The Other Wes Moore Sparknotes

The Other Wes Moore, is a chilling, eye opening story in which one man’s life could have easily been the others. Both Wes’s were raised in the same neighborhood, just blocks away from each other in Baltimore, Maryland. At a young age both young men became involved in the drug trade in Baltimore, one turned his life around, the other however continued to follow down that dark path. The author of the book went on to graduate from Oxford University and speak at INVESCO before Barak Obama accepted the democratic nomination for presidency. The Other Wes, continued with his life of crime until eventually he was arrested and found guilty for murder. Now he is serving a life sentence in prison for a crime he claims he did not commit. Education played

The Other’s Wes’s mother, Mary, was a single mom trying to graduate from college while also working at the Bayview Medical Center to help pay for some of her student debt. I can only imagine the amount of stress this woman experienced. Between work, school, and two children she dearly loved is a responsibility many cannot bear alone. I imagine much of the Other Wes’s disciplinary issues derived from the lack of attention he may have received from his mother because she was so busy supporting her family. The author however, was in a fairly different situation. His mother, Joy had already graduated from American University in Washington D.C. Although she was engaged by the time she was a junior, she had another her finance, a recent graduate, to help support her and their family until she finished her studies. By the time she left her husband, she had earned her degree. Joy also had an amazing support group to help raise her children when they moved to

Although both Wes’ faced multiple trials during their childhood, the determining factor in their future lives would be their education and the family structure who supported them. Mary did little to prevent her son from peddling drugs, and remained in a sense of denial for a long time. The other Wes had been long lost before his mother could intervene, or anyone in his family for that matter. Wes never received his high school diploma because he’d rather earn money off the streets than study in school. The other Wes felt as if he didn’t belong, his teachers did little in the sense of creating a structure classroom environment. This left many students similar to Wes at a disadvantage because the school districts in Baltimore were simply underfunded, and I suspect had faculty had little to no hope for the students to begin with due to most of them living in poor environments. Wes didn’t see a future for himself in the education system, growing up poor had left an imprint on him. When an individual is stripped of all opportunities because of their social status, they turn to the only solution profitable for them, drugs. Even when the Other Wes decided he wanted to turn his life around for the better by earning his GED through job core, and completing his training as a carpenter he faced many setbacks. Wes had two families and four