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Wes Moore
The other Wes Moore is a man with the same name as Wes, who grew up in Maryland, near where Wes the author was born, and around the same time as Wes. Whereas the author Wes gave up his life of juvenile delinquency to become a cadet and eventually a Rhodes Scholar, the other Wes Moore ended up killing a police officer during a robbery and getting sentenced to life in prison. The author Wes Moore is haunted by the similarity of his and this other Wes Moore’s backgrounds and life circumstances, and by the notion that their destines could have easily been swapped, if not for a combination of random luck and different choices each of the two men made throughout their lives. Wes attributes some of the other Wes Moore’s tragic progression through life to his lack of mentors, which Wes himself was lucky enough to have. Wes gets to know the other Wes Moore through numerous interviews he conducts while visiting the other Wes Moore in prison , and he sympathizes with his story to some extent. Yet Wes ultimately distances himself from the other Wes Moore’s disproportioned attribution of his misdeeds to fate: the author wants to insist that despite one’s circumstances, one always has the power of choice over one’s decisions.
The Other Wes Quotes in Discovering Wes Moore
The Discovering Wes Moore quotes below are all either spoken by The Other Wes or refer to The Other Wes. 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 3 Quotes
I did learn, though, the chilling truth that Wes’s story could have been mine; the tragedy is that my story could have been his.
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In the closing pages of his memoir, the author Wes Moore reflects on the lingering mystery of why his life and the other Wes Moore’s life turned out the way they did. This passage repeats a line almost verbatim from the book’s opening note from the author, signaling its centrality to the message of the book as a whole. From his position of success, the author remains “chilled” by the thought that one different choice anywhere along the way in his life could have led him down the same road as the other Wes. Yet he ultimately feels that the 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. Mol
Chapter 10 Quotes
Wes had his operation organized with the precision of a military unit or a division of a Fortune 500 company. He liked the feeling of holding down a corner with his boys. It was the place he felt the most in his element. An unbreakable bond united the crew—for many members, it was the only support system they had. It was family.
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During Wes’s semester abroad in South Africa, his mother, Joy, calls him to tell him that a man who shares Wes’s name (the other Wes Moore) has been arrested for murder in their area. Though Wes goes on to win a Rhodes Scholarship and pursue a successful career, but he remains haunted by this odd coincidence, and years later, he writes to the other Wes Moore to ask about his life. This passage comes from Wes’s summary of a long letter from the other Wes that he received in reply, in which the other Wes details his challenging upbringing and 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 a
Back in his old hood, the streets seemed the same as when he’d left them seven months earlier. The check-cashing stores instead of banks; the rows of beauty salons, liquor stores, Laundromats, and funeral homes; and the graffitied walls were right where he’d left them. The hood was the hood, no matter how much time passed.
He’d changed, though.
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This passage comes continues the other Wes’s story of his life, which he tells to the author Wes over the course of the author Moore’s visits to prisons. The other Wes describes how he decided he wanted to stop dealing drugs. He takes a friend’s advice and enrolls in the Job Corps, an organization that provides training for people to learn a trade. This proves to be an incredible time in the other Wes’s life, as he not only learns practical skills but also allows his intelligence to shine, earning his GED and coming to be looked on as a 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 ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum
But he’d never seen this coming. Maybe because it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between second chances and last chances. Or maybe because he’d never thought ahead about his life at all. He’d always figured that to get by in the hood, short-term plans were enough. Now, all of a sudden, Wes’s future was sealed.
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The other Wes’s life narrative culminates with his robbery of a jewelry store, in which either he or someone in his crew gunned down the security guard, who was an off-duty police officer. Arrested and convicted of murder, the other Wes faces life behind bars without possibility of parole. This dismal conclusion to his life story as a free man is shocking and tragic. Wes the author emphasizes in this passage how the other Wes had “never seen this coming,” meaning the other Wes hadn’t known that his robbery of the jewelry store would be the crime that put him 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 co
Chapter 11 Quotes
“If they expect us to graduate,” he went on, “we will graduate. If they expect us to get a job, we will get a job. If they expect us to go to jail, then that’s where we will end up.” He gestured around himself with an ironic smile. “At some point you lose control, no matter how much you learn.”
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Wes’s correspondence by letter with the other Wes Moore eventually develops into a series of in-person interviews during visiting hours at the other Wes’s prison. During these interviews, the other Wes often catches the author off guard with his probing questions. In this sequence, they debate the influence of environment and the expectations of others on a person’s destiny. Given that Wes and the other Wes are from similar areas, the other Wes suggests that the differentiating factor in their lives must be what others expected of them. The author resists this interpretation, feeling that the other Wes is denying 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
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The Other Wes Character Timeline in Discovering Wes Moore
The timeline below shows where the character The Other Wes appears in Discovering Wes Moore. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
...to tell him that the police are searching for another person with his name ( the other Wes Moore)—for the murder of a police officer.
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Chapter 10
...England on a Rhodes Scholarship. As excited as he is, he can’t stop thinking about the other Wes Moore. The other Wes is serving a life sentence for killing Bruce Prothero, an off-duty...
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In his letter, the other Wes describes his upbringing. Wes and his older brother Tony’s father is an alcoholic, and their...
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...dealing at a very young age and becomes an intimidating figure. He tries to make the other Wes tough like him, but he also tries to dissuade Wes from following in his footsteps,...
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Tony finds out about the other Wes ’s activity and tells on him to their mom. Dismayed, Mary flushes Wes’ stash down...
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At age 15, the other Wes impregnates his girlfriend, Alicia. She has the baby, but Wes doesn’t understand what being a...
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By age 21, the other Wes has grown tired of the frequent arrests and stress of the drug-dealing life. He now...
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When the other Wes finishes the Job Corps and returns home, however, the pressures of life in the neighborhood...
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...a jewelry store robbery that led to a fatal shooting of the security guard are the other Wes and Tony. They’re tracked down at their uncle’s house in Philadelphia 12 days later and...
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Chapter 11
...relating that process to his father’s passion for journalism. Wes is still in touch with the other Wes : even though he recognizes the atrocity of Wes Moore’s crime, he realizes that Wes...
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Wes reflects on the visits he made to the other Wes Moore in prison. Awkward at first, they soon enough found themselves comfortable sharing their deepest...
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The other Wes challenges the author Wes to pinpoint when he felt like he became a man. The...
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...is still not sure what accounts for the sharp difference in outcomes between him and the other Wes Moore. He thanks his teachers and mentors who believed in him when he didn’t even...
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