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Lourdes Central America Summary

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In the story the theme of the American dream can be related to after hearing of Lourdes’ experiences in the U.S. Starting from when she was a child, it was said that she glimpsed images of the U.S. on television. She was persuaded by the images she saw and created an image of her own that is often referred to as "the American Dream." Quickly, Lourdes realizes that the U.S. puts forth its own set of issues. She can’t keep a job for long and it is very tough to get one, and even when she gets it, racism and her status as an illegal immigrant limit her wages compared to normal U.S. citizens. Although she can send some money home to help Enrique her earnings are so low that she has to turn to a form of prostitution to boost her income. Though Lourdes …show more content…

Enrique spends a portion of his journey along the trains that are considered gang territories as gangs believe they own the trains so they can do anything they want to “their” riders, these would be demonstrated by Enrique as his journey progresses. The trains hazardous to the migrants traveling upon them, but those riding must also overcome their thoughts of quitting, loneliness, giving up while minding the physical dangers of getting pulled under the wheels while boarding the moving train, which can cause dismemberment or more likely death while others fall off the train while it is in motion. As stated earlier gangs rule the train tops, raping, robbing, beating, and even killing as much as they want because of the fact that they believe it is their territory. Migrants are also in danger of being caught by corrupt police and immigration authorities better known in the story as “la migra”. A scary thing to think about is the fact that all migrants have to make their journeys with the fear of rape along the whole migration road to America. Migrants suffer from starvation and dehydration which comes along with the limited amounts of food and water they are able to carry with them, they are also unable to go to the bathroom for

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