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
The novel Across a Hundred Mountains is told from the eyes of a young Mexican girl named Juana. Juana learns the value of a family after her family is broken. Her family is described as poor but unified. Her family is also observed to be loyal, virtuous and of good ethic which we see in a few of Juana’s actions.
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
Roberto Clemente once said, “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth,” (Big Think Editors). The grand majority of people on Earth would not devote themselves to impacting the world forever. In fact, many people today shun the needs of those who need their help most. However, Clemente based his entire existence upon this single quote, and consequently left an ever-lasting impact on the world. Society as a whole has benefitted from Roberto Clemente due to his baseball accolades, his charitable acts, and his role in ending segregation.
Throughout high school, many books are assigned to be read during the summer with the intent of opening students’ minds to learn. Students who read the books often find them enjoyable, however, there are some books that don’t acquire the same positive impact. Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, unfortunately, happens to be one of those books. The writer attempts to shine a positive light on immigrants and their struggle to get into the United States for a successful life, but ultimately contradicts her message by the end of the novel when Enrique ultimately throws his life away once arriving. Enrique’s Journey should not be considered as required reading material because the situation portrayed only happens to a small percentage of immigrants
It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Rape in the fields, and Enrique’s Journey. These two documents are more similar than people think. The first similarity between the book and he film. Is that the laws; as we see it are there but are corrupt. For example in the film Rape in the fields, the women will tell the police officers; the males are sexual abused and the officers would not do anything about it because there is no proof that what they’re saying actually happed. The police would take more the sexual offenders words because the female aren’t undocumented. In the book the officers would steal from those who are trying to cross to the United States. Illegal immigrants are afraid to speak
That Sunday Antonio knew that town would be mourning the two deaths of Chavez’s brother and Lupito, along with the other sons and husbands that were directly caused by the war. On the way to church Antonio, who has been
In The Bean Trees, all of the families are loving, but they also go through events that challenge them and change them forever. These families include Estevan and Esperanza, who had a very rough past and still fight through it. Another family is Lou Ann, Angel, and Dwayne Ray, who go through a very hard transition early on in the marriage. The last family is Taylor and Turtle, who through eventful circumstances, become a family. These challenges change the families forever.
Hardships may not seem influential or beneficial, but that is exactly what they are. Although they’re not what you want to happen, they transform you into a better person. Hardships influence people’s lives by making the journey difficult and the rewards more desirable.
Sonia Nazario’s piece, Enrique’s Journey, thoroughly depicts the hardships that come with modern day immigration and the issues that can stem from a single decision. In her book, Nazario writes that immigration “is a powerful stream...that can only be addressed at its source” (Nazario xxv). She uses the metaphor of a stream or river to illustrate the gradual escalation of complications that can arise from immigration and the choice of pursuing a greater future in the United States. Just like a river, a majority of the force behind immigration currently has developed through several minor justifiable situations that create a widespread consequence. Immigration is a vicious cycle stemmed from a lack of love and economic stability within Latino
What I found most striking about “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz, is that when you take away the Dominican mother, the Dominican abuelita, the fuku , the Spanglish, and the cultural references, Lola and Oscar, appear to suffer the trials and tribulations we all do as teenagers. As Junot Diaz immerses the reader in their tumultuous lives from the Dominican Republic to Paterson, New Jersey, you discover that Oscar and Lola are teenagers navigating the same physical and emotional roads we all did growing up. Oscar does not want to die a virgin and Lola wants to be independent. The mother clamors to provide for her children just like single mothers everywhere. Oscar was a “social introvert”, (Diaz, 2007, p. 22), finding
Most people think that coming to the U.S is easy but it really it not. Enrique Journey By Sonia Nazario teaches the audience that the journey to the U.S is difficult for migrants. Enrique journey towards the U.S made him the man he is today, and Lourdes’ challenges in the new transition she had coming to the U.S reveals to us that coming to the U.S was a big challenge.
In the nonfiction novel, Always Running, Luis Rodriguez elaborates on his personal life experience in L.A. gangs. Always Running contains atrocious detail and powerful, poetic, passages, that leave each reader impacted and potentially speechless. Rodriguez’s work is not only literary, but takes a stand to political issues that continue to be faced in today’s society. Luis was not given easy paths even as a young boy. This novel goes into explaining the shootings, jail time, suicides, addiction of hard drugs, discrimination, and the constant deaths, in which Luis has to experience almost daily. Given the rough and life-threatening patches throughout his life, Luis eventually attempts to maintain hope, insight, and make difference in the world
Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario contains an overarching theme of family. This theme is developed throughout the book through the author’s style of changing the focus of the book for the reader. By changing the focus of the book, the author is able to represent the feelings of many of the books characters, as well as the events that occur for different characters. Through the exploration of many different characters lives, the author is effectively able to show the reader the effects of separation upon different characters. As seen by the quote, Nazario is focusing on Maria Isabel’s life for a portion of the last section of the book. This focus on Maria Isabel helps to develop a sense of family in the book because Maria Isabel has remained
Enrique is traumatized and feels abandoned. His mother left him when he was five years old. He is constantly relying on false hope when people around him say “‘She’ll be home soon… Don’t worry. She’ll be back’”(9). His mother never comes which causes confusion and adolescent anger in Enrique. His