Title Justification: Fathers and Angels

The Other Wes Moore is organized into three parts, each of which contains 2-3 chapters. The first part is entitled "Fathers and Angels." This part encompasses three chapters which explore the parallels between the two Wes Moore's lives in regard to their absent fathers, single mothers, and setting in which they grew up in. The title chosen for this part is very fitting because it takes a classic saying "fathers and mothers" and replaces the word mothers with angels. This is because all of these chapters show not only the impact that the absence of fathers leaves on these boys, but also how hard their mothers worked to compensate for this. Their mothers were like their guardian "angels" and thus this title is fitting.

In the very first chapter, we already see some of the sacrifices that these mothers took for their children. After the death of Wesley Moore Sr., Joy Moore does everything she can to keep the family together. She sleeps downstairs to protect them from possible break ins and she moves the whole family in with Author Wes's grandparents when she feels like she's not stable enough to care for them on her own. Even though his father has passed away, Joy Moore is Author Wes's angel who keeps their family together. Mary Moore, Other Wes's mother, takes similar measures to protect her family. When her Pell's Grant falls through, she gives up her college aspirations in order to maintain financial security for her family. Since Other Wes's father isn't in the picture, she understands that she is the sole provider for her family and thus she takes up multiple jobs in order to keep them afloat. She also moves her family into a better and more expensive neighborhood so as to give Other Wes a better education at Northwood. She tries her hardest to compensate for the lack of a father figure in Other Wes's life.

Overall, the title "Fathers and Angels" is used for the first part of this novel because this part is the introduction where the author uses the two biggest similarities in the Wes Moores' lives - their angel mothers and absent fathers - to introduce the story of how their one name produced two very different fates. The ways in which the lack of fathers affected the boys had obvious similarities: the lower income, the ways in which they rebelled and acted out, where they lived, etc. However the ways in which their mothers compensated for the lack of fathers was what truly overlapped in their two lives: their mothers made huge sacrifices to help their sons survive in the rough neighborhoods they grew up in. All three chapters in this part begin to address these similarities, while the next part will show where these similar lives took a split and how these boys ended up with such different fates: one in prison and one a Rhodes Scholar.