Chapter 6 : Hunted ~ 1994 and Title Justification Essay #2

Chapter 6 : Hunted ~ 1994 : Theme Tracker

Quote 1:“Seventy-six percent of high school students who began high school in Maryland completed... But in Baltimore City, where Northern High School was located, it was a dismal 38 percent.”

Analysis of Quote 1:This quote shows a theme of the importance of education, and the way that Baltimore lacked teens that felt that intelligence was important. This quote shows that though in other places in Maryland there were high graduation rates, in places like Baltimore full of poverty, crime, and drugs this was not necessarily the case. People felt that joining the workforce or doing things that were illegal like selling drugs, would benefit them more than actually going to school and furthering there education.

Quote 2:“Woody thought about White Boy, his boy from the neighborhood, who picked up a job working at a restaurant called Poor Folks. He was tired of school and decided joining the workforce was a better option.”

Analysis of Quote 2:This quote shows a theme of life choices, those choices being  leaving school to join the work force. Though "White Boy" was a student at one time, with the growing poverty of the city, and his mother's condition, he had made the choice to provide for his mother in order for her to survive. Showing that though these teens were young and very naive, they still withheld the ideal of going to work and making a honest living.

Quote 3:“Wes returned to Dundee Village six months after being locked up for the incident in which he shot at Ray.”

Analysis of Quote 3:This quote shows a theme of life choices, those choices being that though Wes was just released from prison he felt that going back to the streets would be the only way that he could provide himself and his family.

Quote 4:“At their peak, his team brought in over four thousand dollars a day. He wasn’t one of the main players by any stretch, but he was not doing badly in relation to others in the neighborhood.”

Analysis of Quote 4:This quote shows a theme of crime. this crime being drug dealing. This shows that with the growing poverty, and lack of good mentoring in the inner city teens felt that crime would be the only way they would ever survive in the world.

Quote 5:“The even more devastating piece of news was that Justin’s mother was dying.”

Analysis of Quote : This quote shows a theme of overcoming obstacles, this obstacle being the growing illness of a family member. This shows that Justin would soon have to overcome the obstacle of soon having to go through life without his mother. Which is arguably a death that is the hardest over all deaths that a person can experience. He would soon have to overcome an obstacle that most people never are able to conquer.

Title Justification Essay #2

Over the course of the chapters in The Other Wes Moore, many things occur with the author and the non-author Wes Moore. Including the author Wes Moore going through life with the obstacles that come from being in military school, to The Other Wes Moore going to jail, and also finding that his short-term current girlfriend is pregnant. Which leads to explaining, why this collection of chapters of chapter 4 to chapter 6 is titled "Choices and Second Chances".

With the title of the chapter being "Choices and Second Choices", this is appropriate given what occurs throughout the chapters. Such as the way that the author Wes Moore had many times to get his act together in school and do better in classes in attempt to overcome his learning disability, while he instead let it over take him and he gave up in the process. Which then drove his mother to feel that taking him to military school would be the only way to resolve Wes's problems. With  explaining what occurs to one Wes Moore,  the other has to be explained as well. From the author Wes Moore going to military school and having to overcome many obstacles, the non-author Wes Moore also went through many things that were the events that followed his bad choices. Such as him stabbing someone and also selling drugs as a "full-time drug dealer". This would then lead him to a life of crime resulting in him going to jail and being arrested twice. Although the fact that he is a minor it is not counted in real court, and therefore goes to a juvenile detention center. When he is released he then is given a form of a "second chance", by the way that not only is he released from prison, but also that he is now a father and is able to in a way make up for the time that his father never spent with him. Thus seemingly showing a theme of mentors, in the way that hopefully Wes will protect and care for his child in the way that his father never did.


Therefore, based on the author's purpose for writing the novel itself, it seems appropriate that this collection of chapters be titled "Choices and Second Choices". By the way that both Wes Moore's go through many obstacles that were caused by there choices. As well as the way that in society, both are given second chances.  Such as with the pregnancy of Wes's girlfriend, to him becoming a "full-time drug dealer"