The Other Wes Moore

1.  The author grew up without his father, who died from a horrible hospital mistreatment.  After his father died, his mother  moved the family to her parents house the Bronx.  The author describes the Bronx as "the Bronx was in it's post apocalyptic phase, crack-fuelled declining devastation"(p.43).   He didn't do well in school because he was more focused on hanging out with his friends. 

The other Wes Moore grew up with out a father.  The last time that he saw his father, his father didn't even know who he was.  His older brother Tony was like a father figure to him.  Tony tried to keep him out of drugs but that didn't help because Tony was also into drugs.  The other Wes Moore also grew up in a crime driven area.  He dropped out of high school and started to sell drugs on the streets.

2.  The author's turning point was military school.  He went to military school after he was receiving bad grades.  Military taught him to respect adults and how to do better  in society.  If he hadn't gone to military school he would've still be on the streets playing with his friends and he wouldn't be the person that he is today.

The turning point for the other Wes Moore was a program that helped disadvantaged teenagers change their lives.  He heard about this program from a friend who had stopped doing the drug business.  He was amazed at how much the teachers at this program cared for teenagers like him.  He didn't see this point of view on the streets.  The teachers respect for people like him made him feel like he was a different person who was taking a new life.  He stopped selling drugs for a while.

3.  The author's mother helped him to become the person that he is today by being strict on him.  Education was very important to her.  Both his parents and his grandparents went to college.  If he got in trouble she would yell at him.  When he wasn't doing well in school she had enough and decided to send him to military school.  She thought that military school would toughen him up and help him to succeed in life.  She helped him become the person that he is today.

The other Wes Moore's mother wasn't as strict the author's mother.  She couldn't control her son's drug problem.  When she found out about the drugs she flushed them down the toilet and hopped that that would stop Wes from selling drugs.  Unfortunately that didn't stop Wes from selling drugs.  She also gave up on him when he dropped out of high school,  she just didn't have the same strength as the author's mother to help her son.

4. It seemed clear to me that from the story that young people need support and guidance of the whole community to be able to overcome the difficulties in their lives.  The author himself said "it was difficult to find the exact moment that made a difference in their two lives"(P.181).  He did point out the importance and power of stories to change young people's lives.  It might be easy to say that the other Wes Moore's fate would be prison because of his environment.  I like to believe that people can overcome their difficulty.  Society needs to help young people reach their potential.  I wonder how different the story would've been if the other Wes Moore's mother hadn't had her PELL grant cut and she had been able to finish college.  Both boys got into trouble when they were young, and   they both dropped out of high school.  The author's family was able to gather resources to give him the opportunity to succeed.  The other Wes Moore's mother didn't have the resources or the ability to change her son's life.

5.  There are some parts of the book that I liked and some parts that I didn't like.  I enjoyed the other Wes Moore's story more than the author's because his story dealt with violence and the trouble of living in a drug infested neighbourhood.  I didn't like the fact that the author used too much description.  When he was describing someone with lots of detail I would skip over that part.  I just don't like it when authors use too much description in general.  However I thought that this book was influential because he teaches us why the kids in dangerous neighbourhoods wind up in jail or drop out of high school.