeeded so much in life. The other Wes Moore also grew up in a bad neighborhood. His mom Mary, who went to college and was stressing over her pell int that was taken away, stressed so much over it and also a mom that was weak to discipline her kids. Wes got himself ready and went to go check on his mother again.
He felt he had to take care of her. ” (pg. 18) The reason why he felt the need to check up on her was because he had to be the man of the house, since his father’s been ghost when Wes was born. Another sign of Wes mom showing weakness was when Wes was arrested when he was 8 years old. “It was years before Wes’s mom found out her son had been arrested that day. By the time she did, she had bigger things to worry about”. (pg. 35) Mary didn’t care at all about Wes being arrested.
She didn’t punish him for what he did, she just pushed it aside and worried about her own problems that she’s having. When Wes was getting ready for school, he watched his mom leave for work. He ran to her closet to get some money but instead found a bag of marijuana. Wes and his friends went to party under a bridge and felt sick. He went home and saw Mary’s boyfriend, running past him to his room and laid down.
“Mary laughed, watching him squirm. “Well, at least now you know how bad it feels and you will stay away from drinking,” she said. ” (pg. 1-62) Mary didn’t find out that Wes stole her marijuana but found out he was drinking and didn’t punish him for that either. Tony, Wes’s older brother, who Wes idolized so much, became an influence in his life. Wes saw how cool Tony was and all the nice things he had and wanted to be like him. “Tony, he complained, was wearing all the newest clothes and was now sporting a thick gold rope chain on top of it. ” (pg. 57) Although Wes knew what Tony did to make money was wrong, he was also envious of the nice clothes and things he was able to buy with money.
Wes became part of the drug game when he bought a headset to communicate to others when a cop would pass by. Money got the best of Wes. Wes didn’t have support from his family to stay away from trouble due to a weak mom and a bad influence brother. This led him to go down a road of bad choices, which landed him in prison for life. A story of two men, both with the same name, grew up with two different lifestyles. One with the support of his mother and also the military. The other, with no support and a mom that was weak at disciplining and a bad role model brother.
