The Other Wes Moore Theme Tracking Chapter 4

The Other Wes Moore Theme Tracking

Theme: Drugs

Quote 1:
"Tony had now spent over a decade dealing drugs and knew how much could be made in the game."

Tony walks in to Wes Moore 2's house to meet Wes Moore 2's large quantity of expensive shoes. The drug theme develops in this chapter by showing how they surround the youth of urban cultures.

Quote 2:
"Drugs had brought fear to both sides of the equation. You could see it in the people in the neighborhood, intimidated by the drug dealers and gangs, harassed by the petty crime of the crackheads and frightened by the sometimes arbitrary and aggressive behavior of the cops themselves. On the other end of the relationship, the policemen, almost overnight, had gotten significantly tougher. The tide of drugs was matched by a tide of guns."

Drugs (such as crack cocaine) slowly but surely make their way into Baltimore and other major cities, but hold everyone hostage once they stake their place. This affects Mary Moore, Wes Moore 2, Wes Moore (author), and pretty much everyone in some way. The drug theme develops in this chapter by enveloping all who are slightly connected to drugs and destroying them in some way. This is also the reason that people say when someone does drugs, they affect at least 20 people in some way.

Theme: Role Model

Quote 1:
"Wes was so confused. He loved and respected his brother. 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."

Wes Moore 2's brother Tony was working the streets from a young age, back before he turned 14. Tony, as we see in chapter 2, exercises the "Do as I say, not as I do" mantra, and Tony now sees that it hasn't been enough to sway Wes Moore 2 away from drug dealing, developing the Role Model theme to show that role models sometimes aren't enough.

Theme: Single Mother

Quote 1:
"She reached again for the first Nike box and opened it. Inside were pills, marijuana, half an ounce of powdered cocaine, and half a dozen vials of 'ready rock,' or crack cocaine. She felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She sat down on the bed, unsure of what to think. She didn't even bother looking in the second box; she already knew all she needed to know. Both her sons were drug dealers."

Mary Moore (Wes Moore 2's mother) finds drugs in Wes Moore 2's room and her heart falls. He had convinced her that he was DJing and he was making lots of money, explaining why there are hundreds of Nikes in his room, and she finds out that the money actually came from the drug running he was doing. This theme of single mothers shows that in trying to provide for her family, she didn't have time to raise her son right in order to steer him away from drugs.