Themes:
1. Life Choices
2. Poverty
3. Mentoring
Quotes
Life Choices
1. "The crime-ridden neighborhood was where Tony and Wes had escaped just days after the murder" (P. 153).
Wes 2 and his older brother Tony fled to Philadelphia after they had allegedly been involved in the murder of a police officer. This choice to run from the law was a bad decision that did not look good on Tony's part nor Wes's. In the long-run this decision to run away from the law probably influenced the jury to convict Wes of being guilty of first degree murder because running away from the police suggests that he played a part in the crime. Whether Wes had been involved in the crime or not, it was bad decision to run away from the law because running away from the police almost never works in your favor.
2. "...after I completed the internship with him, I would be heading to South Africa for a semester abroad"(P.162).
At this point in the book, Wes 1 had enrolled in Johns Hopkins University, completed an internship for the mayor of Baltimore and he was on his way to make a journey to South Africa. All of these decisions were decisions that helped Wes achieve a bright future. His decision to study abroad in Africa was a life-changing decision for him because it gave him the opportunity to go on a life- altering trip. In South Africa Wes learned more than simply the culture of South Africa and the history of apartheid; he learned about himself. He learned more values and things from South Africa that he would carry throughout the rest of his life and help him succeed in the future. Wes's decision to study abroad in South Africa was an insightful decision that would take him on a life-changing journey.
Poverty
3. "The check-cashing stores instead of banks, the rows of beauty salons, liquor stores, laundromats, funeral homes, and their graffiti-laced walls were the universal streetscape of poverty" (P. 153)
Here, Wes 2 was walking the streets of North Philadelphia, where he noted that the streets were not much different from his own neighborhood in Baltimore. The author of the book stresses the fact that poverty occurs in almost all parts of the world. Poverty is a universal force that causes many people and communities to struggle. In America, there are basic signs that a neighborhood suffers from poverty such as graffiti walls, and rows of beauty salons. Throughout this book, poverty in a recurring theme for both of the Wes Moores. The difference between the two, is that one Wes Moore rises above poverty and crime, while the other remains trapped in the hopeless realm of poverty.
4. "Living in the Bronx had given me the foolish impression that I knew what poverty looked like" (P. 166).
During his trip to South Africa, Wes 1 had been exposed to a form of poverty he had never seen nor experienced before. Upon seeing the poverty in South Africa, he began to question whether he actually knew what poverty looked like before. In this chapter, Wes Moore stresses that poverty is universal. However, peoples perception of poverty is different. In the Bronx, people may be living in poverty according to the average American standard of living, but in South Africa, Wes notes that the poverty there is so bad, that he would not consider his neighborhood in the Bronx to be impoverished. From this chapter, the reader can see that there is no clear definition of poverty, but most people living in poverty struggle to find opportunities to succeed.
Mentoring
5. " ' So, Wes, what do you plan on doing after you finish school?...Have you ever heard of the Rhodes scholarship?' "
Mayor Schmoke was a good mentor for Wes 1. Wes's internship provided him with knowledge and skills that would benefit his future. Mayor Schmoke had great advice for Wes that would help steer his life in a particular direction. One of the biggest things that Mayor Schmoke did for Wes was that he told him about the Rhodes scholarship. The Rhodes scholarship was something that really benefitted Wes's education and his future. Wes's relationship with mayor Schmoke was one that would enhance his future success. It was truly good for Wes to have this kind of mentor in his life, to help him find his path in life.
Title Justification Essay #3
The third part of
The Other Wes Moore is about the final paths and directions that the lives of the Wes Moores took. Both of the Wes Moores were making the transition from adolescence to adulthood in this part of the book. Part three of the book is titled "Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled". Part three of
The Other Wes Moore is titled "Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled" because of how the lives of the Wes Moores diverged into completely different directions, partially due to the fact that each of them had different expectations for their lives.
Wes 1 and Wes 2's lives evidently end up very differently. By the end of the book, Wes 2 would be sentenced to "life in prison without the possibility of parole" (P. 157), while Wes 1 "...would walk across the stage as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate [and be]... the first Rhodes Scholar in thirteen years at Johns Hopkins and the first African-American Rhodes Scholar in school history" (P. 169). The two paths of the Wes Moores began to significantly diverge when they were adolescents, but by the end of the book it is clear that while one Wes Moore would end up successful, the other would never have the possibility of being successful again. Although the two men were from similar backgrounds, their fates were quite different. In the beginning of the chapter, there is a part that Wes Moore writes about one of visits to Wes 2 in prison. Wes 2 talks about " ' We will do what others expect of us" (P. 126). He suggests that peoples expectations for you soon start to assimilate as the expectations you hold for yourself. This is perhaps one of the largest themes of the book. Both the mothers of the Wes Moores had high expectations for their sons and wanted them to graduate and succeed in life. It is not entirely clear what caused the drastic difference between the two fates of the Wes Moores. Perhaps it was the fact that Wes 1 was sent to military school- a place where expectations for students were so high, that it was hard not to succeed. It is possible that the school Wes 2 was in, simply did not hold high expectations for its students, or did not seem to stress the importance of their students' success. In the beginning of the book, Wes 1 had also experienced a lack of motivation to do well in school. He felt as though the teachers did not expect him to do well in school and did not want him there. Maybe the reason why Wes 1 and Wes 2's paths took on such different directions was because of the expectation that their environments held for them. For instance, Wes 1 was expected to work hard in military school, graduate, and be successful. This is a sharp contrast, to the expectations held for kids like Wes 2, who lived in the impoverished neighborhoods of Baltimore. Kids like Wes 2 were not expected to graduate high school, and were expected to fall into the common role of becoming drug dealers and teen parents. The expectations that you and others hold for yourself are your motivations. If you have high expectations for yourself, you will be motivated to be successful, while if you have low expectations for yourself, you will not be motivated to be successful. There is no clear answer for why the lives of the Wes Moores took such different paths but part three of the book suggests that their lives may have ended up so differently because of the expectations they had for themselves and the expectations others had for them.
Part three of
The Other Wes Moore is titled "Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled" because of how the lives of the Wes Moores diverged into completely different directions, partially due to the fact that each of them had different expectations for their lives. This final part of the book talks about what led to the final fates of the two Wes Moores. Do you believe that the expectations we have for ourselves and that others have for us, have a strong influence over the direction of our lives?
