ipl-logo

Violence In Thomas Moore's Talk About The Street Culture

959 Words4 Pages

How well does Moore describe the culture of the streets, where young boys grow up believing that violence transforms them into men? Talk about the street culture - its violence, drug dealing, disdain for education. What creates that ethos and why do so many young men find it attractive?

Moore describes the culture of the streets almost perfectly, especially in a passage where he describes how a drug operation works (110-111). He talks about the roles in the other Wes’ drug operation, starting with the corner boys, who could be as young as seven. He then moves on to the hitters who dealt with the money. From there he describes the job of a houseman. Lastly he describes the muscle. This passage has one key statement in it, and that is the comment …show more content…

Once you have someone other than yourself being affected by your actions, then you have become a man. The author states, “I think it was when I first felt accountable to people other than myself. When I first cared that my actions mattered to people other than just me. (66)” The author Wes understands that becoming a man is a huge step. As soon as your actions affect other people, you have to start thinking about the bigger picture. Usually becoming a man isn’t identified by one single event in a person's life, but rather a few actions made by that person. I think a defining moment in a boy’s life is when he is forced to choose between bettering himself, or his family. The other Wes responds to the question by piggybacking off of the author’s response. “Providing for others isn’t easy. And the mistakes you make trying are pretty unforgiving. (66)” Looking back at his mistakes, the other Wes understands that second chances are far and few when your choices affect other people. He only received a few second chances in life, and those were only given to him when his actions/crimes affect other people. The event or series of events that led to the author Wes’ manhood, was joining the military school, specifically when he jumps out of the plane as an airborne ranger. From this point on, the author Wes has a different outlook on life. He now

Show More
Related
1265 Words | 6 Pages

John Singleton’s film, Boyz N the Hood, displays the challenging upbringing of adolescents who have to live with harsh conditions around not only their home but also their surrounding town. The film compares the differences between the lifestyles of Tre Styles and his friends’, Darren and Ricky Baker. Darren and Ricky are half-brothers who are nothing alike. Singleton demonstrates the importance of male leadership in a home in the ghetto of Los Angeles by comparing the difference between the lifestyles of Tre and his friends. While many adolescents in the hood have close friendships, some form close relationships by assembling gangs and create a world of violence due to alcohol abuse, which together ultimately breeds discrimination.

Read More
1319 Words | 6 Pages

This African-American culture within Detroit shapes and gives meaning to the lives of Dude Freeman and Rodney Phelps. The overarching cultural element of African-American culture within Detroit affecting the two main interlocutors is the street drug trade. The culture of the street drug trade can be thought of as having three overarching effects on the adolescents which shape and give meaning to their lives, economic effects, kinship effects, and political effects.

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

Wes Moore is the author of a novel that talks about a man with the same name as him and how his life varies from his own. There are three special social factors that set good and bad Wes apart from each other. Also there was a positive impact on the bad Wes when he participated in Job Corps when he was at the campus but it did not last very long when he went back home. Which once Wes headed back down the negative path again it would ultimately lead to his life imprisonment. But it seemed like prison turned out to have a good impact on Wes’ life but it will impact his children’s lives forever.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

Also, from my observation of the author’s interaction with the gang members, he acted in a way, that was out of respect, and in no way condemning of the gang members or their culture. He befriended them and truly showed great interest in their personal lives. He also knew that he couldn’t’ approach these gang members in a hostile manner, as he learned this from a gang member, who stated that “You can’t just walk into the neighborhood and act like a tough guy, you get beat up.” Moreover, I also observed that the author seemed mild mannered, and certainly did not come across as this know it all, arrogant researcher. I can only imagine how scary this entire experience may have been for him, but nonetheless, he allowed himself to “hang around” the gang members as they drove him around their dangerous neighborhood.

Read More
410 Words | 2 Pages

Thomas C. Foster commences chapter 11 with the topic of violence, he claims that violence in literature goes beyond the line of just violence. A action of hitting someone as Foster states can be a metaphor. One great example Foster utilizes is from the poem written by Robert Frost, “ Out, Out” which is about a farm boy who is caught in a terrible violent situation which results in the boy dying out of blood loss and shock. This poem draws a point between the “uncaring relationship we have with the universe”, the inevitability we have with death and how minor our lives are. He then explains the two categories of violence in literature.

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

In the book, Wes Moore states "This book is meant to show us how... our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path, or a tentative step down the right one." (“The Other Wes Moore”). Wes Moore tells his readers his purpose for writing “The Other Wes Moore” was to give people examples of how one bad decision can determine a person’s destiny. One simple mistake could change a person’s life. Wes Moore also believes that one step in a positive direction could change someone’s life for the best.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

Today’s culture sees manhood as being strong, fighting and doing dangerous things, but this is not how it is portrayed in this movie. The theme of manhood is portrayed through the transformation that takes place in the life of Josh Birdwell, the oldest child of the Birdwell family. When we first meet the Birdwells, Josh is an ordinary Indiana young adult of the time period, picking on his younger brother and

Read More
932 Words | 4 Pages

In Chapter 12 of Readings for Sociology, Garth Massey included and piece titled “The Code of the Streets,” written by Elijah Anderson. Anderson describes both a subculture and a counterculture found in inner-city neighborhoods in America. Anderson discusses “decent families,” and “street families,” he differentiates the two in in doing so he describes the so called “Code of the Streets.” This code is an exemplifies, norms, deviance, socialization, and the ideas of subcultures and countercultures.

Read More
580 Words | 3 Pages

Police brutality is an awful issue in the United States of America because officers hurt and kill innocent people with too much use of force. Police brutality is an issue because it may cause deaths. Unlawful use of force causes injuries and trauma. My book was Dear Martin by Nic Stone. My book is about a teen named Justyce who got an unlawful beating by an officer named Castillo.

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

The paths diverged when the author Wes Moore got enrolled into Valley Forge military school while the other Wes Moore was still in the ghetto part of Baltimore. In Valley Forge, the rules are strict and grueling which made the author Wes Moore more respectful and more discipline than when he was in Bronx. Entering Valley Forge also introduced a variety of mentors that will later help and guide the author Wes Moore in the right way in the future. The other Wes Moore however still resided at Baltimore and will be later influenced on what the general majority was doing. This meant that in a young age, he was selling drugs and will also later be a father before he was in his twenties.

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

Numerous scenes in the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, are riddled with violence. Those horrid scenes shape the themes of a heightened mental state and revenge. The actions of the Alpha Company are driven by emotion and stress. These issues create great problems for the Company, stripping them of their civilized societal standards and leaving only natural human instinct.

Read More
181 Words | 1 Pages

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is a riveting novel encompassing the life and hardships of an unnamed black narrator in the 1930’s. Ellison’s beautifully crafted work dives deep into the racism and hardships of 1930 and uses numerous conventions to layer depth onto his subject. Ellison attempts to inform the reader of the extreme racism that was rampant in 1930’s society. The violence displayed in the battle royale held in the narrator's home town in chapter one is a shocking opening to the rest of the novel.

Read More
1318 Words | 6 Pages

Mia Jamric Mr. Myers English 9 2W 05/23/23 To Love and to Lose When does one become a “woman”? Do they always have to endure the heartache of some sort? “Coming of age” is the process by which a girl becomes a woman and a boy becomes a man. This process also matures kids and helps them enter adulthood.

Read More
519 Words | 3 Pages

I tell you I got so confused sometimes I didn’t know who it was I was supposed to be.” (p.28) Charlie needed to become an adult because his father passed away was a big inspiration for him and no one in his family can take that responsibility but he doesn’t know if he is still a child or an adult. Another experience that changes Charlie is after he fought with Mr Peacock.

Read More
1394 Words | 6 Pages

He also explains how the world can change men and how values and ideas change men. People fear these changes are affecting the society and lives of other people that they show a bad image to what manhood looks like. Some men do not mind these changes while men do. In some parts of the article, the author talks about the changes in men and how it is

Read More

More about Violence In Thomas Moore's Talk About The Street Culture

Related Topics

Open Document