Reflection On Enrique's Journey

Sacrifices have been performed forever and a day since ancient times when people thought that a sacrifice of a human life would stop natural disasters from happening and not going on with that ritual was anger the gods they believed. Today we see sacrifices on our daily bases but not to the point of killing, more examples of today sacrifices will be a mother not eating to feed her kids or a boy that is very poor and have almost nothing sharing the food someone’s gave him with others, present sacrifices are not as extreme but they surely have a strong meaning that strengths the bond between that person that sacrifices and the person that receive, but not in all cases a sacrifice is seen the same way most of the time is perceive with negativity if the receiver is blind and is not inform about the sacrifice.

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.

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

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.

The United States of America, is known to be one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world. It has often been referred to by many as a global melting pot or as locals may say callaloo, due to the amassing of diverse ethnicities, cultures and nationalities. Within its borders, resides immigrants or descendants of immigrants from almost every region in the world, and each has in some way added to the American culture and way of life. America is known for its stance on freedom, it is a nation that values equality and justice, this can be noted in the last few words of their national anthem ‘indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’ However, for many, high levels of economic and social inequalities are daily struggles, a battle that has been fought for decades to claim the most basic rights, in the pursuit of achieving the American Dream.

El Olvido by Judith Ortiz Cofer, covers the dangers of forgetting yours roots and culture. It emphasizes the idea that forgetting where one comes from and creating adjustments in a new setting, may be dangerous to the person. Many people are able to relate to this text, but Cofer was able to direct this to the hispanic race, as the common spanish names Jesus, Maria and Jose are used.

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. Lourdes believes that being apart from Enrique and Belky is a better alternative than raising them in destitute conditions. In 2000, Enrique formalizes his plans of exodus and begins his lengthy and dangerous trip to the

In Central America, some parents leave their children, and set out a journey to the United States in hopes of making a better life for them. Throughout the years, the children who are left behind eventually go on a journey to be reunited with their family. On the journey, the children acquire many character traits and skills that ultimately make them grow as a person. In the book by Sonia Nazario titled Enrique’s Journey, author Nazario writes about Enrique, a young Honduran boy, who goes on a long and strenuous trip to find his mother. In the article “Desperate Voyagers,” by Ioan Grillo, it talks on the subject of children fleeing their country due to gang violence. The majority of the children who have crossed into the U.S are usually reunited

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.

Soto uses repetition and motif to describe how weather can depict the mood of a story and how little things can have great effects on people. Gary Soto includes a motif of weather throughout the poem to illustrate the mood and setting of the poem. Soto begins with “December. Frost cracking,beneath my steps, my breath before me. Her house the one who burned yellow night and day, in any weather” (5-8). This motif describes what is going on in the beginning of the poem and hints what the story will be like based on the mood that it sets. Soto uses the motif throughout the poem and he uses it a second time as he leaves the store “Outside, A few cars hissing past, Fog hanging like old Coats between the trees”(44-47). This time, Soto displayed the

Appeal to Emotion: Enrique has been through a lot of trials and tribulations in his journey to meet his mother. In this scene he sits in the deportation bus crying with other immigrants. when the author says “...He’ll just have to try again….” it shows that If the character wasn't wholeheartedly there for the right

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

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

A story Enrique 's Journey written by Sonia Nazario is a book about a boy on his Journey to the united states. On Enrique’s Journey, he comes to a point where he has to make a tough decision between staying in the united states and going back to Honduras. Enriques dilemma is that he has just as many reasons to go back to Honduras as he does to stay in the united states. One example of Enrique wanting to stay in the United States seen when Enrique finally sees his mother “ He Jumps squarely onto the bed next to her he gives her a hug then a kiss“ (Nazario 190). Enrique wants to stay in the united states because of many reasons because there’s better job’s, less gang’s, better pay, fewer drugs, has a stepsister Diana and his mother in the united

Within Ellis Island by Joseph Bruchac, On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley, and Europe and America by David Ignatow there are different views of what the American Dream is and what it means to immigrants. Each author writes about their own experience of immigration and life in America, which shapes their view of the American dream. The common theme between the three poems is the variable nature of the American dream and how it has different meanings for each person coinciding with contradictions between leisure and suffering.