Hardship In Enrique's Journey

When people are struck with hardships in life, the way they react reveals their true character. Having a certain mindset can greatly influence how they handle problems, differentiating one person from another. Many can feel discouraged and feel like giving up when they hit a rough patch. In other cases, the will to be in a position better than where they are at the moment gives them the motivation to succeed. Adversity can have a positive effect on the development of an individual's character, providing them with the drive to overcome their current situation.

Enrique’s Journey written by Sonia Nazario is a work of non-fiction that follows the journey of a young Central American boy to find his mother Lourdes, who left him at the age of five. Before Nazario introduces Enrique she discusses the experiences she put herself through to gain a better understanding of the travels a migrant child and adult go through in their conquest to make it to the United States. While going through the trials that many migrants put themselves through Nazario learns the stories of different migrants and begins her search for a migrant child to bring attention to their story and create awareness about the situation children migrating are enduring to find their mothers in the United States. Nazario traces Enrique’s steps to experience his full journey and to describe the details in depth upon writing about the journey Enrique took to find his mother in the United States.

According to Jie Zong, Jeanne Batalova, and Jeffrey Hallock, the U.S. has been “the top destination for international migrants since the least 1960, with one fifth of the world’s migrants living there as of 2017.” It is well known to numerous people that hundreds of immigrants travel from all over the world to the United States, but what exactly does it take for many of them to get here? One such author, Sonia Nazario, manages to capture the gruesome journey of one immigrant boy, who like many others, is attempting to make it to the United States. The author reveals the brutal realities and the main reason countless of young children make their way to America. In her novel, Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario utilizes pathos, reputable sources,

Enrique had to get on he tops of freight trains to begin his journey which meant risking his lift due to the hazards from fast paced the freight train and possible bandits along the way. Many people on the freight trains encounter bandits or thugs that nearly kill them. “They slam him [Enrique] facedown. All six surround him.

Life is like a game of blackjack where we unknowingly are dealt good or bad cards. This unpredictability makes it difficult to gamble decisions. Unfortunately many factors can lead to the bad card where in both the game and life, people are trying to prevent us from achieving the goal. There are two choices to change the outcome however, we may either give up (fold) or we may take a chance (call). The beauty of taking the risk is that if lucky, life gives you that much-needed card. When dealt that winning card, a person is immediately uplifted. That one good hand drives a person to outweigh the pros from the cons and continue to strive for the winning pot or in this case, the goal in life. Enrique in Sonia Nazario’s

This quote marked the beginning of Enrique’s journey to America. He begins his journey in hopes to reunite with his mother. He started this journey because he was abandoned by his mother as a child. This journey consisted of both physical and mental parts. He grows up and matures at the end of the journey.

When people go through something difficult it can change them. Making them who they are, it can change them for the bad or good. Therefore, hardships can greatly influence a person’s life by making them appreciate all the things that make life enjoyable.

Enrique is very brave, as always he tries to do everything without depending from other, but in this occasion, the risk is higher. I'm glad that people in the camp prevent him. They join their experience, knowledge, and the most important they treat each other like an old friend or family. They share what they have, and especially they take care of each other. There is the spirit of nationality.

In the book “Enrique's Journey” Enrique is left behind by his mother, so that she can go to the States to earn money to support her family, this lead to the bases of the story being that Enrique being without his parents is left alone, and being in his fallen state he is drowning himself in his own depression in his fallen state, consequently leading him to vow to travel north to the states in order to reunite with his mother, and at a young age he set out across Mexico on the trains

I can only imagine what immigrating to america is like for these families, everyday children my age and younger are risking their lives to come to America and It really makes me appreciate how much I have. For Lourdes, Enrique, and Maria Isabel in Enrique’s Journey they must make the hard decision of leaving everything they grew up with in Honduras to come to america for a better life. Lourdes, Enrique’s mother, could no longer afford to feed and send her children to school and was struggling to make money with her job. “Lordes can think of only one place that offers hope… Lourdes has decided: She will leave. She will go to the United States, and make money and send it home.” (p.20) Lourdes decides to make the trip because it

Enrique challenges,which the undocumented people don’t have same human right.When Enrique was with his four friends in the motel the police came and arrested them all. He says, “At least 5100 of those children ended up in foster care.”(210)This quote shows in the United states on undocumented parent is poor to rest the children. If they are have same human right then they can with the children together. In addition when many migrant who first set out the train with Enrique have been caught and deported. Nazario write, “As Enrique slowly recovers from his beating.”(87) This quote shows that Enrique has been robbed on the train by gangs, and has been physically harmed. Since Enrique is undocumented, the police don’t help him because they will want to send Enrique back to Honduras. Through Enrique,Nazario

What would it be like to be left alone when people are needed the most? Enrique’s Journey is a biography about a young boy who is left by his mother at a young age as she tries to provide a better life for her family in the U.S. One example of this is when Lourdes leaves Enrique at such a young age to provide a better life for him in another country where she can do better financially. Another example is when Enrique decides to leave Honduras even though he knows that Maria Isabel, his girlfriend, might be pregnant. A third important event is when Maria Isabel leaves Jasmine to be with Enrique so they can unite their family at a later time. In the biography Enrique's Journey, Sonia Nazario shows that sometimes in order to pursue one’s goals, major sacrifices must be made.

In the novel Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario demonstrates the onerous journey of illegal immigrants. Sonia Nazario aims for the readers to make them understand what most of the immigrants go through during their journey to the United States. By appealing to ethos and pathos throughout the book, Sonia Nazario portrays the path that Enrique undergoes to reunite with his mother.

Many Hondurans fantasize of a lavish life in American. The sad truth is, is that is only a fantasy. Very few will make it rich in America, and that was true for Lourdes and Enrique. In America, Lourdes works a series of menial jobs that are continually disappearing. She lives in a small trailer and can never seem to raise enough money to have her children smuggled over the border.

I never expected Enrique’s Journey to be such a personal work. Being a journalistic book, I expected a lot of research in it, but not to the level Nazario’s gone to. Definitely, the way she introduced herself into the enduring situations that migrants go through when they try to reach the US gave me a new perspective of what to expect from the book. She comes from a migrant family too, so she can sort of relate to the characters in the book. However, as she confesses herself, her journey was nowhere as arduous as what these children go through to find their mothers. And the way in which she involved herself into the situation increases her empathy for Enrique en other numberless children.