The Other Wes Moore Analysis

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Summary:
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore explores the journey of two men by the same name who grow up in similar neighborhoods, but end up with different endings. The book shares the stories of both men who highlight significant events in their life that led one to be a businessman, while the other a convict in prison for murder without the possibility of parole. When Moore discovers Wes’s story he begins to correspond with him and it is their correspondence that inspired this book. First of all, Part One explains the childhood of the two boys and how both had an absent father. However, Wes loses his father because of a virus that goes undetected by doctors, while the other does not have a father because he chose to leave his child. Therefore, the mothers are left to be single parents being the sole income earners in their home. Wes’s mother Mary moves to another neighborhood in Baltimore called Northwood. At this point, Wes recalls finding his mother’s marijuana and gets high for the first time. This is when Wes decided to get involved in the drug game. During this time, Moore and his family move to the Bronx from Baltimore with his grandparents. Joy, Moore’s mother, sends Moore to a private school in New York called Riverdale. Moore’s grades are poor during this time and he is attempting to fit in with his friends at Riverdale and his neighborhood friends from the Bronx. Furthermore, in Part Two the men discuss second chances, but Moore explains