Wes Moore's self-titled memoir/biography The Other Wes Moore depicts the similarities and differences between himself and his identically-named neighbor from childhood, who turned out to have a much different life. In the first chapter, "Is Daddy Coming With Us?" Wes Moore uses ethos, pathos and logos to help establish the harsh yet unique and multifaceted childhood both Weses had. This childhood allows him to become the man he is today, but establishes the throughline of tragedy that will follow him and the other Wes Moore throughout the book.
Wes Moore is a soldier, public speaker and philanthropist who is currently benefiting from fame and fortune for his many accomplishments and accolades, including working with Condoleeza Rice and hosting his own show for the Oprah Network. His audience is multi-faceted and diverse; he aims to attract nonfiction fans who enjoy unconventional biographies as well as issues of poverty, race, feminism, the prison system, and the stresses of modern life. His purpose in this first chapter, in particular, is to demonstrate the influences he had from both his mother and father, offering two different kinds of tragedies to sum up his childhood mentors.
Ethos is accomplished by Moore's history with his feminist mother and his kind father, the father having died when Wes was three; by establishing his parents' wisdom, as well as the tragedy that befell them, Wes establishes himself as someone who was raised well, while still carrying the weight of emotional turmoil with him. This is meant to further relate him to the other Wes Moore, who encounters his fair share of hardships. By describing the missing state of their fathers (the author loses his father in the first chapter, while the other Wes is mentioned to have "never met his father"), Wes demonstrates that he credibly relates to his subject (Moore 16).
Moore's primary weapon is pathos, or emotional appeal; the highly charged depictions of his father's death, and Wes' subsequent mourning, form the heart of the first chapter. By deliberately detailing just how little he understood the concept of death - "I heard that my father had 'passed on', but had no idea where he'd gone" - Moore illustrates the saddening and emotionally effective nature of a child's lack of familiarity with death.
Logos is implemented through Moore's use of structure in the first chapter. By dividing the chapter in half (one with the author, the other with the other Wes Moore), Moore shows a direct contrast between the two Wes Moores: both tragic, but somewhat different in their tragedies. By also delving into the histories of each Wes' parents, we learn the logical progression of these families and each Wes' childhood as they continue. By ending each segment with a simple dichotomy (the author unknowingly saying goodbye to his father, while the other Wes Moore finally meets his), Moore provides thematic duality to these two children's quite different lives, and cements that difference succinctly.
Moore uses these attributes of ethos, pathos and logos to open his book with a chapter denoting the vast differences (and strange similarities) between the two Wes Moores. By showing their problems with their families, with dying and resurrecting fathers, Moore sets up the rest of his book as a poignant look at two different people who are more similar than they may initially realize.
Works Cited
Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Random House, 2010. Print.
