Blade Jones

Professor McCampbell
English 101
October 19, 2015
Mothers Love
A mothers embrace is all a child needs. At least, that is the theory. Except
theories are theories for a reason. We cant tell if their right or wrong, its almost like
an educated guess except we have no actual idea what the closing credits will be.
Its almost unfair when looking back right? Not knowing what the end results of life
will be but to have to ride the train with no tracks or destination. We could have
never guessed what positions or paths we would have taken at a young age. Nor
can we predict the path that will be ridden in the future. All that can be asked for is
the people that are the closest to one to be there when needed and to help provide
some sort of guidance or in this case, tracks. Family, especially parents combined
with environment raised upon; can make or break a child or adolescences future.
Such was the case for each of the Wess. Each Wes was affected in different ways by
both their environments and the family involvement in their life.
Mary, Wess mother, plays without a doubt the most important in Wess life.
Mary single handedly changed could have changed the entire outcome of Wess
future. Which she did attempt to do by moving out of cherry wood to Northwood
and Dundee Village due to the excessive amount of drugs in the area. Despite her
efforts this was not enough to keep Wes out of the drug game, as he just indulged
further into it. Another reason for Wes not being able to leave the drug scene was

Marys own disregard of the situation. Tony (Wess brother) tried to warn Mary of
Wess involvement by pointing out how he has been spending so much money, and
she replied No he isnt, he is making the money DJing (Mary, 70). This shows
Marys refusal to accept that Wes was hustling to make money. By the time Mary
finally took action and disposed of the drugs, Wes was too far into the drug game
and decided he would just move his operations to his girlfriends house instead of
just leaving the drug scene. His mother is not the only parent who damaged Wess
future. By Wess father leaving and taking no part in his life, it left him with one
parent and no other male role model other than Tony. Just by Wes only having one
parent left him with a more likely chance to become involved in drugs and criminal
activities. Findings found that boys in single parent families have a higher tendency
to have behavioral problems and use illegal substances more (Griffen, 180).
Tony was the only male role model in Wess life. So Wes desired to be like him
and follow his footsteps; and it is not like Tony set the best example. Although Tony
did care for Wes and wanted to protect him from certain things, his own actions
speaks louder than anything he could ever say or do to Wes. By Tony just being in
the drug game, it just gives Wes more incentive to be in it as well. The actions of
Tony take the greatest role on Wes but what he says can also affect Wess decision
making. I would punch that dude right in his face if I was you (Tony, 102). This
shows that not only is Tony a bad influence on Wes, but that Wes actually takes
everything Tony does or says into consideration. Wes looked down at the man on
the couch and clenched his fist, almost as if he was going to follow Tonys advice
(Moore, 102).
The environment Wes was raised in is also big factor in determining
someones future. The places where he lived (Cherry Wood, Northwood) were filled

heavily with drugs, and the people in these areas were mainly all a part of it. The
environment around him also kind of forced him into the drug scene because even if
he decided to reject it, it was so apparent in his life that it would have caught up
with him anyway with his brother being a drug dealer himself. Youths growing up in
low-income inner-city areas neighborhoods are at substantial risk for initiating
substance, violent behavior, and sexual intercourse at an early age (Bolland, 230).
Inner-city environments in general puts youth and adolescence at a higher risk for
criminal activities in the present and the future.
Life is unpredictable and too complex to understand by any one man. No-one
can understand why they are put where they are in life or given what they are given
or have to deal with what they have to deal with. Why do some become rouge
scholars out of Oxford and write a novel while others commit murder and are locked
up for life without parole? What if the Wess were to switch their upbringings? Would
the outcomes be the same? What if just one thing different happened to prevent
Wes from doing what he did? Well, looks like it will never be known because the
movie is over and the closing credits have rolled.

Cited Sources
Bolland, John. Bryant. Lian. McCallum. Vazsonyi. Developmental and Risk Behavior
among African American, Caucasian, and Mixed Race Adolescents Living in High
Poverty Inner-city Neighborhoods. American Journal of Community Psychology
40.3-4 (Dec. 2007): 230-249. Web. 16, Oct. 2015.

Griffen, Kenneth. Botvin. Scheier. Diaz. Miller Parenting practices as predictors of

substance use, delinquency, and aggression among urban minority youth:
Moderating effects of family structure and gender. Psychology of Addictive
Behaviors 14.2 (Jun. 2000): 174-184. Web. 14, Oct. 2015.

Miller, Jonas. Kahle. Hastings. Compassionate Loive Buffers Stress-Reactive Mothers

From Fight-or-Flight Parenting. Developmental Psychology 51.1 (2014): 36-43 web.
14, Oct. 2015.

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore. New York: Spiegles and Grau trade publishers,
2010