Chapter 4: Marking Territory

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

Theme Tracking

Chapter 4: Marking Territory

Theme 1: People make drastic life decisions at a young age.

1."Tony was exhausted. Tired from the beating he just gave Wes. Tired from repeating himself. If you won‘t listen, that‘s on you. You have potential to do so much more, go so much further. You can lead a horse to water, but you can‘t make him drink right?‘…That was the last time Tony ever tried to talk to Wes about the drug game." Pages 71- 72

From this excerpt, we see that Tony has given up on his little brother Wes. Wes won't make the decisions that Tony wishes he would, making Tony hopeless to try to keep helping him for the better. This quote ties to the theme that people make drastic life decisions at a young age because unless Wes starts making the right decisions, his future surrounded by drugs could lead him to prison. Making the choice to participate in something negative could completely change the course of a person's life.

2. "The cops gave us a gift that day, and I swore I would never get caught in a situation like that again. A week later, Kid Kupid was on the loose again, adding my tag to another graffiti-filled Bronx wall." page 84

This passage describes Wes's deliberate decision to continue to commit crimes, regardless of the apparent consequences. Wes was not arrested for graffiti yet despite his luck, he continued to do it. Sometimes we need multiple instances to learn a lesson and understand what's beneficial. In certain situations we're given a second chance that would lead us towards the right path and would lead to a successful future. In this circumstance, we see a life decision that would change Wes's path starting in his childhood. Life decisions are made at a young age.

3. "The cops gave us a gift that day, and I swore I would never get caught in a situation like that again" page 84

After Wes 1 was nearly arrested for vandalizing public property, he reflects on how he was lucky to be let off the hook by the cops and vows to not get into another situation like that again. Wes seems remorseful of his actions and realizes that the trouble he is getting into is serious. This relates to the theme of life choices because Wes made the decision to change his life again and never get in trouble for something like that again. At the end of the chapter however, it suggests that Wes began vandalizing public property again, so it is questionable whether Wes actually did learn from his mistake. The theme that children make drastic life decisions is evident as Wes builds himself a criminal record. From this, one can infer that many criminals begin committing crimes at a very young age.

Theme 2: Drugs and crime can drive individuals in a community to extremes.

4. "He owed money but had no drugs to sell- he had to figure out how to make that money back quickly. The only way to do that was to go see his connects and hit the street again" page 74

This quote describes Wes's desperation as a result of his mom flushing his drugs down the toilet. Wes figures that the only way for him to earn the money back is to hit the streets and sell more drugs. This ties to the theme of drugs and crime driving people to extremes because it shows two characters going to extremes. Wes's mom is so desperate for Wes to stop dealing that she flushed thousands of dollars of drugs, while Wes is so desperate to keep selling that he returns to the streets to get more despite the inevitable consequences. People involved with drugs and crime will go to extremes to maintain their lifestyle. At an early age, these drugs and crimes could seriously damage a person's future because of the threat of being arrested or the violence that comes with being involved in the drug game.

5.  "Now I understood what was going where this was going. I was being arrested" page 81

This excerpt is about Wes's experience being arrested after he vandalized a city wall. This ties into the theme of crime and drugs taking people to extremes because Wes was so involved in crime that he got arrested. In this case Wes was let off the hook but he could have easily faced worse consequences for breaking the law. Crimes drive people to extremes because unless the criminal is punished, they will not know what they had done was wrong.