The Devil 's Highway By Luis Alberto Urrea

The Road, a post apocalyptic novel,written by Cormac McCarthy, tells the story of a father and son traveling along the cold, barren and ash ridden interstate highways of America. Pushing all their worldly possessions in a shopping cart, they struggle to survive. Faced with despair, suicide and cannibalism, the father and son show a deep loving and caring that keeps them going through unimaginable horrors. Through the setting of a post apocalyptic society, McCarthy demonstrates the psychological effects of isolation and the need to survive and how these effects affect the relationships of the last few people on Earth.

Juan Felipe Herrera’s @ The Crossroads - A Sudden American Poem considers the nature of social progress in the wake of devastation. In exploring this concept, Herrera reflects upon the atrocious events leading up to society’s titular crosswalk and contemplates how people can respond to tragedy in a beneficial way. Herrera ultimately conveys the theme of unity: to rebuild today’s broken communities, the populace must abandon shallow, divisive views and embrace the common humanity within its different groups. This method, in Herrera’s eyes, provides the sole refuge from entrapment in the luring trap of self-infallibility.

In the reading land of open graves by De Leon, discusses the dangers that millions of Mexican and central Americans face when trying to get into the United States undocumented. These people include people who have the dream of living in America and creating a new life where they can support their families. Also for those who have been deported back to Mexico being separated from their families and are in hopes of being reunited with their loved ones. These people face a hard battle ahead of them because they have to travel through the Sonoran desert of Arizona that is one of the largest deserts in North America. And have to deal with not only fighting the harsh desert elements, while only caring as many supplies as they can. They also have to deal with the structural violence that goes under looked that thousands of Mexicans have to face while migrating to 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,

The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea traces the journeys of twenty-six men traveling across the border through one of the most treacherous deserts known to man “The Devil’s Highway.” The author’s purpose was to let the world be aware of the events going on all around, with the simple modes of persuasion (pathos, ethos, and logos) Urrea makes you consider what worlds, political and economic, have we created that push humans into impossible journeys? What borders have we imposed, both geopolitical and cultural, that separate human beings so completely?

Enrique’s journey from Honduras to the U.S. unveils the innate loyalty of a loving child to their mother and presents the dangers that a migrant faces on the road with consistent angst; nevertheless, it supports the idea that compassion shown by some strangers can boost the retreating confidence within a person. In Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” he seeks the beacon of light that all migrants hope to encounter; “El Norte.” Like many children before him, it is the answer to the problems of a hard life. While being hunted down “like animals” leading to “seven futile attempts,” he is

They slip into the San Diego rail yard furtively, preferably beneath the protective cover of darkness, jumping fences, eluding guards and dodging two hundred -ton locomotives in a perilous dash for the most elusive of prizes, a free ride to the north. According to Jose Flores, an illegal Mexican immigrant seeking work in the United States says, “To be truthful, I have no idea of precisely where this train goes, other than it takes us to el norte” (Griffin 363+). The fact that each night literally hundreds of men and women clamber over the barricade is testament to its ineffectiveness and to the irresistible pull of United States jobs “that on average pay eight times their equivalent in Mexico” (Griffin 363+ ). Javier Ortega, a 40-year-old auto body repairman from Guadalajara, says, "It doesn 't matter how many people, horses, bicycles, helicopters or planes they use…. People will go. It doesn 't matter if the fence is electric" (Griffin 363+). These people carry dreams with them in hopes for a better life. These people are willing to walk day and night through any desert and any river they come across to achieve the “American Dream.” Illegal immigration between Mexico and the United States is a serious situation that needs to be solved. To better understand this situation, one must analyze the causes and effects and come up with a solution.

When we think about society there is often a stark contrast between the controversy projected in our media about the issues that our society faces and the mellow, safe view we have of our own smaller, more tangible ‘local’ society. This leads us to believe that our way of life is protected and our rights secured by that concept of society that has been fabricated and built upon during the course of our short lives. However, what if society were not what we perceive it to be, and the government chose to exercise its power in an oppressive manner? As a society we would like to think that we ourselves are above such cruelty, yet as The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera recounts the state of Cuba in the 1990’s so must we remember that all societies and governments view the individual differently as opposed to the whole. Each group has unique expectations that are enforced upon the individual goes beyond those expectations. The individual can very quickly find their rose glasses view of their society cracking before their very eyes as the reality of taking such a rise comes into view.

The award-winning author, Luis Alberto Urrea, creator of The Hummingbird's Daughter, Into the Beautiful North, and The Devil's Highway, describes The Devil’s Highway which occurred in May of 2001, one of many that impacted the desert on undocumented immigrants. which is a desert located beyond Sonora, Mexico. It is a desert which few turn to in able to cross over. A group of illegal Mexican were left for dead after attempting to cross; they were left stranded after traveling for days in the wrong direction, through mountains, desert and only a small amount of water along with a few personal items. The Devil’s Highway name was set out to one’s belief “bad medicine” (5). Even though the desert is an obstacle itself, there are still other physical

Nazario spent a total of five years reporting. To create Enrique’s Journey, she made sure to learn absolutely everything about the trip. She spent time conducting many interviews with migrant children who rode the train and recent immigrants. She spoke with Enrique and his family, and other migrants who made the same journey. She conducted hundreds of interviews with priests, government officials, shelter workers, and police officers (270). She verified dialogue and interactions by confirming them with other sources. Facts were established based on extensive research. Statistics were gathered from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics and the Pew Hispanic Center (272).

The Land of Open Graves was a dynamic piece that followed stories of the Mexican-American Border land through a series of anthology-like stories. What made chapters 1 -5 so impactful were the ways in which the stories were conveyed. The author began with a tale of people scouring the desert for undocumented, human remains. Then there was a fictitious journal that mimicked the reality of four migrant workers. Other entries included an explanation of death in the desert, the following of humor in migrant workers and life in the deported role. Although all of these different stories seem divergent, they have central theme that the author draws on throughout the first 100 pages – the unparalleled hostility and negligence perpetrated by the government. The author is adamant about the idea of “Prevention Through Deterrence” and the harsh reality about the border and the way the United States treat those who cross the border. I would like to explain my reaction to each of the chapters below.

The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea is undeniably a book that is absolutely worth reading. It recounts a nightmarish tale through a desperate landscape and the tales of struggle of 26 real men who risked everything in search of a better life. The Devil's Highway is a real geographic destination; it refers to the Arizona desert on the Mexican border. Some assert that in order to survive this particular region, one would need two gallons of water per day, as the temperatures can be higher than 100 degrees. In fact, some say the Devil's Highway is so hot that dead bodies naturally mummify when left by the side of the road (8m.com). This demonstrates one of the main reasons that the book is so worthwhile to read: it tells the story of human survival against a hostile environment. In many ways this has been the fundamental story of human beings from the beginning. Human beings have continually fought to overcome adverse or difficult environments as an aspect of human survival. Nature and the elements even if nature manifests simply by an inhospitable temperature can be one of the most formidable threats to a human being because human beings cannot control nature; they can only react to it as best as they can. Thus, one can easily argue that people will never tire of reading this story because of its dominance to the human condition.

Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway, tells the shocking and horrifying story of immigration across the southern border, however, Urrea’s bias (or lack thereof) has come into question. Urrea wrote The Devil’s Highway with an obscure view because he used first person accounts of the events as well as government provided reports that contained strictly factual writings, and because Urrea took into account both sides of the story rather than just writing from the perspective of one side of the story. First off, Urrea approached the topic with facts using legitimate sources and reports rather than using a blind opinion, doing so led to an unbiased story which presented the true accounts of the story. All of the scenarios that were shown within

Violence is defined as a behavior involving physical or mental force intending to hurt, damage, or kill someone. In the words of Zak Ibrahim, peace is defined as the proliferation or the increase in the existence of Justice. But where does love fit in to these conversations? Violence cannot necessarily transform into love, but the presence of it is surely important. Violence involving our most loved ones, helps us find love and compassion in the toughest of situations, and leads us toward paths of peace. In this essay, examples will be drawn from Zak Ibrahim 's keynote presentation, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Beautiful Boy; a film directed by Shawn Ku, and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.

Civilization is the basis of life, driving human interaction in everyday life. The texts, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, depict civilized and uncivilized situations, which reflect on and elaborate characterization. This can be seen explicitly with the creature (Frankenstein) and the boy (The Road). Both novels address the civilized and uncivilized in different approaches, however similarly emphasize the significance of the character’s traits and development. The ways that each character approaches civilized and uncivilized situations and behaviours, relate to the character’s experiences and emotions directly in the case of the creature, contrary to the inverse relationship in the case of the boy. The