Analysis Of Sonia Nazario´s Enrique's Journey

Sonia Nazario’s book Enrique’s Journey follows a young man on his journey from the Honduras to the United States in search of his mother, who left when he was only five years old, in hopes of providing a better life for her children. Throughout the novel, Nazario recounts the struggles that Enrique faced along the way, both physical and mental. Enrique made eight attempts to get to the United States, enduring several beatings, days without food, fear of corrupt local authorities, and the perils of riding aboard a dangerous train for hundreds of miles. In the end, he must overcome these obstacles, as well as his own vices and internal struggles, to finally see his mother.

The book Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario is a nonfiction book based on a real story told throughout 367 pages. The reason why I decided to read this book is that it was highly recommended by one of my former English teachers. I was extremely persuaded to read this book by her but I also personally believed that by reading this book I would gain a new understanding of life by really opening my mind to new experiences that other people go through.

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario tells of a perseverant Honduran mother by the name of Lourdes. She comes to the United States in hopes of landing a job, so that she may send money home to her children in Honduras. Lourdes’s determination pays off and she is hired at many domestic jobs, such as babysitting and house cleaning. Although she is now able to send adequate support to her children, her absence consequently causes emotional turmoil. Enrique yearns for his mother, to the point where he is willing to risk his life to be with her. His quest to reunite with his mom is filled with a multitude of obstacles ; nevertheless through the kindness of strangers and smugglers, Enrique’s dream becomes a reality. Everyone needs someone to help them pick up their broken pieces at least one point in their life.

The book I am reading is Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario. I predict that the author will explore the human rights issue of Immigration Laws and the plight of illegal aliens in the United States. I believe that this issue will be important in the story because Enrique the main character in the story is very driven to find his mother who has gone herself illegally to the United States to earn money to provide an education for her children and to better the life of her family. I made this prediction because Lourdes leaves her children in Honduras as she goes to make money in the United States and her son Enrique is left saying “Donde esta mi mami?” “Where is my mom?”

In chapter two of the book Enrique’s Journey, Enrique has made a total of seven attempts trying to cross the borders. In the first attempt, la migra caught Enrique and his friend, Jose del Carmen Bustamante, while they were riding the train from Honduras and to Veracruz in Central Mexico. They got sent back to Guatemala on El Bus de Lagrimas, the Bus of Tears. In the second attempt, Enrique traveled alone and got caught by the police. They, once again, put him on the bus and sent him back to Guatemala. In the third attempt, the Mexican police robbed Enrique while he was sleeping in an empty house near Chahuites and turned him over to la migra, who sent him back to Guatemala. In the fourth attempt, the police caught him in Tapachula, Mexico

Enrique is the central character of Enrique’s Journey authored by Sonia Nazario (2007, 2014). Enrique’s journey is a touching account of the repercussions of an economically distressed society and the effects that this circumstance has on the citizens of Honduras. Enrique is five years old when his mother Lourdes is forced to leave Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the United States where she believes she has a better opportunity of earning an adequate amount of money to support Enrique and his sister Belky. As years pass, Enrique becomes more disheartened and decides to take the dangerous trip of traveling North to be with his mother.

While reading Enrique’s Journey, written by Sonia Nazario, a lot of themes were brought out throughout the book that served different meaning in Enrique’s story. The theme that stood out to me, was his journey because Enrique traveled all the way from Honduras to find his mom, who stayed in the United States. There are times in the book when he falls victim to his own shortcomings: doing drugs, tantalizing his mother, mismanaging his finances. He is ready to take yet another journey, this time marked by responsibility instead of adolescent rebellion and resentment. However, Enrique's journey is not only physical, but also mental as he grows from a boy to a man. The physical aspect of his journey challenges his body, as seen during his recovery

Enrique’s Journey is a real life story based on a son and his mother having to be seperated from one another due to the migration of the mother to the United State. Enrique’s mother Lourdes left Enrique in their hometown of Honduras at the age of 5, Enrique was devastated he could not handle the pain of being without his mother. After being separated from each other for 11 years Enrique was confident and gained all the strength inorder for him to reunite with his mother whether he has to make the dangerous odyssey of crossing through the border. Family abandonment leads to unimaginable repercussions. Lourdes reason behind leaving her family was to provide a better future for her children.

Quotations Analysis “In spite of everything, Enrique has failed again - he will not reach the United States this time, either. He tells himself over and over that he’ll just have to try again. ”- page 60 Context sentence: Enrique has been trying to reach his mother in the states for quite some time now, He recently has been deported back to guatemala there he decides not to give up and he perseveres. Appeal to Emotion: Enrique has been through a lot of trials and tribulations in his journey to meet his mother.

From Mexico to the United States, a very dangerous journey some take to have a better life or to reunite with their family. Even people who are as inexperienced, such as Enrique, go through this dangerous path to reunite himself with his mother. In the novel, Enrique's Journey, author Sonia Nazario uses literary devices such as theme, characterization, and POV to show us how events change a character along the way and reveals how a character truly is. Sonia Nazario uses theme to show us the drastic change in character, characterization to show us how the dangers of this journey has an impact on someone, and POV to show us how the character is someone else’s perspective.

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario is the story about a boy in Honduras whose mother left him to pursue a better life in America. This story encompasses the coming of age period of Enrique’s life and many of his experiences can be related to by other children, even in different situations. Nazario develops an interesting novel that both documents the journey of Enrique to the United States but also creates a dramatic tone like a fiction novel would have. Through her diverse use of rhetorical strategies, Nazario was able to explain the positive and negative effects of family relationships through the life of Enrique. She does this by utilizing different literary devices, most evidently, nomos, in which she relates with the story and also opens

Gabi, a girl in Pieces is a novel written by Isabel Quintero is consists of Gabi Hernandez journal entries as she goes through her senior year of high school. Gabi lives with her mother, brother, Beto, and her father that comes in and out as he deals with his drug addiction. Gabi is supported by her two best friends, Cindy who is going through an unwanted pregnancy, and Sebastian that is unwanted by his family. Her dad sadly died from a drug overdose, and her mother is pregnant with his child. Throughout the book Gabi goes through body issues (binge eats to get rid of her anxiety, and relationship issues, but all/most of her problems are solved by the end of the book. In the novel, the two cultures being developed is American and Mexican culture. Isabel Quintero

Mexican immigrant families are usually pictured in a small house in the ghetto with gang members and criminals in the streets. Julio told me“My father worked at the fields but was the boss so he made good

“Enrique feels he would rather be with his mother than get the money and the gifts she sends.” 26, Enrique’s journey, Sonia Nazario. This immigrant boy called Enrique says he prefers to live in poverty rather than not having his mother at his side. After reading the book Enrique’s Journey, I have learned that is not worth it for a mother to abandon her children just to follow the American dream with the illusion of provide a better future for them. Broken homes causes many problems in our society, particularly, abandoned children grow up with low self-esteem and resentful feelings, they choose bad companies and they often consume drugs or alcohol.

The sacrifice of never seeing your own child again is a big sacrifice. This matters because they left their only child in Guatemala and moved to the USA and never saw her