TOW #4-The Other Wes Moore

This non-fiction book follows the lives of two people living in the same city, with the same name: one who is in jail for murder, and one who lives a very successful life. The book was written by the successful Wes Moore and studies how two people can grow up to be so different even if they are from similar backgrounds. The author attended Johns Hopkins University and later University of Oxford. Throughout the book, Moore appeals to the young readers who have the chance to turn their life around, or those who have turned their life around. Author Wes Moore uses juxtaposition and pathos to explain how our actions determine our fate.

The author wrote his book in a unique way. Instead of explaining his life and then comparing the other Wes Moore’s life directly after, he instead writes a chapter about his life, then follows by a chapter about the other Wes Moore. He compares their lives by avoiding the cookie-cutter compare and contrast outline, though in the beginning, he states that both grew “up at the same time, on the same streets, with the same name” (Moore). In addition, Moore tells the audience how neither of them have a father. The author Wes Moore explains this by telling us that there are “only two memories I have of my father. The other was when I watched him die” (Moore). The other Wes Moore’s father “had been a ghost since his birth” (Moore). This juxtaposition compares their situations and explains that although both people didn’t have a father, they reacted in separate ways. Also, the author explains how our fate is determined by our actions by appealing to our emotions. The author says, “Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a role model. But the more he tried to be like his brother, the more his brother rejected him. The more he copied him, the more Tony pushed back. Wes wanted to be just like Tony. Tony wanted Wes to be nothing like him” (Moore). By including specific details of times where they felt confused or let down, it allows the audience to feel sympathy for the struggles that both Wes’ went through.