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His Father Dying Prematurely due to a Healthcare Failure

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His Father Dying Prematurely due to a Healthcare Failure

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“The morgue acquiesced, and by Saturday afternoon we found out that he had died from acute epiglottitis, a rare but treatable virus that causes the epiglottis to swell and cover the air passages to the lungs. Untreated because of the earlier misdiagnosis, my father’s body suffocated itself”( Moore 15).
The untimely death of Author Wes's father, popular news anchor Wes Moore, had both a negative and positive impact on Author Wes throughout his life. First, it negatively impacted him because Author Wes grew up with no father figure or role model that could help to guide him through the difficulties of growing up. This led to Author Wes making many poor decisions as a child. But, ultimately, the positive memories that Author Wes had for his father aided him on creating a better life for himself and separated him from "Other" Wes.

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His Father Deciding to Not be a Part of His Son's Childhood

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His Father Deciding to Not be a Part of His Son's Childhood

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“ Finally, admitting defeat, he stumbled

back home. That was the last time he tried to see his son” ( Moore 24).
While Author Wes's father's memory left a primarily positive impact on his son, "Other" Wes's father, Bernard, left no such impact. He chose to leave his son and partner to fend for themselves, and only tried to see his son once while in a drunken state. This is pivotal in "Other" Wes's development because it leads to him making a lot of very bad decisions in his life, all of which build up to his ultimate life sentence in jail. Further, "Other" Wes did not have any positive memories of his father to keep him on track in life, which was a contributing factor to his life of crime.

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"Other" Wes Getting Arrested for the First Time

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"Other" Wes Getting Arrested for the First Time

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"Wes continued to move toward the boy. His grip on the knife handle tightened. His forearms flexed. Send a message. After repeating the order one more time, and watching Wes ignore him again, one of the officers stepped forward. He lifted all eighty pounds of Wes off the ground, slamming him face first on the trunk of the police cruiser" (Moore 34).
This is a significant time in "Other" Wes's life because this is the first of many interactions that he will have with the police in his lifetime. This is almost foreshadowing to the fact that Wes will end up in the same situation multiple more times in the future, after having his first altercation at such a young age. It is also the first of his many violent acts that he does during his lifetime, most of which are under the words "Send a message", from his brother Tony.

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Author Wes and His Family Move to the Bronx

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Author Wes and His Family Move to the Bronx

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"When my mother grew up in the Bronx, despite rising poverty levels, the sense of family and community were strong. With every decade that had passed since she left the area, things had gotten worse. In 1977, when President Jimmy Carter visited the Bronx, he said it looked like 'a war zone.' Seven years later, we were moving back”(Moore 38).
This move by Author Wes's family is a "crucial inflection point" because it introduces young Wes to a reality that is too harsh for any young boy to experience at his age. The Bronx was notorious for its poverty and drug use throughout the area, and this move to the Bronx was what really started all of Author Wes's problems throughout his childhood. The poor influence that the Bronx had on an impressionable, young Wes Moore led to him skipping school, getting into fights, and vandalizing buildings. This move to the Bronx did not necessarily create a whole new and more troublesome side of Author Wes, but it definitely brought out the worse in him.

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"Other" Wes's First Experience With Drugs/Alcohol

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"Other" Wes's First Experience With Drugs/Alcohol

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"The boys found a spot under a bridge near the Morgan State University campus. Since Wes had been the one to discover the smoke, he was granted the privilege of the first hit. Wes knew all about weed but had never actually tried it. He cautiously put the rolled-up joint to his mouth and inhaled”( Moore 60).
This is an important moment in "Other" Wes's life because this yet another time where "Other" Wes's bad decision making is shown. Decisions like this, where he decides to skip school to smoke weed and drink alcohol are what ultimately branches off his future from Author Wes's. These kind of decisions also gets him into the wrong crowd of people, like the drug dealers and criminals, and this group of people are the ones that he sticks with all the way up to his jewelry store robbery, which results in "Other" Wes's life in prison

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Author Wes's Grades Start to Decline; He Starts to Lack Initiative 

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Author Wes's Grades Start to Decline; He Starts to Lack Initiative 

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“I began to let my grades slip. Disappointed with Ds, pleasantly satisɹed with Cs, and celebratory about a B, I allowed my standards at school to become pathetic. In third grade I was reading at a second-grade reading level”( Moore 54).
This academic failure was one of the main reasons that Author Wes was sent to military school, which was a huge turning point in his life. His failure in school both behaviorally and academically warranted a move to military school, which was a pivotal step in Author Wes's development. Military school was the main thing that eventually separated the two Wes's futures, and prevented Author Wes from having a future like "Other" Wes.

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"Wes was completely taken aback by his brother’s anger. Tony had tried to keep Wes in school and away from drugs for as long as Wes could remember. But Tony was still deep in the game himself. Wes didn’t think Tony was a hypocrite exactly—he knew why his brother felt obliged to warn him of"( Moore 71).
This is a pivotal moment in "Other" Wes's development because it is yet another domestic conflict that he has in his family. First, his father left him and his mother, then fights with his mother followed, and now Tony had fought with Wes as well. This is the first time that Tony and Wes had really gone at each other, and have had a real conflict about a legitimate problem. And, with Tony being the closest thing that "Other" Wes has to a "father" figure, he has lost yet another role model in his life to try to help him stay on the right track. Despite all of Tony's efforts to keep Wes off the streets of drug-dealing, Wes focused on how successful Tony has been as a drug-dealer, and decided to follow in his brother's footsteps. This causes Tony to just give up on trying to stop "Other" Wes from becoming a drug-dealer, thus solidifying his fate as a criminal for the future.

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"Other" Wes Getting Arrested for Shooting Ray

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"Other" Wes Getting Arrested for Shooting Ray

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"Wes and his friend traded shots and finally heard Ray scream as he fell behind a black Toyota just fifty feet from his house...later, Wes was being pushed facedown onto his own bed, his hand locked in cuffs behind his back"(Moore 105-106).
This point in "Other" Wes's life is significant because it is the first real and more serious crime that Wes commits. His past crimes included smaller things like breaking into cars or threatening somebody with a knife, but this brings Wes's criminal involvement to a whole new level. Not only did he threaten somebody with a gun this time, but he also carried out with the action and shot a person with the intent to kill. This is a real stepping point in the development of "Other" Wes as a criminal, because this crime could be seen as a point of no return when it comes to being a criminal. After you attempt to murder somebody, that can solidify you into a life of crime, because it will not allow for you to live a normal life anymore. This is seen further on in the book when "Other" Wes struggle to find a normal job due to his extensive criminal record.

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"Other" Wes Getting Arrested for Selling Drugs to a Cop

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"Other" Wes Getting Arrested for Selling Drugs to a Cop

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"As Wes took the money, their hands touched briefly. The man’s hands were smooth, and his nails were clean. Damn . It was time to get moving...Guns in hand and silver badges swinging from metal chains around their necks, the men pointed their weapons at Wes and ordered him to the ground"( Moore 113-114).
This point is yet another continuation of "Other" Wes making bad decisions that continue his life as a criminal. Despite him thinking that the person he is dealing with is most likely a cop, Wes only thinks about the short term benefits rather than the long term consequences yet again, which land him in jail yet another time. This pattern of Wes only thinking short term is seen throughout the entire story, and is really what separates him and Author Wes apart. While Author Wes stays committed to military school for how it will benefit his future, "Other" Wes decides to sell crack to an obviously undercover cop because it could get him a quick twenty dollars.

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"My friends seemed far away, and in that distance I became aware of the contingent nature of my relationship with my crew. We loved one another, but how long would we mourn the absence of any one of us?"(Moore 82).
This is a significant moment in how Author Wes grows up because it is not only the first time that he has had an altercation with the law, it is also the first time that Wes really starts to question his current lifestyle and the what kinds of people he decides to call "friends". First, with it being his first run-in with the law, and a rather emotional one too, this moment makes Author Wes never want to be in that position again, which helps him to grow up not as a seasoned criminal, but as a successful military veteran. Also, him thinking about the validity of his friendships at that moment also helped him to realize that a lot of the people he considered friends at that time were really not loyal to him. These two points blossomed the notion in Author Wes that maybe a change in lifestyle was necessary.

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"I was against the ropes in my battle with fear, and I lost my bearing, my pace count, my control. Finally, I sat down on a rock that I could have sworn I had just tripped over ten paces back and began to cry. I was defeated" (Moore 93).
This time in Author Wes's life is important because at this point, Wes is not just physically lost in the woods, but also mentally "lost". He is physically lost because he has been wandering through the same area of the woods after being given false directions. Wes is also mentally "lost" because he does not know what to do with the rest of his life. He does not want to be at military school, but his only lifeline of a way to get back home to his old life turned out to be fake. So, he feels "lost" because he is stuck at a military school that he does not want to stay at, but has no way to go back to the life at the Bronx that he so desires.

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"Other" Wes Tries to Turn his Life Around

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"Other" Wes Tries to Turn his Life Around

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"To Wes, the house was more than just a project to complete. It was a daily reminder of why he was there. These past months had been the most important and enjoyable in Wes’s life. He’d learned skills, gained confidence, and finally felt his life could go in a different direction. He stayed at the Job Corps Center so he could provide a better life for his kids"( Moore 143-144).
This is the first time that "Other" Wes is actually seen moving his life in the right direction, however short the moment is. His decision to go the Job Corps Center may be one of the best decisions that Wes ever made in his life up to this point. For the first time, "Other" Wes is off the streets and away from drug-dealing. For the first time, Wes is doing something to help somebody other than himself. This is a huge step in "Other" Wes's development as a person because it shows that he is still a good person deep down, despite all of the crimes that he has committed. Unfortunately, he could never find good work after he graduated from the Job Corps, and eventually went back to his life of crime.

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"As I turned my head to see where the yell came from, a rock or bottle—something hard—slammed against my mouth"( Moore 120).
This is a "crucial inflection point" because it brings back the harsh reality of the world to Wes at that time. Here, Wes experiences both verbal and physical racism, with him being referred to in a derogatory manner prior to the object being thrown at his face. This horrible act of racism reminds Wes what life is like outside of his military school, and could be used as fuel for Author Wes to keep on fighting for a successful future. Furthermore, the horrible things that Wes experiences during that walk to the restaurant reminds him that because of the racism still prevalent in America, he has to work twice as hard to gain the respect he deserves and have the successful future that he desires as a black man.

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"“I felt a cocktail of beautiful emotions coursing through me: peace, love, appreciation. I looked down at the trees waving in the distance, and the gorgeous brown Alabama soil that seemed to be rising to meet me. My equipment was functional, my training was sound, my faith confirmed. I cut through the sky, the wind whipping against my face as I kept my eyes high, staring intently at the horizon ( Moore 136-137).
This moment really describes what Author Wes has been preparing for, and why he has stayed at Valley Forge the time that he has been there. This moment is a turning point in Author Wes's life, as he leaves behind all of the training that he has done and jumps ahead to the future that has been laid down in front of him. He assures himself here that he will be alright in the future, because all that he has done has led him to this moment, where he finally meets the future that he has been fighting for for the past couple of years. Here, Author Wes leaves officially leaves behind his troublesome life in the Bronx as his eyes stay set on what is ahead of him on the horizon

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"Living in the Bronx and Baltimore had given me the foolish impression that I knew what poverty looked like. At that moment, I realized I had no idea what poverty was - even in West Baltimore we lived like kings compared to this" (Moore 166)
Author Wes's trip to South Africa is a "crucial inflection point" because it really helps to give Wes more perspective on still how lucky people in America are when compared to people living in other places. Wes experienced some of the lowest levels of poverty in America during his time in America and the Bronx, but it was still nothing compared to the harsh conditions in places like South Africa. Also, his trip helped him to appreciate the more important things in life, like family and especially ubuntu, or humanity. These values that We gained in South Africa helped him to go back to America a more centered and educated man, and helped him to achieve even greater things in the future. His trip to South Africa helped to ground Author Wes and make him appreciate what is really important in life.

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"Other" Wes's Robbery of the Jewelry Store

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"Other" Wes's Robbery of the Jewelry Store

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"After grabbing $438,000 worth of watches and jewels from the store, one of the robbers yelled 'Let's go'... Sergeant Prothero followed his instincts and ran out after the robbers...a black-gloved hand reached out the window holding a handgun and let off three shots, striking Prothero"( Moore 147-148).
This moment is probably the most important for "Other" Wes in the entire story. This robbery and murder of a police officer was what sealed Wes's fate as a criminal who would face life in prison for the crimes that he committed. This act ended the slow progression of worse and worse crimes that "Other" Wes committed as he grew up, going from charges of drug-dealing and gun violence to the robbery and homicide of a police officer. Even though Wes was not the one who pulled the trigger to kill the police officer, he was still a part of the group who robbed the jewelry store, which ultimately led to the murder of Sergeant Prothero. Ironically, this act by "Other" Wes allowed for him to see his future clearly for the first time, as a lifetime in prison loomed ahead of him.