What Is The Theme Of The Other Wes Moore

Differential Opportunity Theory in The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates was written by Wes Moore in 2010 about his personal experiences growing up, from his impoverished beginnings to a successful lieutenant in the army. His life is compared to another man with the same name “Wes Moore” as he faces a similar upbringing but with a significantly different outcome. The author, Moore, grew up with a supportive and loving family that made sacrifices for him to succeed by providing him with improved education and giving him the resources for success. Wes Moore was also raised in a supportive family but was never encouraged or severely punished when he was found heading down the wrong road. His mother

Life started to change for Moore as he experienced his father collapse and die because of a misdiagnosis of epiglottitis, forcing his family to relocate and move in with his grandparents in the Bronx. The Bronx is known for increased poverty, dropout rates, violence, drugs, weapons, and so on making it difficult for one to access legitimate opportunities for success. Moore’s grandparents gave very strict rules to Moore along with his mother picking up additional jobs for Moore to go to a wealthier private white school compared to a poor minority public school. Throughout his experience Moore felt like an outcast between the white rich kids and his friends around his neighborhood, making him lose motivation in school and his grades beginning to drop. Shortly after he tagged a building with his friend Shea and accidentally hitting his sister Moore’s mom and grandparents used a lot of their savings to send Moore to Valley Forge, a military school, where he revitalized himself, forming himself into a man of new purpose, goals, opportunities, and life. Comparing Moore’s upbringing to differential opportunity theory, the connections can be made through Moore’s upbringing that he was given the legitimate opportunities for success but didn’t take them right away. Instead, he was being influenced by both sides, his mother’s view on his education and success and his friends who started to sway him towards criminality. When sent off to Valley Forge Wes felt hatred towards his mother as it was a sense of betrayal, he states, “for the first few days I woke up furious and went to bed even more livid. The target of my rage was my mother. How could she send me away? How could she force me into a military school before I was even a teenager?... I felt betrayed. I felt more alone than ever,” (Moore, 2010). During his experience he tried to escape the school, and when given the chance