In the book “Enrique’s Journey” written by Sonia Nazario, a projects reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nazario talks about the true story of a young Honduran boy named Enrique that was abandoned by his mother Lourdes at the age of 5. His mom left to the United States as an immigrant to work so she can be able to give her poor children a better living. After 11 years without having a mother by his side, makes Enrique decide to go to North Carolina to search for his mother. Traveling from Honduras across the Mexican republic and “El Tren De La Muerte” also known as The Train of the Death, Enrique sets off his long journey to find his beloved mother. Meeting his mother after all this time caused tensions between Enrique and Lourdes, his mother, begin to rise. Enrique resents his mother for having left him, and says that “money does not solve anything”(197).Lourdes tells Enrique that he should blame his father for leaving, …show more content…
But Enrique also wants to return back to Honduras to see his daughter Jasmin.One reason why Enrique wants to stay in the U.S. is because he has a job to provide money to send to his family back in Honduras, His mother Lourdes and sister live in North Carolina.They reason why Enriques stayes with his mother was because he has to provide and send money to his family back in Honduras, which he sends through his mother’s family. One reason why Enrique wants to return back to Honduras is because his family is over there, he has no family in the U.S. besides his mother and sister . He misses his family that’s in Honduras, His fiance Maria Isabel and his daughter Jasmin. In conclusion, Enrique has two difficult decisions, which are he goes back to Honduras with his family or stays in the U.S. with his mother Lourdes and sends money to provide for his
When it comes to analyzing the “banana massacre” scene in chapter 15, I found three narrative techniques the author used to describe this scene. Therefore, one can notice that this part of the book is the climax. As a result, one infers what the author is trying to say about Latin American history and politics.
In Eduardo’s conversation with an illegal immigrant, he explains that he is working to get his family across the border
Meaning, this book would be perfect to teach students life lessons that are important. Three of the themes that are good life lessons are: family, perseverance and survival, and humanization and dehumanization. All of these are found throughout the whole book which makes them hard to forget. Family is shown throughout the book because when Enrique’s mom leaves, all Enrique wants to do is to be with her. A short summary from Litcharts.com explains why family is such a big theme throughout the whole book. “Enrique’s Journey, as its title indicates, is the non-fiction story of a 17-year-old boy’s struggle to travel across Mexico to the United States to reunite with his mother. The events depicted in the book are set in motion by an initial instance of abandonment: Lourdes’ difficult decision to leave Enrique and his sister Belky in Honduras, while she seeks work in the United States to send money back to her family.” This whole quote shows, even though it was a hard choice for Lourdes, it was the right one because it was to help her family. Another theme that was found in the book that is a good lesson is about perseverance and survival. Survival is a trait everyone has, but this book highlights its importance, especially on the trains. Litcharts.com says, “He gives himself a time limit that shows his perseverance and the gravity of his decision: he will make it to his mother even if it takes a year. Despite the dangerous circumstances jumping trains, facing corrupt policemen, immigration checkpoints and officers, bandits, and gangsters, Enrique persists.” This teaches the readers that it is important to push through every difficulty no matter what, and that it is highly significant to survive to achieve the goal. The last theme that is found in Enrique’s Journey that is a good lesson for readers is dehumanization and humanization. This theme is found
In a story of identity and empowerment, Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem “Borderbus” revolves around two Honduran women grappling with their fate regarding a detention center in the United States after crawling up the spine of Mexico from Honduras. While one grapples with their survival, fixated on the notion that their identities are the ultimate determinant for their future, the other remains fixated on maintaining their humanity by insisting instead of coming from nothingness they are everything. Herrera’s poem consists entirely of the dialogue between the two women, utilizing diction and imagery to emphasize one’s sense of isolation and empowerment in the face of adversity and what it takes to survive in America.
“He tells Lourdes she didn’t care enough about her children to stay with them in Honduras. He berates Lourdes for leaving him with a father she knew was irresponsible “(Nazario 197). Even when Enrique travels all this way to be with his mom, he is still not able to forgive her for leaving him and thinking money could replace her presence. Enrique travels to the United States because he believes, by being with her this will automatically undo all the damage. The sad reality, is Enrique and Lourdes have become strangers to each other. Lourdes hardly called and when she did there were never answers that would satisfy Enrique. This is why when they finally meet each other, they have conflicts because they don’t understand each other. This is because Lourdes has missed out on Enrique’s entire childhood. Enrique and Lourdes are both upset; Enrique because it didn’t meet the perfect family expectations that he had fantasized in his head for all these years, and Lourdes would see her children as not being appreciative of all that she did. These wounds will be lifelong, meanwhile money is only temporary and can come and go as time
Like many other migrants, Enrique had many troubles with his mother too. When Enrique first arrived to the U.S., Enrique and his mother’s relationship was going well. Lourdes was proud of Enrique for finding a job as a painter and sander. Lourdes would always brag to her friends that Enrique is her son and that he’s big and a miracle. However, Enrique starts going to a pool hall without asking Lourdes’s permission which makes her upset. Enrique often yells obscenities and mother tells him not to, but Enrique tells Lourdes that nobody can change who he is.
In Enrique’s Journey, Enrique had to witness many of these incidents occur to others. He has seen many women get raped, people get things stolen from them, people fall off the train
... would not be in Tatiana’s best interest to return to Honduras. She would be in a country where there is no one willing to provide her with adequate support and care. Tatiana’s father is deceased and refused to acknowledge his paternity of Tatiana while he was living. See Affidavit A, B. Also, in Honduras, Tatiana’s extended family has proved inadequate and abusive in their care of Tatiana. See Affidavit A, B. In contrast to what awaits Tatiana back in Honduras, Tatiana’s mother and Mr. Mendoza are willing and able to provide Tatiana with the support and care she needs to flourish as an adolescent and into adulthood.
Throughout Enrique’s many attempts at successfully making his way by train to the border between the United States and Mexico, he has encountered people who were more concerned with stopping and harming the travelers rather than ensuring their wellbeing. Therefore this imagery during the journey part of the novel helps to provide the reader with the sense that not everyone in Mexico is out to get the people who are trying to obtain a better
America is known as the land of the free. People from other countries want to obtain this human right; they immigrate from far and wide to reap the benefits and be able to send money home to support their families. The struggles and hardships they endure to find this freedom is often forgotten about when it comes down to reach their goals. This is shown in the book Enrique’s Journey, written by a Los Angles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario who explores the struggles one Honduras boy finds himself faced with on the journey to find his mother. Due to poverty many families overlook the complications of illegally crossing the border into the United States and suffer the repercussions. The repercussions are the dangers surrounding the illegal nature
Text 1 is an excerpt from Sonia Nazario’s book, titled “Enrique’s Journey” that serves the cultural context of Mexican immigrants who are mothers, who left their children to earn money from the city. The narrative text is targeted to individuals who are blessed with a good quality of life. Text 2 is “In Trek North, First Lure is Mexico’s Other Line”, an article by Randal C. Archibold with accompanying photographs by Rodrigo Cruz, published in The New York Times in April 6, 2013. Similarly, it serves the cultural context of determined workingwomen, intended for the American audience, specifically New Yorkers. Although both texts excludes the cultural context of men, but highly considers women, this social group is depicted differently; in the excerpt, women are represented as an inspiring, heroic character, which enables the audience to easily empathize with their struggles, whereas the article, with its intended purpose to inform the audience of the doubling number of illegal crossers, portrays women as a short-sighted romantic.
Ganas was what Enrique showed on his deadly journey that would reunite him with his mother in the U.S. Enrique was required to endure obstacles which the usual individual may not have been able to mentally withstand. “ganas” a hispanic word that represents guts, true grit, and one of my favorite determination. This is the word that describes the immigrants mentality when going on this “Hell Train”. Enrique was one of many children left abandoned by his mother at a young age. Like millions of others children enrique’s need for his mother's affection and nurturing grew and grew more over the years, a need that psychologically affected Enrique. As a young age enrique vividly remembered what his mother had promised him, and that was to return during christmas time. So every christmas Enrique would wake up every morning and instantly like an alarm clock
Virgil Suarez’s poem “Isla” is based off the poet’s personal immigration experience. Born in Cuba, Suarez moved to the United States at age 12. He became college educated, a writer, and a professor (Poetry Foundation, 2018). Suarez is well known for utilizing allegory in his poems to include family members, friends, and famous characters, both real and make-believe (Poetry Foundation, 2018). In his poem “Isla”, Suarez effectively uses allegory, in which he uses both his mother and the famous, love him or hate him creature, Godzilla. As this poem describes Suarez’s immigration from Cuba to America, allegory is fitting because how effective they are at explaining a voyage or dangerous expedition (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Specifically, allegory, is a method used to deliver a thought “…by using people, places, or things to stand for abstract ideas” (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, p. 680). A
La novela “Cien años de soledad” fue una obra escrita por Gabriel García Márquez durante dieciocho meses entre 1965 y 1966 en Ciudad de México y publicada por primera vez en 1967 en Buenos Aires. El ingenio para la redacción de esta obra surge en 1952 durante el viaje que ejecuta Gabriel García Márquez a su pueblo natal, Aracataca. No cabe duda que el lugar ficticio de Macondo, ambiente donde se desarrolla la obra, refleja muchas de las costumbres y anécdotas vividas por Gabriel García Márquez durante su infancia en antedicho pueblo, mostrando así un contexto histórico y social que se analizará a continuación.
Based on job availability, many Mexican women have decided to immigrate to the U.S. to work and send money home to their family. Traditionally it would be the men who would travel to the united states for work, but now husbands are being left behind. There is also a growing number of single-parent female heads of house, forcing them to be both a mother and a breadwinner. This brings them guilt and stigma for breaking gender traditions, and a constant fear that their children back home will not love them anymore. Lourdes becomes a transnational mother because she has one foot set in the United states and yet another in Honduras. Lourdes becomes the provider in this case, she works day and night without nobody’s help, in order to provide the best for her smaller daughter and herself. Lourdes still has to send money back home for her childrens education and lifestyle, lourdes has become a hard working mother in order to manage her life together. Although lourdes had to escape her extreme poverty, lourdes still needed to overcome her guilt about leaving her children behind and not being able to be an important part in their