Theme:
Responsibility
1)
"She felt terrible about the death of the police officer. She prayed her
sons were not responsible." (Page 149).
Mary, Other Wes' mother, thinks this as she
learns via television that her sons are being charged with the murder of a
beloved policeman. When Mary says she "felt terrible," it shows that
although she empathized with the deceased's loved ones, she never felt
responsible for her part, however indirect, in the situation. She never looked
at the situation with remorse or regret, but instead only vainly hoped that her
sons were not a part of it. One could argue that the way in which she raised
her children allowed them to continue down the dark path they were going, a
path of drugs, thievery, out of wedlock pregnancies and irresponsibility, and
without intervention, it is arguable that Mary set her children up for this
crime; that in itself is worth taking responsibility for. Mary could have looked
for the boys or thought of where they could be, but instead she passively
"prayed" for them and watched their inevitable arrest occur. This is
yet another occasion in which Mary refuses to accept her responsibility in her
children's poor upbringing, which subsequently led to this crime, and her
children's responsibilities in committing it.
2)
"If you knew where they were, would you tell us?"
Mary
finally snapped at them. "Look, I just found out that my sons are wanted
for killing a police officer. If I find anything out, I will tell you, and I
will cooperate however I can, but right now, I don't need to be questioned like
I did something wrong." (Page 150).
This
quote is from when the policemen investigating the crime arrive at Mary's home
with a search warrant. The policemen ask Mary if she knew that her children
were both on probation and then asks if she knew where they were now. Mary
suddenly feels overwhelmed, perhaps because she is now being forced to face the
reality that she is a part of this murder, however indirectly, and that she had
a responsibility that she didn't fulfill in seeing that her sons followed their
probation, and knowing where they were. These questions make Mary uncomfortable
and she finally breaks down and tells the police officer to stop treating her
like she did something wrong. Even faced when the horrific nature of what her
sons may have done, she does not take any responsibility and snaps at the
police officers defensively, trying to shift the blame off of herself (a defense
mechanism often used by the guilty). Many would assert that Mary did do
something wrong in her mismanagement of her boys' childhoods, and the policemen
are not going to let her reject her responsibility in bringing her sons
forward, for their responsibility is to bring justice for one of their own.
They do not care if Mary is annoyed or hurt by their questions because they
feel their responsibility is not toward her but to their fallen colleague. When
her children were younger, Mary was not as responsible a parent as she arguably
should have been. Now that her children are over 18 and the age of her legal
responsibility has ended, she seems to reject her role even more, which plays
out to serious consequences for both her and her sons. In contrast to Author
Wes's mother, who throughout Author Wes's life continues to play her role by
helping Author Wes to mature and make good decisions through her choices to
send him to military school and introduce him to reading by respecting and
developing his positive interests, Mary is pretty absent in her sons' lives,
and thus she does not feel her responsibility as strongly. This is a bit ironic
because Mary lived in the same city as her sons, and yet she was more distant
to them than Joy (Author Wes' mom), who lived hours away from Author Wes. This
quote exemplifies the concept of responsibility in that the parties who seem to
embrace it see positive results, and the parties who do not seem to be left
with negative results.
3)
"The sentence was indeed life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The guards placed their hands on Wes and shuffled him away. The hands of the
state would stay on him for the rest of his life." (Page 157).
Other
Wes's trial ends with this declaration, when he is given a life sentence
without parole. Other Wes had many chances and second chances to prove himself
and show that he had taken responsibility for his actions and choices and was
willing to make a change, but these chances weren't used wisely, and thus he
proved himself to be unable to show responsibility for himself. When Other Wes
gives up this responsibility, he forces the state to take it upon themselves
and be responsible for him so that others are not affected by his poor choices
any more than they already have been. The state could no longer trust Other Wes
with additional second, third, and tenth chances because his character was
detrimental to society, and he had not proven responsible enough to handle the
setbacks in his life and to make any changes. Trust goes hand and hand with
responsibility because the more responsible one proves oneself to be, the more
trust one is given. In the case of Author Wes, as he proved that he was willing
to make a change, accept the stringency of military school, and improve his
grades and test scores, colleges trusted him to keep improving despite his
rough background and thus accepted him despite him not necessarily having the
qualities other applicants possessed. However, in Other Wes's case, his
continued failed attempts to take responsibility for his actions lessened the
state's trust in him, and thus they were forced to lock him up forever with no
more chances to make things right. Responsibility is elastic, and can certainly
change depending on one's age, environment and experiences, but it is in no way
permanent and should not be taken for granted, as this quote shows.
4)
"I knew that landing admissions at Hopkins would be a stretch at best. So
after filling out the application, I put it out of mind. But months later, I
got the large package in the mail. Not only was I accepted, but I would receive
scholarship money. I read the letter aloud to my mother over the phone, and she
screamed in excitement." (Page 160).
This
quote is said after Author Wes decided to apply to Hopkins and was then
unexpectedly (at least to him) admitted with a scholarship. Author Wes showed
his willingness to be responsible for his future not only by his continued
academic and athletic successes, but also by his interest in seeking out the
right colleges and working hard to get accepted, do well, and continuing to put
his life back on a positive track. Author Wes took his future in his hands when
he completed his job working with the mayor, and this opportunity only paved
the way for more opportunities, as the mayor was the one who set Author Wes up
with the Hopkins representative. Because Author Wes had taken this extra step
in taking this internship, he was able to gain the tools to get into a good
college, and thus pave the way for an exciting and bright future, which shows
his responsibility to continue his self-improvement. While both Weses
definitely attempted to take responsibility for their lives, there were some
clear differences which help to explain why one succeeded and the other did
not. Author Wes needed only to be responsible for himself and thus he had the
ability to spend a lot more time focusing on his goals, his future, and what he
needed to do to ensure that he got the most he could out of life. Other Wes did
not have this luxury, and he was responsible for that fact. By having four
children with two different mothers (one of whom was a drug addict), he had to
worry about being responsible for his large and disconnected family. While
going out, doing drugs and joining his crime-ridden crews began to seem to
Other Wes like the irresponsible thing to do, he also felt he was not being
responsible by taking the minimum wage job after his Job Corps program, which
would not allow him to support his family adequately. Thus, he was unable to
stick with his goals and his financial responsibility for his family outweighed
his responsibility for his future, which led him to get back into crime. Author
Wes, however, had the luxury -due to his responsible choices- to be able to
stick with his goals, and thus, he showed responsibility for himself, which
allowed him to prosper. Responsibility increases exponentially with more people
involved in any situation, particularly children, and that is a key factor in
the divergent paths the Weses' lives took.
Author Wes ponders the circumstances of his acceptance to Hopkins here. Author Wes believes that because of Paul White's recommendation, he got into the school despite his lower-than- average scores, and that this means he is lucky because of his fortuitous meeting with White. However, this is not the case. Author Wes put himself into a position in which he was able to be lucky. Author Wes took responsibility for his future by choosing to stay in military school, taking a job with the mayor, applying for admission at Hopkins and staying close with his family. Thus, although his acceptance was fortunate, it does not mean that he was given something he had not deserved. Other Wes would have never had the opportunity to get this scholarship and acceptance because he did not take the same responsibility for his life and thus, was not in a position to receive luck. Author Wes's life choices and responsibility in making those life choices are what led him to get the help he needed and live the prosperous life that awaited him. The concept of luck is fluid in that some people believe (like Author Wes does at this point) that it is truly random; others believe one’s ability to put one’s self in particular situations leads to “luck”, which is what responsibility brings. This is clearly demonstrated by the acceptances and accolades Author Wes is now receiving.
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