The last two chapters of The Other Wes Moore are grouped into one
final section– Paths Taken and
Expectations Fulfilled. This section
is undoubtedly the most defining moment of the novel, the one the reader has
been waiting for. From the beginning,
the reader knows the fates of the two Wes Moores, but they are intrigued on how
their lives will play out. While chapter
seven breezes over author Wes’s military recognition and the other Wes’s return
to drugs, chapter eight is when the final life-altering murder occurs and the
other Wes is sentenced to life in prison.
Paths Taken and Expectations
Fulfilled is an appropriate name for this section because it focuses on both
boys’ diverging paths as each does what is expected of him – the other Wes engaging
in drugs and robberies to support his family and author Wes excelling in
military schooling and receiving his Rhodes Scholarship.
The other Wes’s choice to turn back
to drugs and rob the jewelry store was the result of the expectation to support
his family. At the end of chapter seven,
the author writes that, “The pressure was wearing Wes down. Alicia complained that he was not giving her
enough money to provide for the kids they shared. Cheryl was now constantly calling him about
wanting more time with the kids – which meant she wanted more money to take
care of them…Wes held the plastic bag with both hands and poured in nine ounces
of cocaine.” This quote shows that so
many people depended on Wes to make money that he was almost forced to reenter
the drug game. Furthermore, in chapter
eight, one of Wes’s jewelry-robbing accomplices is quoted saying, “‘I was told
I could make fifty-thousand dollars just to break some glass.’” This demonstrates that the robbery was
motivated by Wes’s poverty, which he was expected to alleviate. Because Wes was expected to provide for his
family, he chose to take the wrong path which eventually ended in a heinous
murder and prison. By contrast, peoples’
expectations of author Wes were academic-based and eventually led to his good fortune
in life. In chapter eight, Wes recounts
that, “[Mayor Schmoke] did more than just point me to the Rhodes Scholarship;
he instructed me to learn the larger historical context of the world.” This shows that along with his mother and
teachers, Mayor Schmoke had expected great things of Wes, and Wes did not fail
to impress him.
Because author Wes achieved success in
trying to please his mentors, and the other Wes took a dangerous path in life
to relieve his family’s poverty, Paths
Taken and Expectations Fulfilled is a fitting name for section three. The real question posed in this section is
how and why the expectations for the boys differed, and how their fates would
have changed if the expectations had been different. Could their stories have been interchanged? Who is there to blame for ruining the life of
one Wes when another Wes with a parallel childhood excelled? Perhaps Wes Moore leaves these questions to suggest
to the reader that very little in life is solely determined by the person
living it.
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