The Other Wes Moore Bad Influences

At the same time Wesley was destroying the relationship that him and his brother

The other Wes, however, got reinforced for his aggressive behavior and drug involvement; he also committed the robbery with his brother (Tony). Social bonding theory (individuals will commit delinquent acts when their bonds to society are weakened or have broken; attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief) – as Wes expressed, “young boys are more likely to believe in themselves if they know that there’s someone, somewhere, who shares that belief” (28). Moreover, this influenced the internalization that ‘Weses’ did with the attention obtained from authorities present in their lives. For example, how one Wes had the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with his teacher because they were both better off when he didn’t attended class; whereas, the lieutenants at Valley Forge not allowing for Wes to go back home – they demonstrated that they believed in

Moreover, he was raised by single mother too, his father never wanted to meet him. Wes’s mother’s “Educational opportunity Grants or Pell Grants was being slashed, and her grants was being terminated” (Moore17). Due to this, she couldn’t continue her education. Also, he has an older brother; whose name is tony. He was introduced in the book as a “certified gangster” (Moore27).

Many of them are young, relentless, and possibly want attention. Many of these males will wind up with the wrong crowd making stupid, terrible decisions, for example, drug dealing. The quote that follows will back up the previous statement, “He was a veteran of the drug game at 18” (Moore 57). In this part of the story Tony and the other Wes were hanging out and Tony, the other Wes’s brother grew up quickly hanging with the wrong crowd and got in the ‘street business’ of drugs. The altercations leading up to the quote were that Tony was trying to get Wes to go down the same path he did and he wasn’t going for it.

In this quote, Wes Moore, the author, recalls one of only two memories he has of his father. The first memory is when Wes’ father protected him, then in the second, Wes foreshadows a life changing entve. The loss of his father. This reveals that Wes remembers little of his father and has missed a fatherly influence in his life. Through missing his father, Wes is able to have a connection with the other Wes

He projected the typical American stereotype of a father which is a man who is always there to protect and provide for his family, and it seemed Watts filled these roles. Living a normal life with no problems or worries, Watts takes a turn. His lovely family of four is brutally murdered by this man who was supposed to be “family”.

This goes to show that by exploring his options and opening up his mind to things helped pull him out of this dark place he was in and start thinking of how he was affected by his environment and many other things. He realized that his environment, genetics, or just bad luck affected him more than he thought it did when he was younger. He shows how thankful he is when he states, “People who taught me that no accident of birth-not being black or relatively poor, being from baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless-would ever define or limit me”(5) and when he states, “What changes was that I found ii was surrounded by people-starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a straight of wonderful role models and mentors-who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself”(5). These quotes demonstrate how thankful he was for the people that helped take care of him and change him for the better even if he didnt treat them lively for a while. This shows that if you surround yourself with kind, loving, and caring people, you can

After Gail tells him that Frank has been raping and molesting Native American girls, David finds Wesley quietly talking to Ollie Young Bear, a Native American who is greatly respected by the white community in their town: “I knew my father was asking Ollie if he had heard anything about Uncle Frank molesting Indian girls. Was he asking the right man? I wondered” (50). Even though Wesley may not have chosen the best person to talk to, his motivations were heroic. He was trying to investigate his brother’s crimes while keeping quiet and trying to to trouble the entire town.

In Lerner (2002), commented to Lerner’s way to talk; if you don’t stop trying to talk like me, I will kill you, unnerstan’ what I’m saying. Over the years that Lerner passed in jail he learned more and more about how the system works. Being around people that do or sell drugs influenced Lerner to get involved by selling drugs. The reason that, he did not want to demonstrate fear while he was in prison, caused him to do things that he would not normally do. The authors did not realize the transformation that he went through while behind bars, for the reason that he was not trying to change but only adapt to his new environment.

After the father breaks the bind that kept him to his trauma, it could be assumed that he lived the rest of his life with his

This only led him to get arrested at only 8 years old. Another bad decision the other wes made was after he moved. He was the look out for people that sold drugs on the streets. He would let them know when a cop was near by. Although he wasn’t the one dealing with drugs, he was still helping and eventually led him to later move up to selling drugs.

He was going up to random people in his school offering them good deals on what he was selling, telling them that it would change their lives for the better. He did not care that all of these once-healthy students were now relying on drugs to get by. That was until one day he sold someone the drugs that would later end their life and end up getting Elliot caught by the police. The story of this person's death was all over the news, he knew the police would be looking for who sold the person the drugs and that everyone would immediately point fingers at him. He had been the top seller at his school yet he had never considered the possibility of what could happen if he got caught.

Wes’s lawyer claims that Wes simply accompanied Tony to Philadelphia and points out that since being in jail, Wes has converted to Islam and calls his children every day. As Wes waits to hear the jury’s verdict, he is overwhelmed by feelings of isolation and indifference. Wes is found guilty of first-degree felony murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Wes reflects on his fate; he has been to prison before, but never anticipated to spend the rest of his life there. For the first time, Wes has a clear idea of what his future looks like.

Growing up, Wes did not have anyone else to look up to besides his older brother Tony, that was involved in

The book “The Other Wes Moore” talks about two young kids that has same name, lives in the same neighborhood, but has different destinies. The author Wes mother Joy was a single mother, as the other Wes mother Mary by different circumstances. Also, an important play roll at the book is that both mothers wants to give them education and be successful for the author and the other Wes. Both Wes are going in the same path of getting into trouble and being rebels. They are acting unreasonably by taking the wrong decisions they might.