Choices and Consequences

 A theme that was prominent in the last chapters of the book is choices and consequences. Throughout the book, as both Wes’s headed down different paths, the consequences of the choices that are made by them seem to be the only thing that remained similar between them. With one’s consequences working in his favor and the other’s working against him, it all boiled down to the choices that they made or that were made for them. Wes Moore’s mother, Joy Moore, made the decision to send him away to military school because she thought that was what was best for him and in the consequence of this choice was positive. Joy’s choice wasn’t the only one that influenced this positive outcome, Wes’ choice to not waste that opportunity and money also contributed. There is no way to be sure that if Wes had chosen to waste his opportunity at military school that his life would be ‘bad,’ but his life would have definitely been different, whether that difference would have been good or bad is unknown. As a result of this choice though, Wes’ life went in the right direction, and he was able to make his family and himself proud. On the other hand, the other Wes did not make great choices and as expected, the consequences were dire. Starting as early as his decision to bring a knife to a fist fight when he was younger and getting caught by the police. It took him less than a minute to draw a knife after being punched, in fact, it was his first thought. A lot of Wes’ decisions are made out of anger and/or frustration, so they are usually not the best. If his impulsiveness pushed him to make better decisions, then maybe that would have reduced the number of negative consequences he experienced. The difference between the choices that were made by both Wes’s was the way in which each decision was made. The decisions in Wes’ life, good or bad, those made for him and by him, were pre-planned and thought about for the most part. His mother threatening to send him to military school before actually doing it and him formulating a plan to escape the school are examples of this. Meanwhile, the other Wes’ decisions are mostly impulsive with no concern for the future. His decision to shoot Ray is an example of this, because in that moment he just wanted revenge, he didn’t care that there were witnesses around and he could get arrested, which he did. In conclusion, choices have consequences, and whether those outcomes are good or bad depends on the choices that are made.