TOW # 4 "The Other Wes Moore" (IRB)

Author Wes Moore tells the story The Other Wes Moore, an exciting true story of two different men with the same name. Although growing up in the same neighborhood with vandalism, drugs and death the two men ended up leading entirely different lives. The first half of this book tells the adolescent lives of both of the boys, which evidently have many similarities. Wes Moore is a youth advocate, army combat veteran, social entrepreneur, and host of Beyond Belief on the Oprah Winfrey Network. When writing this story Moore is targeting all readers interested in hearing about his strange adventure. However, it may also be that Moore is trying to reach children who are currently in the same situation he and the other Wes Moore were in, trying to prove to them that there is more than just one path they can take. While this book is supposed to emphasize how the two Wes’s lives became astronomically different, their childhood’s, contain many of the same misfortunes. For instance, both never really had a father growing up. The author’s father died when Wes was four-years-old, and the other Wes Moore had a living father, but he was never in his son’s life growing up. This is just one example of how Wes Moore uses juxtaposition throughout the entire book to compare the two Wes’s. Interestingly the author uses juxtaposition chronologically, comparing the progression of the two Wes’s lives during the same age. The use of juxtaposition in this book is to prove to the reader how easily it would have been for the author’s life story to become like his same-named counterpart’s. How easy it would have been to give up on a better life, but still, he did not. Wes Moore’s interesting use of point of view drastically affects the book. Moore writes this story in both first person and third person omniscient. When writing about his childhood he writes in the first person because it is his story, but when changing sections of the book and telling the other Wes’s story he writes as an observer with insight into the other Wes’s mind. This allows the reader to understand the two Wes’s equally and without bias. Due to the fact that I have not finished the book yet I cannot say if the author fully achieves his purpose.