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Wes is the book’s co-protagonist and a foil to Moore. Although he has engaged in violent crime and been convicted of murder, Wes has the potential to have a positive influence on his community. He is intelligent, easily finishing the GED program when he applies himself, and has natural leadership abilities. In fact, Wes emerges as a leader in a range of situations, including as a member of a drug crew, at the Job Corps program, and in prison. Others come to Wes with their problems, a fact that reflects his talents and willingness to help people. Even as a teenager, Wes is a determined problem solver who takes a calculating and pragmatic view when he makes decisions. When Mary, his mother, flushes Wes’s drug supply down the toilet to stop him from dealing, he quickly shifts from adolescent panic to business-minded problem-solving, recognizing that this problem can be solved by the laws of supply and demand, along with hard work. Wes also has strong social skills and is able to read other people’s emotions, as when he asks Moore perceptive questions about the different family dynamics demonstrated by their fathers’ deaths. During his time at Job Corps, Wes displays tremendous determination to change his life, and he excels in his coursework. Unfortunately, his environment is unable to support lasting change.
In Moore’s view, Wes may have had a very different life if he had made a few decisions differently. For all of Wes’s intelligence, he lacks the ability to plan long-term and is not a big-picture thinker, since the dangerous streets of his neighborhood do not encourage that perspective. He can also be a highly impulsive risk-taker and has difficulty controlling his explosive temper. Wes often gets into trouble because his knee-jerk emotional reactions do not give him time to consider the larger situation. For example, he decides to sell drugs to someone he suspects of being an undercover cop against his better judgment, and he escalates fights to defend his reputation. The cumulative effect of these decisions leaves him with a lengthy criminal record that hampers him when he tries to pursue more legitimate means of supporting himself and his family.
