Chapter 2: Drug/Crimes and Fate

Chapter Two: The Other Wes Moore

 In Chapter Two, drugs and crime are starting to affect the lives of both of the Wes Moores through fate, and are two the many themes of this chapter.   Wes #1 has a strong personal connection with drugs and crime through his older half-brother, Tony.  Tony started selling drugs at a young age of 14 and Wes #1 says, "Tony had started dealing drugs in those shadowy hallways of Murphy Homes before he was ten. By the time he was fourteen, Tony had built a fierce reputation in the neighborhood"(Quote 1).  The Murphy Homes were where Tony lived and they had slowly deteriorated into a community filled with crime and drug dealers, which is how Tony was already involved at such a young age.  And where drugs are, crime usually follows, which again involved Tony who was involved in a corner shooting, and Wes says, "... ended up in a shoot-out with a few of the corner boys"(Quote 2).   The author included this quote to show how 
these groups of people felt they had to fight for what they thought was their property when it truly wasn't and how this type of behavior was deemed normal and acceptable in this community. 
    
Wes #1 experienced drugs himself in his home at the Cherry Hill Apartments which was, "... a breeding ground for poverty, drugs, and despair," while also remaining, "... busy with drug activity"(Quote 3).  Wes #1 and his mother could not avoid the drugs in their neighborhood, so they moved to a safer neighborhood, but there was not much change there as Wes soon got into trouble with the law when he put a threatened another man with a knife.  
    
Then, Wes #2 shared his experiences with moving to the Bronx and how the neighborhood his mother knew as a child had changed for the worst.  The first piece of evidence was when they drove in and saw a drug deal happening in person, and later his, "... grandparents talked about how drugs and violence had slowly crept in the neighborhood"(Quote 4). This also shows the theme of fate and how drugs and crime were an inevitable fate for the two Wes'.  Finally, Wes also finds that at the basketball court among the other people there, and says, "You'd find the drug dealers, mostly playing on the sidelines..."(Quote 5).  This showed the diversity of people that were involved in the drug game.  Wherever either boy went, drugs were always the inevitable fate for them. Furthermore, crime followed drugs, especially in Tony's and Wes #2's lives, which is why it is also a major theme in this chapter that.  Altogether, fate is a recurring theme in this chapter that cannot be escaped by either boys.