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Shea is Wes’s friend from the neighborhood. A runner for drug dealers from a very young age, Shea inspires jealousy and admiration in some of his peers, and disgust in others. He convinces Wes to graffiti with him the time that they end up getting handcuffed. Much later, Wes learns that Shea has been put away on serious criminal charges, which forces Wes to consider his own luck in not having gone down that path.
Shea Quotes in Discovering Wes Moore
The Discovering Wes Moore quotes below are all either spoken by Shea or refer to Shea. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
Once I felt the coast was clear, I began to draw, starting with the connected Ks and finishing with a wide circle around them, in my custom style. Seven seconds and done. I had added my mark to Laconia Avenue, a testament to the world that Wes Moore lived—or at least Kid Kupid did. Nobody could ever deny I was there.
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As Wes begins skipping school regularly and spending all his time with his local neighborhood friends, he starts getting into trouble, including graffitiing buildings with his unique tag, “Kid Kupid.” One day, he runs into his friend Shea, who reveals a can of spray paint and offers Wes a chance to tag a building with him. In this passage, Wes’s graffitiing points to his need to leave a “mark” on his world and prove wrong anyone who would ever “deny he was there.” This need bespeaks a deep fear that he will never leave such a mark. His anxiety is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Und
The kids in my crew loved one another, but how long would we mourn if any one of us disappeared? I’d seen it happen already, kids leaving the hood in one way or another—killed, imprisoned, shipped off to distant relatives down south. The older kids would pour out a little liquor or leave a shrine on a corner under a graffiti mural, or they’d reminisce about the ones who were locked up. But then life went on. The struggle went on. Who really cared? Besides my mother, who would truly miss me if I went to jail?
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Just as Wes and Shea finish up their tagging, a police officer arrives and handcuffs them. Even at this young age, Shea is already a runner for serious drug dealers and thus remains confident in the face of law enforcement. Wes, however, has never had an encounter like this before, and it forces him to reevaluate the friendships that play such a central role in his life. In this passage, Wes’s anxiety over leaving some kind of mark on the world again comes to the fore. But this scene shows Wes starting to question whether the path he is headed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Mini
Chapter 5 Quotes
I had never seen a young man demand that much respect from his peers. I had seen Shea get respect in the neighborhood, but this was different. This was the kind of respect you can’t beat or scare out of people. In spite of myself, I was impressed.
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Wes loathes his first few days at military school and attempts to escape numerous times. After a final failed escape in which faculty pretend to give Wes permission to leave (but have in fact set him up and sent him to a trap in the woods), they allow Wes to call his mother, Joy, and speak his mind to her. On the phone with Joy, Wes pleads with her to come home, but she insists that he give the place a try. While processing his emotions from this call the next day, Wes sees 19-year-old cadet captain Ty Hill, an Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia e
Chapter 8 Quotes
Hard work is essential, but you also need people around you who believe you can make it. Otherwise, if you don’t think you can succeed, what would you bother working for?
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Mayor Schmoke’s generosity with his time and his advice to Wes about the Rhodes Scholarship leaves a deep impression on Wes. Wes then interrupts the chronological narrative to reflect on this moment in light of some things he learned later on, including that Mayor Schmoke’s own decision to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship resulted from encouragement he got from a notable judge and a senator when Schmoke was Wes’s age. Wes comes to see this chain of mentorship and encouragement as utterly essential to individual flourishing. In reflecting on kids like Shea, an old friend from Wes’s neighborhood, Wes observes Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissi
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Shea Character Timeline in Discovering Wes Moore
The timeline below shows where the character Shea appears in Discovering Wes Moore. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
...on stoops than he ever had in school. One day, Wes runs into his friend Shea, who is a runner for local drug dealers—as a young kid, Shea is less likely...
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Shea pulls out some cans of spray paint from his bag and invites Wes to tag...
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Wes reflects on the shallowness of his friendships with Shea and other kids in the neighborhood, wondering who would really miss him if he went...
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Wes and Shea are thrown together in the back of the police car. Shea tells him to play...
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Chapter 6
...from Justin, with whom he’s kept in touch. Justin has bad news from the neighborhood: Shea has been arrested on a serious drug charge, and Justin’s mother Carol has cancer. Justin...
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