Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Factors in The Other Wes Moore

What many people don’t know is that Oprah Winfrey came from nothing born in rural poverty and raised by a mother dependent on government welfare payments in a poor urban neighborhood but still came up to be really successful becoming a millionaire at the age of 32. Winfrey is an example that a person being surrounded by a negative environment, bad influences, poor parenting, and poverty does not determine someone’s individual success. In his book The Other Wes Moore author Wes Moore he talks about his life story and his struggles and how he overcame them becoming the person he is today. He also provides a view on someone who lived a similar life but experiencing a different outcome who was also named Wes Moore.

Due to this fact the author mostly portrays that intrinsic factors have a greater effect on a person’s individual success, specifically someone’s mindset and decisions, although extrinsic factors can have somewhat of an affect on success but intrinsic factors are more powerful overall. One of the biggest reasons why Moore shows more of intrinsic factors is because a person can make their own decisions such as not putting in the effort into their education or being involved in dangerous and negative things. In chapter 4 (76) the author was having a conversation with his mother about his education and his effort being put into his grades. Moore notes “What she didn’t know was that my problem in school was much more basic than a learning disability.

The problem was that I wasn't even showing up half of the time. It’s tough to do well in school as even an 11 year old boy when you’re picking what days to choose and go.” This text supports intrinsic factors because a person can choose to not make an effort to do something for example their education which can lead to a negative impact in a person’s future success. In addition to this Moore also portrays intrinsic factors highly have more of an affect someone’s success because they can choose to take part in dangerous and negative activity in chapter 7 (133) Wes’s gets caught for being suspicious by a police officer while selling his drugs he wrote “He quickly scanned his surroundings, checking to see if anyone had seen his drop.When he felt sure that he’d been undetected he moved toward the potential buyer it was a risk, and wes knew it but taking risks is at the heart of drug enterprise and scared money didn’t make money.”

This text presways Wes’s as being a risk taker because what he is doing is dangerous, challenging and can cause a lot of consequences this connects to intrinsic factors because he chooses to proceed to do it anyways knowing it makes him money. Another reason why Moore portrays more of intrinsic factors is because of someone’s mindset making negative or positive actions that will lead to a poor outcome to an individual's future success. In chapter 5 (100) Wes finds out he will become a father at an early age due to his lack of interest in using birth control and how he feels about it the text explains “He didn’t feel burdened by the thought that early parenthood would wreck his future plans because he didn’t really have any future plans and wasn’t overly stressed about the responsibilities of fatherhood.” Wes’s lack of interest in using birth control or protection is an example of an intrinsic factor because he chose to not use protection which lead him to having children at an early age having a huge impact on him later on in life.

Furthermore, the author also shows intrinsic factors by showing that someone can make positive decisions in chapter 7 (133) he talks about changing his life around and how he let military school have an influence on his character the text states “My next decision was clear. I wanted to stay at Valley Forge and attend it’s junior college, which would allow me to go to through the early commissioning process, receive my associates degree, and become a second litituent in the army. I wanted to soldiers.” Clearly Moore is showing that regardless of where he grew up surrounded by a lot of negative activities someone still can change their ways by making positive actions and decisions leading Moore to become the successful person he is today. On the other hand, others may argue that extrinsic factors have a greater impact on someone's individual success than intrinsic factors caused by someone's mindset and decisions. In chapter 6 (110) gives an update on the other Wes Moore’s life after he was released from juvenile detention center for having shot Ray. Wes tried to go to high school but was too far behind in all of his classes and his teachers were unable to work with Wes to get caught up enough to graduate. Moore notes “Not surprisingly, without a high school diploma or job training and with a criminal record wes found it impossible to find a job to support his growing family.”

This quote shows how Wes can’t support his family because of his background and life experiences although this is true people arguing against intrinsic factors fail to notice that Wes made the choice to physically hurt someone knowing it would have an impact on him later down the road and he also can’t get a decent paying job because of the choices he made to sum it up a person's decisions have a bigger impact on their future. Furthermore, others may argue that someone being surrounded by negative activity has a greater impact on determining someone’s indiuvals success such as their friends or people they are being influenced by and neighborhood environments. In chapter 4 (80) Moore notes “He looked at me a sly smirk you wanna tag i couldn’t say no. First off, Shea was one of the most respected young hustlers in the neighborhood. He was a worker, we all knew that-and while some of the kids were smart enough to be disgusted by what he did,other kids,even the ones who weren’t in the game,respected his position, Plus, I loved throwing my name up on a wall: it felt like splashing in the shallow end of the criminal pool.”

Even though Wes was influenced or surrounded by negative or bad energy he clearly had a choice or the right mindset to say no but proceeds to say yes his actions and decisions obviously have a higher chance in determining one's induvals success.