Nardos Yosef

Anlicker

English 1102

26 September 2016

Enrique’s Journey and the Significance it has to Other Immigrants Journeys

            Last week, our class began reading Enrique’s Journey. This book is written by Sonia Nazario, and explores the journey taken by the author and a young man named Enrique who lives in Honduras. Enrique and his little sister were abandoned by his mom, Lourdes, when he was young so she could try to make money in America. She worked hard to feed and provide clothes for her two children. He grows up with some relatives and has a rough turn in his life as he grows older. He becomes involved with drugs because he believes that his mom has abandoned him and he is all alone. He also gets involved with a woman and ends up having a baby. His family tries to help and fix his drug problems but no one can change the fact that Enrique feels abandoned. Everything is not well with his mother either. She realizes that America is not easy to find a job in. After Enrique gets kicked out of his aunt’s house because he steals her jewelry, he decides that he needs to return to his mom in America. He will take the illegal route and ride trains in order to get to America and reach his mother. The first seven times he was severely beaten and robbed. It was not until his eighth attempt that he becomes successful in this dangerous journey. Enrique’s mother Lourdes pays a smuggler to bring him to her, but when he finally arrives, their reunion is not what they expected. Enrique has to begin work immediately.

            Enrique believed that as soon as he reunited with his mother, all his problems would fade away. This is not what happens-he only has resentment and sadness for his mother. He goes back to abusing drugs and alcohol. He also has to continue working in order to send money back to his girlfriend and baby and continue saving up in order to pay for a smuggler to bring his girlfriend and baby to America. His dreams of a perfect reality in America were broken after arriving and having to work hard jobs and not connecting with his mother the way he thought he would.

            This book was very important in educating people about the reality of immigration. No matter what your stance on this topic, this book definitely evokes emotion from any reader. It is hard not to see what a painful and hard journey immigration is, and how the dream of America is way greater than the reality of it. It is not easy to immigrate here or find a place to fit. Immigrating to America brought many problems to the different families in this book. Nazario highlighted the pain and suffering many endure to have the opportunity to help their children succeed. It is important for people who may not have an understanding on who immigrants are or why they immigrate to America to know the different sides.