The themes in the opening chapter of The Other Wes Moore are drugs, absent fathers, and the importance of education.
Importance of education:
-"When Mary told her mother that she was pregnant, at age sixteen, Alma said, 'I don't care! You are going to finish school and go to college!'"(Page 21)
Alma viewed education as extremely important because she had not been able to go to college herself, and she knew that education opened the door to many opportunities. Her response to her daughter's news reinforces this belief. This shows that she wants Mary to make sure that she is able to get an education despite the pregnancy. Education would ensure Mary of a better life, both for herself and her kids.
-"Mary was the first of the kids to leave home. Education was her escape in more ways then one." (Page 23)
This quote builds on the last one a little bit. Mary left college after Alma died. She went to get a college degree not only for herself, but for the rest of the family, since she was the first one to go to college. When Moore says that "Education was her escape in more ways then one," he means that Alma was leaving not only the memory of her mother's death, but also her alcohol addicted father. She saw education as her ticket to a better future.
Drugs/ Absent fathers:
-"Nikki took his death worse then the rest of us…because her biological father, Bill changed abruptly after my father died… After my father died, Bill no longer called, wrote, or bothered to check up on her." (Page 15)
Prior to the death of Wes, her stepfather, Bill had kept in touch with Nikki. Even thought he wasn't physically present, he still called her and wrote to her. After Wes's death, however, Bill dropped out of her life. He wasn't calling her or writing her. Nikki needed Bill to replace Wes as the father figure in her life at the time she needed it most. The fact that he failed to do so shows that he really had no interest in being involved in his daughter's life.
-"Bernard hadn't found a steady job. He spent most of his time searching for himself at the bottoms of liquor bottles. Mary was left with two alcoholic, abusive men who shared the DNA of her two children but no husband or dad for her boys." (Page 23)
This quote is relevant to the themes of both drugs and absent fathers. Bernard's addiction was a huge problem. The fact that he couldn't find a steady job contributes to him being absent from his child's life because he was not contributing to the family's income, which would improve his child's life. Most of his time was spent drinking, so he spent no time around his family or working. This caused him to be absent from his child's life.
-"As the years passed, Joy kept hoping that Bill's alcohol and drug use would fade…They had a child together. She hoped that would motivate Bill to make some changes. But his addiction just got worse…"(Page 9)
Like Bernard, Bill struggled with addiction. Joy thought that the responsibility of raising a child would motivate him to seek help, but it didn't. Instead, it worsened the addiction. This shows that Bill had no interest in being involved in his daughter's life. He did not want to shoulder the responsibility of being a parent, therefore he drank in order to forget about it. If he cared about his daughter, he would have gotten help in order to get sober, which would show his desire to raise her, but he didn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment