It is January 29th, 1989. Enrique’s mother has spent the money she’s been saving up to get a smuggler to bring her to the United States. The last thing Enrique sees from his mother is her stepping off of the porch and walking away, for she cannot face him. Although, Enrique is confused by this, “‘Dónde está mi mami?’ Enrique cries, over and over. ‘Where is my mom?’” (5). As the years go by, Enrique goes from house to house, turned down by his relatives. He blames his mother for the way his life has turned out. As much as he is hurt by his mother for leaving him, the desperation he needs for her love never ceases to exist. As he cries “over and over” for his mother, she never returns. The abandonment from all the people close to him serves …show more content…
He knows deep down that he’ll be with her once more and he never lets go of that hope. When Enrique tells himself that “he’ll just have to try again” after failing multiple times, he is truly getting stronger and smarter as he gains new knowledge to finally cross the border successfully. This passage connects with me once more as I, too, feel discouraged from failing, as many people do. Although, when I feel so strongly about reaching a certain goal, I let my failures teach me rather than break me. I build off of them so that I can learn that wounds heal physically, but emotionally they can stick around until you find the hope and strength within you to diminish them. This is exactly what Enrique is experiencing. Through the beating and the multiple deportations he receives, he heals, but the hope he feels to reach the United States heals his wounds as he struggles onward. The larger theme is, of course, hope. The hope Enrique has led his small accomplishments to arise. The hope in himself, and his mother, and the hope other migrants send to him are all factors in how he does not give up. He refuses to give up. In conclusion, Enrique’s Journey is a book that revolves around the idea of hope and how abandonment can always make someone stronger as they will fix the wounds that loved ones left them. The many aspects of how Enrique grew and matured as an individual in truly remarkable since every
In A Place Where the Sea Remembers, Sandra Benitez invites us into a mesmerizing world filled with love, anger, tragedy and hope. This rich and bewitching story is a bittersweet portrait of the people in Santiago, a Mexican village by the sea. Each character faces a conflict that affects the course of his or her life. The characters in this conflict are Remedios, la curandera of the small town who listens to people’s stories and gives them advice, Marta, a 16 year old teenage girl, who was raped and became pregnant. Chayo is Marta’s big sister and Calendario is Chayo’s husband. Justo Flores, his conflict is person vs. self. One of the most important conflicts in this story is person vs. person, then person vs. supernatural followed by
One’s commitment of immigrating to a new country for a better life indicates that oneself is ready to risk the life given to them by facing many hardships along the way. In the novel Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, Enrique does exactly that, risking his own life at the age of seventeen in order to reunite with his mother who left him when he was five in order to obtain a better job in the US and give Enrique and his older sister everything she thought they deserved. Nazario utilizes an emotional appeal and metaphors to inform readers of the arduous situations migrants experience on their long and tiring journey in search of a family member and a better future.
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,
Their mothers promised the children that they would return at once, and for some like Enrique, eleven years passed by without ever seeing his mother once. Seventy-five percent of abandoned children look for their mothers who embark on this dangerous journey to the United States involving bandits, drug cartels, and corrupt cops. Enrique’s mother, Lourdes, leaves January 29, 1989 promising Enrique and his sister Belky that she will be back soon. She starts off on her journey and reaches the United States. For years she works and sends money back to Honduras for her children (Nazario
“On March 20, 2000, he goes to his grandmother Águeda’s house. He stands on the same porch that his mother disappeared from eleven years ago. He hugs Maria Isabel and Aunt Rosa Amelia. Then he steps off” (44).
Sonia Nazario tells a personal story in her 2007 novel, Enrique's Journey, and one in which a young Honduran boy places his life at risk in order to reach the United States and be with his mother. The main characters are Enrique, his grandmother, his girlfriend Maria Isabel, his sister Belky and the mother. Enrique’s mother, Lourdes, had to make the painful decision a mother could make, she had to leave her son because of the poverty in Honduras. Her plan was that once she was in America, she would send money for both her children, Enrique and his sister. Her son becomes resentful and turns to drugs, and then, at the age of seventeen, finally resolves to somehow make the journey and be with the mother who so inexplicably vanished.
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.
Enrique created a larger than life image of his mother, and when he was reunited with her, his depression soon began to return. Quickly after, Enrique finds himself in the midst of a multiculturalism society like the United States. In the states, he learns what potential he has there, and how much better it would be if he could eventually have his girlfriend Maria Isabel and their daughter, Jasmin smuggled in from Honduras. Like his mother, Enrique begins to take the money he earns from his job in the United States, and saves enough money to have his family smuggled in the United States, so that they too can get the experience of what it is like to live in a multiculturalist society, and enjoy the freedoms and joy every migrant family should be able to
This relates to the human rights issue of immigrants due to enrique’s mom heading for the states to better her life. She was a maid , so therefore she didn’t really make that much money. She hoped for a better life and she thought she would be able to do this by moving to the states. In her eyes the only way to do this was heading for america.
At the age of five Enrique and his older sister Belky are left behind in Honduras when their mother Lourdes left to America. When Enrique’s mother left he was split-up from Belky who went to live with their aunt Rosa Amelia while Enrique was sent to live with their father. The separation of Enrique from his mother set in motion the path of Enrique’s life. It is not long after Enrique is left in his care that his father
Each year, thousands of Central American immigrants embark on a dangerous journey from Mexico to the United States. Many of these migrants include young children searching for their mothers who abandoned them. In Enrique’s Journey, former Los Angeles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario, recounts the compelling story of Enrique, a young Honduran boy desperate to reunite with his mother. Thanks to her thorough reporting, Nazario gives readers a vivid and detailed account of the hardships faced by these migrant children.
This story revolves around an undocumented family with the hopes that they will be able to live the "American Dream." The second oldest child, Francisco, otherwise known as Panchito who is also our narrator, is the main character of the novel. Panchito exposes a flurry of emotions with his roller-coaster ride of ups and downs, expectations and disappointments. He and his family expressed hope from the start of the story, dreaming of how life would be considerably better once they reached California, somewhere they thought to be a place where they could escape impoverishment. Panchito is shown as a very hopeful character; in fact, there are many times where he hopes for something to the point where he convinces himself it will happen, resulting in the numerous occasions of disappointment and discouragement. Yet, even with the frequent occurrence of disheartenment, Francisco pulls himself back up and perseveres. The author depicts Panchito as a determined character who always manages to push through rough times despite the circumstances around him telling him that he can't.
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.
Francisco is a boy living in mexico after a few years living in Mexico him and his family moved to California Eligoly . They hoped on a trane and rode to the border. They had to what intell night to cros the border. Francisco has 4 brothers and 1 sister. Francisco’s cherecter traits are resilient,helpful,and courageous.
Esperanza is led by the dream to leave Mango Street at once, nevertheless she knows that she will have to return one day to help and encourage all those who will fallen in the big hole of hopelessness. She can leave Mango Street but she can not escape