Chapter 1
In the beginning of chapter 1 of The Other Wes Moore, Wes starts to chase his sister because she blew directly into his face, but he was like a dog chasing a car after he had caught her. He didn’t know what to do, so right as his mother walked into the door he punched her. Wes’ mom blew her top and screamed at Wes. Wes ran upstairs and slammed the door shut, and hid behind his sister’s crib. Wesley, Wes’ father was trying to calm his mother, but she had all the right to be mad because she didn’t want her son becoming an abusive man. She feared this because her first husband (Nikki’s father), Bill, was an abusive man.
One day, Bill came home from work, drunk, and he started to beat on her. That was the sole reason that she left him in the first place.
Later that night, Wes’ father thought he was suffering from a sore throat and a fever. By the time he went to bed, he couldn’t take it anymore, and he had to go to the hospital. When they went to the hospital, the doctors didn’t know what to diagnose him with, so they just anasthised his throat. After he went home, he didn’t notice that his airway was closing due to be anasthised, so he eventually suffocated to death. The family later found out it was a mis-diagnosis. Nikki took her father’s death the worst because she had lost both her fathers that day; when Bill found out had Wesley died, he no longer had to fulfill his fatherly duties.
~~
The other Wes was about ready to go to his grandma’s house right when she found out her Pell grant was being rejected. She could no longer pay for her college tuitions, so she called up the college and told them that she would be dropping out. As they went to her mom’s house for the second time in the chapter she walked in and a voice speaks out loud to them. She saw the man, and she was speechless. The man on the couch was Wes’ father.
Chapter 2
Wes’s brother Tony lived with his father in the Murphy Homes Projects, a very dangerous, dirty, and drug-infested area. “Wes loved his brother, but had learned to ignore his occasional ‘do as I say, not as I do’ tirades. Tony, by contrast, was desperately trying to give his little brother information he thought he needed, the kind of information that Tony never got” (Moore 27). Tony had already developed a fierce reputation, and he hoped Wes would make better choices than he had.
Wes had a good friend named Woody, and they both played football for the Northwood Rams. Being athletic and succeeding in football soon became important to him, and unfortunately his performance in school declined as result. Wes and Woody played football often in their neighborhood.
One day, Wes played defense a little too close for one boy’s liking. An argument started, and the boy punched Wes in the face. Everyone was stunned. Wes ran home, and Woody ran after him to make sure he was okay. Woody found Wes in his kitchen with a knife. Despite Tony’s warnings to keep out of trouble, he had also taught Wes to never let someone get away with hurting your pride.
Woody tried to stop him, but Wes ran outside to confront the boy, not even noticing that police officers had shown up. Wes ran at the boy, but was tackled by one of the officers. Wes and Woody were both arrested and taken to jail. Knowing he could not call his mother, Wes called Tony. Tony’s father agreed to pick him up. Wes was back home before his mother got there; she didn’t find out for years that he had been arrested that day.
~~
Joy was not coping with the death of her husband well. Her parents offered for Joy and her children to move in with them in their house in the Bronx whenever she wanted. Joy decided to take them up on their offer, and three weeks later, they were leaving Maryland.
Joy grew up in the Bronx, and had great memories of that time. She remembered it as a safe community, and was excited to move her family away from Baltimore. However, as they got closer to their new home, it was evident things had changed in the Bronx. Drugs and violence had crept in, and it was no longer the great community it had once been.
Joy’s father, Josiah, was a minister’s son, and her mother, Winell, was a member of the congregation of his church in Jamaica. They fell in love, and began to plan a life together. Josiah wished to follow in his father’s footsteps, but knew he must get an education first. He came to America to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. After completing his education, he sent for his wife and children, and they made their home in the Bronx.
After settling into his grandparent’s home, Wes quickly realized their results were stricter than his mother’s. He decided to seek out ways to get out of the house and made some friends. Wes found some guys playing basketball at a court with no nets and quickly realized they were older and better than him, and that they played hard. He decided to stick it out and ended up making new friends.We were all enclosed by the same fence, bumping into one another, fighting, celebrating. Showing one another our best and worst, revealing ourselves – even our cruelty and crimes – as if that fence had created a circle of trust. A brotherhood.
In the beginning of chapter 1 of The Other Wes Moore, Wes starts to chase his sister because she blew directly into his face, but he was like a dog chasing a car after he had caught her. He didn’t know what to do, so right as his mother walked into the door he punched her. Wes’ mom blew her top and screamed at Wes. Wes ran upstairs and slammed the door shut, and hid behind his sister’s crib. Wesley, Wes’ father was trying to calm his mother, but she had all the right to be mad because she didn’t want her son becoming an abusive man. She feared this because her first husband (Nikki’s father), Bill, was an abusive man.
One day, Bill came home from work, drunk, and he started to beat on her. That was the sole reason that she left him in the first place.
Later that night, Wes’ father thought he was suffering from a sore throat and a fever. By the time he went to bed, he couldn’t take it anymore, and he had to go to the hospital. When they went to the hospital, the doctors didn’t know what to diagnose him with, so they just anasthised his throat. After he went home, he didn’t notice that his airway was closing due to be anasthised, so he eventually suffocated to death. The family later found out it was a mis-diagnosis. Nikki took her father’s death the worst because she had lost both her fathers that day; when Bill found out had Wesley died, he no longer had to fulfill his fatherly duties.
~~
The other Wes was about ready to go to his grandma’s house right when she found out her Pell grant was being rejected. She could no longer pay for her college tuitions, so she called up the college and told them that she would be dropping out. As they went to her mom’s house for the second time in the chapter she walked in and a voice speaks out loud to them. She saw the man, and she was speechless. The man on the couch was Wes’ father.
Chapter 2
Wes’s brother Tony lived with his father in the Murphy Homes Projects, a very dangerous, dirty, and drug-infested area. “Wes loved his brother, but had learned to ignore his occasional ‘do as I say, not as I do’ tirades. Tony, by contrast, was desperately trying to give his little brother information he thought he needed, the kind of information that Tony never got” (Moore 27). Tony had already developed a fierce reputation, and he hoped Wes would make better choices than he had.
Wes had a good friend named Woody, and they both played football for the Northwood Rams. Being athletic and succeeding in football soon became important to him, and unfortunately his performance in school declined as result. Wes and Woody played football often in their neighborhood.
One day, Wes played defense a little too close for one boy’s liking. An argument started, and the boy punched Wes in the face. Everyone was stunned. Wes ran home, and Woody ran after him to make sure he was okay. Woody found Wes in his kitchen with a knife. Despite Tony’s warnings to keep out of trouble, he had also taught Wes to never let someone get away with hurting your pride.
Woody tried to stop him, but Wes ran outside to confront the boy, not even noticing that police officers had shown up. Wes ran at the boy, but was tackled by one of the officers. Wes and Woody were both arrested and taken to jail. Knowing he could not call his mother, Wes called Tony. Tony’s father agreed to pick him up. Wes was back home before his mother got there; she didn’t find out for years that he had been arrested that day.
~~
Joy was not coping with the death of her husband well. Her parents offered for Joy and her children to move in with them in their house in the Bronx whenever she wanted. Joy decided to take them up on their offer, and three weeks later, they were leaving Maryland.
Joy grew up in the Bronx, and had great memories of that time. She remembered it as a safe community, and was excited to move her family away from Baltimore. However, as they got closer to their new home, it was evident things had changed in the Bronx. Drugs and violence had crept in, and it was no longer the great community it had once been.
Joy’s father, Josiah, was a minister’s son, and her mother, Winell, was a member of the congregation of his church in Jamaica. They fell in love, and began to plan a life together. Josiah wished to follow in his father’s footsteps, but knew he must get an education first. He came to America to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. After completing his education, he sent for his wife and children, and they made their home in the Bronx.
After settling into his grandparent’s home, Wes quickly realized their results were stricter than his mother’s. He decided to seek out ways to get out of the house and made some friends. Wes found some guys playing basketball at a court with no nets and quickly realized they were older and better than him, and that they played hard. He decided to stick it out and ended up making new friends.We were all enclosed by the same fence, bumping into one another, fighting, celebrating. Showing one another our best and worst, revealing ourselves – even our cruelty and crimes – as if that fence had created a circle of trust. A brotherhood.
- Written by Vaidesh Raman