Chapter 3: Foreign Grounds

Chapter 3: Foreign Grounds 

Theme: Overcoming Obstacles: Many kids face problems in two different aspects of life, school and at home and overcoming challenges and obstacles from both facets of life can be very stressful and can lead to a lack of motivation to strive for success and to change their current social path.

Quote 1:

" I was becoming too 'rich' for the kids from the neighborhood and too 'poor' for the kids at school. I had forgotten how to act naturally, thinking way too much in each situation and getting tangled in the contradictions between my two worlds." (Page 53)

Analysis: At the same time he was able to attend this a wealthy school in Riverdale while the rest of his friends in his community attended a regular local public school, and so he was considered rich and snobby compared to them. Because of this difference, Wes had a hard time balancing the way he should act that it was as if he was living a double life. One trying to be friends with his old friends and keep his lingo and clothing similar but his second was trying to fit into his new private school. 

Quote 2: 

“The buildings themselves were dilapidated-crumbling walls and faded paint- and even if you were one of the lucky 50 percent who made it out in four years, it was not at all clear that you’d be prepared for college or a job,” (Page 47).

Analysis: When your community is suffering from poverty, it can make it much harder to overcome obstacles like leaving poverty. When poverty strikes a town, education often begins to fail. In Wes Moore and his family’s situation, his mother decides to try to escape the failing public school system, and sends Wes to a prestigious private school out of the Bronx. This would help because when everyone around is failing most people will also have a tendency to fail as well which is what is happening where Wes lives. If you are around successful people, you more likely to become motivated to push yourself more often. Although, even when Wes goes to a prestigious private school however, he never truly escapes the poverty because as a teen, he wants to feel accepted to in two polar opposite group of friends which is confusing for even Wes. During this time, families attempted to shield their children from the poverty outside their house, but this was impossible, which was why many kids began to start trouble in their neighborhood as they got older.

Quote 3: 

"My mother saw Riverdale as a haven, a place where I could escape my neighborhood and open my horizons. But for me, it was where I got lost." (Page 48)

Analysis: This quote is a foreshadow of the obstacle that Wes Moore would have to overcome later in life. The obstacle is that his double life is finally confusing him morally leaving him feeling lost. Also, Riverdale is predominately white, so there would also be a racial obstacle or barrier for Wes. This would bring tension among the students and could create anger or stress within Wes because of the leaving not being wanted for simply his skin color and not his personality. 

Quote 4: 

“Marijuana, cocaine, and heroin all took their turns as the drug of choice. But crack was different. After it officially introduced itself in the early 1980’s, it didn’t take long for crack to place a stranglehold on many communities,” (page 51).

Analysis: This is another example of how your surroundings can affect poverty-stricken communities and eventually drown kids like Wes from ever leaving. These drugs eventually take over the life of the other Wes Moore because of Tony's influence and the loss of a fatherly figure to guide him. These variables all contribute to the great obstacle that drugs present themselves to kids.  

Quote 5: 

"Justin lived a few train stops away from me, and taking the train home after dark was a different journey than the one we'd made earlier in the day.Justin knew the rules." (Page 51)

Analysis: This introduces some of the obstacles that Justin has to go through sometimes when he has to get to his home. For Justin, his community is a little more on the violent side because of drugs. So when he's going home, he has to abide by the rules of not taking the train home after dark because of the chance of getting killed, or mugged which says something to Justin because it reinforces that violence is okay because everyone else is doing it but when really its not okay.