Hernandez 1

Gabriel Hernandez

Professor Morgan

English 1A

25 October 2017

Foundations with Gays Analysis

From the start of the novel, Wes Moore created an atmosphere of comparing himself to

his parallel, the other Wes Moore, in a rather creative way. He introduces this idea of

comparisons by describing how different the fates of each came to be. The author Wes Moore

went on to going to John Hopkins and Oxford Universities as well as working for Wall Street

and the White House, while the other Wes Moore ended up in a life of drug trade and ultimately

a life sentence for the death of an off-duty officer. The author Wes Moore illustrates for the

reason why his career was so much different than the other Wes Moore throughout the novel.

The author Wes Moore attributes much of his success and the other Wes Mores lack thereof, to

the motivation of education by adult figures while growing up in their childhood and teenage

years. Throughout the book, certain advantages are seen to be given to the author Moore and

author, Roxane Gay, uses these experiences to say why each ended up the way they did.

The novel introduces the author Wes Moore as a boy who witnesses the loss of his father

and only had his mother to push him in the right moral direction. Moores mother, makes the

decision to move in with her parents in the neighborhood in the Bronx. Moores grandparents

parents saw the neighborhood get tainted by bad situations; instead she opted to send him to

Riverdale, a prestigious-private institution where even John F. Kennedy attended. Joy had

always wanted the best for her child so the sacrifice was worth the education. As a result, Wes

Moore did not do as good academically as Joy hoped. Joy really wanted him to succeed so
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eventually threatened Wes to send him to military school if he did not raise his grades.

Unfortunately, Wes did not deliver and was sent to military school to learn discipline. He began

to care about what he was doing and learned about discipline, hard-work and respect. He then

goes to become one of the youngest cadets in the military and proceeds to get his associates

degree at the military school. Due to part of his mother pushing to strive for better, he realizes

that himself as he discovers that education is the key to a better life and his mother was right to

push him so hard. He goes to attend John Hopkins for undergrad., Oxford for graduate school

and eventually ends up working at the White House and Wall street. Looking back at his military

cadet years, he says, As I started to think seriously about how I could become the person I

wanted to be, I looked around at some of the people whod had the biggest impact on my life.

(Wes Moore 132) Moores success derived from his mothers push for his education but also his

commanders high expectations. His high expectations put him in a position where he was able

to undergo any educational struggle. Put into an organized system since a child, Moore grew

knowing he had opportunity for success. Gay describes this as having peculiar benefits over

other children. The fact that the author Moore had all these opportunities cannot be looked over

as one of the biggest factors of his success.

The other Wes Moore, on the other hand, had different expectations and motives in

regards to education. Wes had no father figure and had Tony, his brother, as a role model. Tony

was part of the drug trade in his neighborhood and reputable. Wes wanted some of his brothers

fame and money so from early on, he had some idea of where to head. As a result, he does get

himself involved despite the fact that Tony warning him against it. Tony did not want Wes to fall

in the deep hole he was in now but Wes did not take his advice. Wes became a look out for

cops and was paid quite impressively. As for school, Wes did not care too much about it
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eventually skipping a day to hang out with his friends. Knowing his mother smoked marijuana,

he got the idea of bringing it to the party to make it extra exciting. His disregard for his own

health became second and soon fell into the drug dealing game as well. A few later, he even had

his own crew bringing in almost four thousand dollars every day. To the locals in his

neighborhood, he was a respectable player in town. Being popular and all, he also was a chick

magnet. He had multiple girlfriends, but soon fell into trouble when one of his girlfriends,

Alicia, get pregnant two months after hooking up. Wes was about to become a father and did not

know how to react. On the side, he was also talking to another girl whose boyfriend ends up

finding out about them. The boyfriend and Wes begin to argue and eventually end off in a hot

pursuit. Wes with a gun and the boyfriend running, the situation finally stopped when the police

showed up. Wes was jailed for six months in Juvenile Hall but fortunately released in time to

graduate high school. He then begins to deal drugs once more and then getting caught for drug

selling. This time after he is released, his starts to think of his children. He tells Levy, Im done

man. I want to get out. Do something different with my life (138) Wes later joins the Jobs

Corps program and quickly earns a GED and carpentry training as a trade. He works on and off

jobs but soon falls to drug dealing again. A few months later, Tony and Wes are part of a robbery

gone wrong and both are arrest with charges of killing an off-duty cop. Wes receives a full life

sentence. From the very beginning, the other Wes was brought into a world where education was

seen as second. With no strict path from his mother and bad influences from his brother, he saw

not many options when it came to life choices. Gay would argue that this Moore did not have as

many benefits as the other did. This Moore was growing up in a drug-centered neighborhood,

hung with drug dealers and law breakers and did not have any one really to steer him in any
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other direction. His lack of a strong foundation only led him into what he knew best, the drug

game. And as a result, it got him into trouble.

The author Wes Moore and other Wes Moore start in similar situations in regards to

having no father figures. The author Moore is motivated by his mother while the other Moore is

not. The author Moores mother motivates Wes to push to see how military school can help even

if he wants to leave. Wes realizes that his mother was right and education is the key to opening

doors. Without her, he would have not gotten this far. On the other side of the coin, the other

Wes Moore had his brother as a role-model and fell into the life of drugs. Each had different

motivations for their actions and this influenced their decisions in the years after childhood. Gay

would argue that the author Moore was at an advantage because he had support from his mother,

his family and the military school to drive him in the right direction. On the other hand, the other

Moore had drug-trading friends and grew up knowing nothing but that. With the analysis Gay

makes, we can clearly see that most of Moores success came out of his benefits over the other

Moore.
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Work Cited

Gay, Roxane.. Bad Feminist : Essays. New York :Harper Perennial, 2014. Print.

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. N.p.: Spiegel & Grau Trade

Paperbacks, 2011. Print.