Temporary Happiness

Personally, I liked the second half of the novel more than the first. I think the relationship that forms between Enrique and his mother is one of the most intriguing relationships in the novel.  Alongside Enrique, the readers discovered the problems that come with building a strong mother to son relationship. I came to the conclusion that Enrique perfectly examples how fantasizing about a destination can lead to a harsh fall when reality hits.

Since Enrique has been fantasizing about meeting his mother for so long, their reuniting wasn’t all it cracked up to be. In the beginning, Enrique and his mother worked on building a strong relationship: “Whenever he leaves the house, she hugs him. When she comes home from work, they sit on the couch, watching her favorite soap opera, with her hand resting on his arm” (Nazario 194). After he got to experience how a true family interacts for a while, Enrique became frustrated and turns to bad decisions to cope. I think the initial excitement and joy overshadowed the hidden problems that were still left to deal with between Enrique and his mother. After the initial “honeymoon” phase ended, unsolved conflicts and emotions were all that was left to remain. 

State Police

Ever since I was a child I have always looked up to policemen as being the “good guys” because they lay down the law and keep our country safe. It has never occurred to me that in some countries the police are the enemies.  However, in the book church members try and support the migrants, giving them food and a place to sleep for days or sometimes even months. Migrants feared that the state police would come and arrest them, sending them back home where they came from. Julio Cesar Trujilo Velasquez, a spokesman for the Diocese of Orizaba says, “State police would beat migrants, sometimes take their money, and then throw them into the back of their trucks” (Nazario 112) Church members began holding public protest outside the local hospital because, “the migrant claimed that a police officer had pushed him toward the train…” (112). The police were deporting the migrant even though he had just lost his leg and was unable to walk. Protesters screamed, “We want justice!” (112).

I have never experienced anything like what these kids and adults have gone through, but admire their courage and bravery greatly. Enrique’s Journey has really showed me the difference in police systems and how problems are gone about. The question I’ve been asking myself throughout this book is: why has nothing been done about this huge problem? And another question I have is: Why are gangs such a bigger issue in central America than in North America?

Ignorance is Bliss

María Isabel is very fond of her only child Jasmín, and wants to protect her. She wishes to give Jasmín the best childhood she can even with limited resources. One of those resources being money. María Isabel and her family are very short on money much like many of the other families living in that area of Honduras. Nazario narrates, "She carries Jasmín in her arms to the city's central plaza, where children beg with outstretched arms. She takes her into the cathedral, up to the gilded altar. She prays. She asks that Jasmín not get sick, that Enrique stay away from drugs. Then she takes Jasmín for a scoop of ice cream" (Nazario 225). I wonder if Jasmín, even at her young age, realizes their financially situation. Does she only see the ice cream being given to her after a day out with her mother, or does she realize that she is luckier than the children that are forced to beg at the plaza? My question is, if you had a child and were struggling financially, would you make it seem like there was nothing wrong, or tell your child the truth about what is going on so it isn't a surprise later in their life?

The Meaning of Family

According to Dictionary.com the word family means: a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, consideredas a group, whether dwelling together or not. In reality though, family means so much more than this. They are truly our biggest supporters and love us unconditionally. Although important to many, family is especially important to these illegal immigrants, because they don’t have anything else. Families, like Enrique’s, are so poor they don’t have shoes, or enough money to feed the family. In times of struggle like this, you lean on your family for support and hope. But what happens when moms and dads feel compelled to leave and go work in the United States? Then their children and other family members are left with nothing but hope that they will return soon. The separation is the initial cause of why so many new families are created. For instance, Lourdes has another child in the U.S., Enrique gets Maria Isabel pregnant, and Enrique’s dad finds another girlfriend. Ultimately this causes complexity within the lives of migrants because they eventually feel compelled to return to their original family and integrate their new families with their old. Migrants must blend in, which is why they learn how to speak and sometimes dress like the people in cities they are passing through. Although, “Migrants are easy to spot. They wear dirty clothes and smell bad after days or weeks without bathing. Often, they have no socks. Their shoes are battered. They have been bitten by mosquitoes. They look exhausted” (Nazario98). The dedication these illegal immigrants have to their families never fails to amaze me. What role does family play in your life? And would you be willing to embark on this dangerous journey to be reunited with your family?

Hard Decisions

     In the novel Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario hard decisions are inevitable. For example, Enrique's girlfriend, Maria Isabel, had to make the decision to leave her daughter Jasmin in Honduras, so that she could go work in the United States providing a better life for her daughter. This decision was not made easily or quickly, for it took a lot of persuading by Enrique "Together we will provide her a better life"(Nazario 237). In the end Maria Isabel was so upset she left without even saying goodbye. Some could argue that her decision was not the right thing, and others could argue that it was. Making decisions is only hard because there are pros and cons to each side. If there was a clear answer then it would not be a hard choice. For Maria Isabel, leaving her daughter without a mother might not have been the best choice, yet at the same time she is providing much more for her daughter then she could have if she was there for her.

    I tried to think of a time in my life where I made a hard decision, but none of them even came close to the one that Maria Isabel made. Only one situation comes to mind when I think of hard decisions, and that is when I said goodbye to my grandmother. My grandmother had been sick with cancer for a long time, but last Christmas she got extremely ill. Some people are very scared to say goodbye to a loved one when they are sick, but I knew I would regret it if I did not say goodbye one last time. Although it was hard, I had to make the decision because if I had not said goodbye I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. Have you ever made a hard decision?

Love

Bitsy Pendleton

I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first simply because Enrique finds his mother. At the end of the book, the talk show host asks Enrique if it was worth receiving money but remaining mom less. If any child were asked if they would rather have their mom than money I can guarantee the answer would be yes, at least that is the case for Enrique. Enrique practically moved mountains to be with his mom. This part of the book really made me think what life would be like without my mom, and what extents I would go to for a chance to live with her again.

Enrique finding his mom is my favorite part of the book because the voyage is unbearable, the nights are longer than normal, and people are not friends, yet Enrique kept trying to find his mom. The integrity he had to not try one time, but multiple times to be able to find his mom is amazing. The amount of love Enrique has for Lourdes is very special, special enough for Enrique to complete his journey. Also I like how Lourdes and Enrique’s relationship is so strong, Enrique moves back to Florida. He loves his mom very much and Enrique would be genuinely lost if he had not found her. Do you think Enrique and Lourdes relationship is this close because Enrique had to make this journey, or do you think they would be this close if Lourdes hadn't of moved.

Lost in Loneliness

   
       Several times throughout the novel, Enrique expresses his desire to fill the void his mother left in his childhood. Ultimately, this need for motherly love prompts Enrique to depart on his journey northward. Upon his reunion with Lourdes, Enrique is immediately overcome with joy that lasts him all but two months until once again loneliness catches up to him. He has now become the parent that  left a family in Honduras, and he becomes painfully aware of the improbability of being able to return to Maria Isabel and their daughter shortly. This desolation overwhelms him, pushing him into the mix of drug and alcohol addictions, and he again returns to blaming for his mother for not being home to raise him properly.

        Two and a half years later, Enrique decides to make change in his lifestyle: "He wants to look better when Maria Isabel comes to the United States. More importantly, he has to be more responsible for Jasmin" (Nazario 217). The prospect of his family being able to join him in the near future motivates Enrique to leave behind his indulgences and bad habits, and instead work to become the father and husband that his family so desperately needs. In this, the solitude that he was once lost in is now replaced by the hope for a united family. Has there ever been a time when loneliness has made you do things you wouldn't otherwise have done? When have you worked harder for the sake of others?

A Good Kind of Evil

            Upon his arrival in Nuevo Laredo, Enrique finds a camp he can stay at with other migrant teenagers like himself. The leader of this camp, called "El Tirindaro", is a smuggler and heroin addict. He's a type of smuggler known as a patero, because he paddles migrants across the Rio Grande in inner tubes like a duck. Although he is described as irascible when he doesn't have his drugs, he takes a special liking to Enrique. His generosity can be seen in small acts of kindness; helping him through setbacks and showing leniency when things get hard for Enrique. "When one of Enrique's meal cards was stolen, El Tirindaro gives him the unexpired card of a migrant who crossed the river sucessfully," and "he knows Enrique can not swim, so he paddles him back and forth in the water on an innertube to quiet his fears," (151). Although these things may seem small and relatively insignificant, they are small favors performed for Enrique during times of great hardship. When Enrique comes into contact with his mother, he asks her to pay El Tirindaro to smuggle him across the border. He says, "I know he won't strand me," (168). Even though it would be deceptively easy for him to abandon or rob the migrant boys, Enrique knows that he can trust the smuggler to bring him to the U.S. safely. Even though what he is doing is illegal, El Tirindaro proves to be kind and trustworthy at the core, making him a refuge for the troubled teenagers.
             Very often in life, I find myself presented by a situation that seems to be black and white. After all, it would be easier if everything was that way--a clear division between good and evil. However, upon further analysis, very few things we encounter are clearly spelled out that way. While at first glance El Tirindaro is not only a smuggler of illegal immigrants but a drug addict too, it would be easy to put him in the "evil" category. However, Enrique's experience with him would prove otherwise. He looked after the migrants he was indebted to care for and provided for Enrique when he needed help. Several people Enrique encountered along his journey were probably perfectly virtuous and lived their lives according to the law, but neglected to help him or others in need when they were struggling to stay alive. It is situations like this that make it difficult, even impossible, to ever define a situation as black and white. In my opinion, I find several media and news coverage outlets doing just that quite frequently. Magazines use yellow journalism and libel to sell more copies. A certain news channel my mother listens to frequently often picks one side of the story and feverishly reports from that point of view, hardly stopping to consider the issue from the eyes of someone else. Politics are a great example of this--two parties, two points of view. It can be hard to find room for personal interpretation or non-biased reporting in a system structured like that, but as I am constantly reminded, the most important thing is stepping back and not judging something just from what seems true or morally "white". Reading into both sides of an issue and considering something from the opposite standpoint of what you would normally see things from, I find, is the best way to combat biased opinions in a world where things are hardly ever clear cut. Have you even encountered an issue where you originally interpreted things in one way, but for whatever reason, your opinion changed later? What caused you to see things in a different light?

Two Different Worlds

            Enrique’s whole journey began with his wish to finally reunite with his mother once again. Lourdes left Honduras, a world that without a husband was no place to raise a family as a single mother. Lourdes made the trek to the United States in hopes to have the resources she needed to provide for her two children whom she left in Honduras. This first departure is what I believe to be the first divide. Although Lourdes, Enrique’s mother, leaves at the beginning of the novel, the families in both Honduras and now the United States have to undergo a complete transformation. After Lourdes’s boyfriend in California didn’t come back from a trip back down to South America, Lourdes took her now newborn baby, Diana, to North Carolina in search for a more accepting work force and community. Even though Lourdes was sending money to her family back in Honduras, she also had Diana to take care of. While she was in North Carolina, Lourdes found a boyfriend who also had a family in South America. They soon lived together and he helped a lot when it came to taking care of their family in North Carolina and in South America. When Enrique finally made it into America, Lourdes’s boyfriend was the one who drove Enrique from Florida to North Carolina:

                             “’Are you Lourdes’s son?’ the boyfriend asks.

                             Enrique nods.

                             ‘Let’s go.’ They say little in the car, and Enrique fell asleep.

                             By 8 A.M. on May 28, Enrique is in North Carolina.” (Nazario 189)

This quote means so much more to me than Enrique reaching North Carolina. It is the end of a journey and the beginning of another life. To me, it feels like Enrique and Lourdes are leading two very diverse lives. Enrique left his pregnant girlfriend, María Isabel, in Honduras to have the baby. María Isabel soon has her child, Jasmín, in Honduras and Enrique isn’t there to enjoy it. Lourdes has long left her family in Honduras and has now made a family in the United States. Although both Enrique and Lourdes try to make a living for their families back in Honduras, they can’t help but settle in and make relationships in America.  The barrier built between the two worlds is not penetrable anymore. If it hadn’t taken Enrique so long to come to his mother, the damage may have not been very bad, but because Lourdes missed so much of her kids’ lives, they learned to move on without her.

 It’s funny how life works in that way: Lourdes is in the United States trying to make a living and have a family while her family back in Honduras learns to live without her. Life never stops. As humans we learn to adapt to changes and live without things that we once lived with. While America adapted to have Enrique and Lourdes in it, Honduras adapted to living without them. Have you ever had to adapt to something that changed everything? Was there ever a time where you wanted to stop life from happening in one place and keep it going in another?

Importance of Religion and Generosity

Throughout the novel, religion plays an important role. Migrants often bring Bibles with them on the journey and rely on their faith to have hope. Many Christian villagers and churches along the way provide nourishment, clothes, and safe places to stay for the migrants. Without the help of these churches and kind people, many migrants would not have survived the journey or would have been sent back to their home countries. In particular, one priest named Padre Leo has a heart for helping migrants. He illegally crosses the Mexican border to buy clothing, goes to the grocery three times a week to purchase food for the migrants, and will stop at nothing to help the migrants and fulfill their needs. He shows this extreme kindness and selflessness because he believes in Jesus and wants to follow his example. He says, “Jesus wasn’t killed for doing miracles. It was because he defended the poor and opposed the rulers and injustice committed by the powerful” (Nazario 173). It is faith that drives Padre Leo, along with other community members like him to show generosity by giving up their own food and clothing to help migrants. Faith and religion play a crucial role in the journeys of migrants like Enrique by giving people a reason to give and to show the migrants kindness.

I believe that acts of kindness like those shown in Enrique’s journey are important to help others, no matter the sacrifice to ourselves or how small the deed may seem. I believe that we need more Padre Leos in this world: people who give to help others around them, whether they are compelled by faith or just a desire to “do good.” Have you ever done a small (or big) act of kindness for anyone like Padre Leo in Enrique’s Journey? Has anyone ever shown you generosity in a way you didn’t expect? 

Selfless Acts in Enrique's Journey

In Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, I really loved reading about the people who generously give the little they have to help migrants along their journey.  People such as Olga, Padre Leo, Francisca Aguirre Juarez, and many others donate food, money, and their time, to help injured, sick, and hungry migrants. For example, the priest Padre Leo gives up his priest apartment so that migrants can sleep there. He risks his own safety by crossing the Rio Grande into Laredo Texas to buy clothes for migrants, and when he runs out of clothes to give them, he gives away his own. Three days a week he goes to Nuevo Laredo to collect food so he can feed over one hundred hungry migrants that come to the church each night to eat. One of the church volunteers, Pedro Leyva said “He saw that these people are the most vulnerable, the most disliked by the local population. So he gave himself to them” (Nazario 172). Padre Leo and many others are selfless and give all they can to help the migrants in need.

  The kindness and generosity that Padre Leo exemplifies is also shown in the poverty stricken towns of Encinar, Fortín de las Flores, Cuichapa, and Presidio. In these towns, the residents have little money and food, yet they still find a way to aid the migrants along their journeys. People race out of their homes with bundles of food or clothes to throw to the migrants every time they hear the horn of a nearby train.  One of these food throwers said “If I have one tortilla, I give half of it away, I know God will bring me more” (105). These people share what they have with migrants because they know the migrants are in greater need.  Some give to the migrants because they once had or knew a child that died during the journey, some give hoping that if they ever need help in the future, someone will lend a hand, and some give because of the teachings of Mathew 25: 35 and the goodness in their hearts.  One migrant from Honduris named Fernando Antonio Valle Recarte said, “We could never keep going forward without people like this.” (104-105). Many of the migrants are on the brink of starvation, so a bundle of bread and some water could be enough to keep them alive.

    Enrique’s Journey inspired me, particularly through the selflessness of the gift givers, and the stories about people such as Padre Leo who dedicated their lives to the well-being of migrants.   Has there been a time in your life (big or small) in which you acted selflessly to help someone else?

Fight between Minorities

   

       After Enrique and his family move to Florida and rent an apartment, they believe the hardships have subsided and things will only get better. However, they are proven wrong when African American gangs begin to attack the Latino men because they know the Latinos "unwillingness to go to the police to report crimes for fear of being deported make them ideal targets" (251). Enrique and his friends begin to live in fear because of the continuous attacks made against them. Bullying the Latinos gives insight to the fact that although the African Americans think of the Latinos as lesser, they are also intimidated by them as well. Because more Latinos are migrating to Florida, less jobs and cheaper housing are available. The African Americans understand this, thus viewing the Latinos as a threat. They believe that they are entitled to the jobs and housing because they are "real" Americans, and the Latinos are not. The result of all of this leads them to attacking and intimidating the Latinos and telling them that they do not belong there and have no right to be there. This brings the question: was there ever a time in your life where someone viewed you as lesser and because of that, they treated you terribly? How did you deal with that? What was the end result?

Reaching America: Expectations vs. Reality

Migrants from Honduras and the rest of Central America venture to the United States every day in search of better opportunities, money, or other family members. Enrique's mother Lourdes initially hears different things about mothers going to the United States to look for jobs and support their families. She also sees the country all over TV, "New York City's spectacular skyline, Las Vegas's shimmering lights, Disneyland's magic castle" (4). Once in the states however, Lourdes soon realizes that not everything is bright lights and magic castles. She faces rough neighborhoods and difficult relationships. It is easy for mothers and children to dream for something so extraordinary when surrounded by so much poverty and suffering in Honduras. Similarly, the idealized version of a mother that abandoned children create is an expectation that reality typically crushes. Because Enrique's mother leaves him so early in his life, he sees every action of hers as perfect and as loving as possible. While in search for her, he dreams of finding a loving and perfect mother that he has never known before. However, though Enrique is at first overjoyed to have found his mother, her imperfections quickly disappoint him. He begins to scold her for not being the idealized mother he had created in his mind and heart for so many years. He even begins to tell her she is not his mother. "Nothing, he tells her, was gained by their long separation. 'People come here to prosper. You have nothing here...A true mother, he tells Lourdes, isn't the person who carries you in her womb. It is someone who raises and nurtures you" (198). Nevertheless, Lourdes also has expectations of Enrique. "Lourdes expected Enrique to love her like the five-year-old who clung to her in Honduras" (198). Both characters base their lives off of these unrealistic expectations instead of attempting to mend their broken relationship. Enrique and Lourdes have trouble accepting that no one can be exactly what he or she is expected to be. No matter what Enrique or Lourdes does, one can never truly satisfy the other. Accepting reality is the biggest challenge upon entering the United States for every migrant.

There have been many times in my life where I have expected a lot out of someone or something only to be disappointed by reality. Though it can be devastating at times, accepting that every thing will not go my way is a huge part of life. When I can accept that nothing is perfect, I can move forward and improve upon whatever it is that was not good enough in the first place. Growing up, at least to me, is the biggest example of this. When I was younger, all I really wanted was to be older than I was. I thought being 16 would answer all of my problems and being in high school would be the greatest time of my life. Though high school is fun in its own way, its not all the rainbows and parties I thought it would be. I expected a lot out of something that really was not worth rushing towards. The reality is that high school is not all about having the time of your life, its about working hard and getting into a good college which is more stressful than fun. Has there ever been something that you were really excited for or expected great things from only to be disappointed by reality? If so, how did you come to accept it (or not accept it)?

Was It Worth It?

A prominent theme throughout Enrique’s Journey is motherly love and its effects on migration to the United States. Though the journey is risky and nonetheless illegal, mothers make the trek to prove their affection by sending money for their children to prosper back home. Despite the fact that this conveyance appears to satisfy children materialistically, there is still a void in their lives. When Enrique finally crosses the border and is reunited with Lourdes, he is initially somewhat disappointed in their relationship. They begin to disagree frequently, and he realizes that the lack of his mother’s presence in his childhood has affected him greatly. He states, "’You left me, abandoned me…  You forgot about me’” (Nazario 198). As Lourdes began to make money in America, she seems to forget the true reason that she crossed the border in the first place. The occasional phone calls and letters between her and her children become more meaningless, for she is now mainly concentrated on making money. When Lourdes has another child, Enrique sees her as selfish for starting a new life in America with a new daughter. With another mouth to feed, Lourdes should have considered her children back home first. Lourdes’s children now feel less important. In my eyes, a healthy relationship requires being there for each other consistently physically and emotionally. The separation between Lourdes and her children eventually cause those two key elements to fade away, leaving their relationship strained and unsatisfactory. In return Enrique and his sister feel forgotten and abandoned. The narrative states, “A true mother… isn't the person who carries you in her womb. It is someone who raises and nurtures you" (Nazario 198). To Enrique, Lourdes does not qualify as his mother. Even though they are eventually able to put aside their conflicts, he still wishes that his mother was more involved in his childhood. Though migrants may make money in America, they are forced leave behind the greatest riches of all.

I find that my greatest joy in life comes from relationships. Whether it is my relationship with family, friends, or even God, I would not compromise any of them. Personally, I disagree with illegal immigration. I understand that a mother’s love drives her to create the best opportunities for her children, but her presence in her child’s life is worth far much more. Perhaps with his mother’s guidance, Enrique would not have gotten involved with drugs or acted inappropriately around his family. If a family decides as a whole to legally apply for citizenship to the United States, I would encourage their prosperity and appreciate their determination for a better life. Some believe that committing crimes out of love is the best way to nurture their family in hopes of finding success; however, it is not the crime itself but the consequences of illegal immigration that sometimes tear families apart much like Enrique and his mother. Do you think that Lourdes’s journey worth it? Was Enrique’s journey was worth it?

What If?

In Enrique’s Journey, by Sonia Nazario, the question of “what if” is repeatedly asked throughout the story.  The characters in the novel repeatedly wonder of what could have been if they had gone down another pathway in their lives.  One of the biggest “what if’s” that is in this novel is what if Lourdes had never left Enrique in Honduras to travel to the United States for a job.  After Enrique finds his way back to Lourdes, she wonders, “Would he have turned out different, she asks herself repeatedly, if she hadn’t left him?”(Nazario, 201).  Lourdes asks herself this question over and over again because Enrique had become addicted to drugs and their relationship was struggling.  I feel that if Lourdes had not left Enrique behind in Honduras there would have been less of a possibility for Enrique to have been drawn to drugs than there was without his mother there.  On the other hand, if Lourdes had stayed they would have been so poor that Enrique would possibly result to drugs despite his mother staying with him.  Later on in the novel, Don Francisco asks Lourdes if it was worth it, she responds, “To tell you the truth, on one hand it was worth it--at first.  But on the other hand--no.  I lost their childhood. Sometimes, you feel bad.” (Nazario, 245).  It was a hard decision for Lordes to make to leave her family, but she will probably wonder “what if” her whole life.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to make a tough decision and from then on have always wondered “what if”?

Can Money Replace a Mother's Physical Presence?

      Countless mothers living in Central America leave their home behind in order to provide their families with a more stable future.  These mothers use everything they have to go to the United States to lighten monetary concerns laden on their families.  While they are gone, however, mothers often lose the love of their children.  If a child is young when the mother leaves, he or she grows up with the burden of not having a mother figure close by.  Children like Enrique resort to violence when they cannot find the motherly love that they yearn for from other family members.  These mothers mean no harm when they leave; they only mean to help.  Nonetheless, the mothers do not understand that their children need a motherly figure above all else.  Those who end up rebellious and unhappy like Enrique would rather starve with their mothers than be well-fed without them.  Mothers, on the other hand, think that supporting their children with money is more important than physically nurturing them.  When Enrique tells his mother that she did not raise him, his mother says, "I sent money, I supported you.  That is raising you!" (Nazario 195).  This dispute between Enrique and Lourdes shows the difference in how children and adults think.  Children think with their emotions, while adults think more rationally.  Children believe they are being abandoned; Mothers believe they are doing what is best in the long run.  A child will hopefully understand his or her mother's decision eventually, but until then, he or she is distraught. Commenting on his mother's decision, Enrique opines, "Money doesn't solve anything," (197).  His opinion further exemplifies the disagreement between children and their mothers.  He would rather have the physical love of his mother than receive monetary support to improve his future.  He blames his mother's decision for the rebellion that controlled him: drugs, gangs, and violence.  With his mother's presence, he believes that his life would have been better.  In your opinion, can money replace a mother's physical presence in her child's life?  Do you agree with Lourdes's opinion or Enrique's?

Left Behind

In the sixth chapter of Enrique's Journey, Enrique finally arrives at his mother's trailer. The two clash and argue with each other, but forgive each other after a while. At the end of this chapter, it is revealed to the reader that Maria Isabel, Enrique's girlfriend in Honduras, is indeed pregnant, and gives birth to a daughter. The following quotation describes the events that occur after the baby is born: "She and Enrique name the baby Katerin Jasmin. The baby looks like him. She has his mouth, his nose, his eyes. An aunt urges Maria Isabel to go to the United States, alone. The aunt promises to take care of the baby. 'If I have the opportunity, I'll go,' Maria Isabel says. 'I'll leave my baby behind.' Enrique agrees. 'We'll have to leave the baby behind' (Nazario 196). 
The moment I finished reading that passage, I immediately thought to myself, What was Enrique thinking? I wondered how he could so easily agree to leaving his own child behind, especially since the same was done to him years before. The author gave multiple, detailed descriptions of Enrique's problems earlier in the book, especially when he started doing drugs. Nazario also points out later on that many deserted children who journey to the United States have an idealized perception of their mothers. When those who survive reach their journey's end and locate their mothers, however, many begin to grow feelings of discomfort towards them, sometimes even resentment. In the years following his mother's desertion, Enrique learns much about the pain that comes from being left behind. After pondering his decision for a while, I was able to come up with a few reasons behind Enrique's decision to abandon his daughter. I believe that one reason why Enrique chooses to leave his daughter behind in Honduras is because he knows about the struggles and hazards migrant children face when attempting to reunite with their mothers. Since Enrique has experienced the pain and fear of his own journey to America, I believe that he is trying to spare his child from the horrors that are visited upon migrant children, especially girls. Another reason that I believe supports his decision is that even though his daughter might not get to live with either of her parents, at least she would be cared for by someone, which is more than can be said about many children in Honduras.
In closing, I would like to ask you what you think about Enrique's decision. Do you agree or disagree, and why?

The Unbroken Bond: Finally Found

In the second half of Enrique's Journey, it became increasingly clear to me that many children whose mother's left them for America, still love their mothers unconditionally. The ideas of never ending love and determination to reunite with their mothers revealed themselves rapidly as I made my way through the novel. As Enrique dwells in a camp site for migrants just outside the U.S. border, he meets other migrant children. One of them, named Kelvin, describes his journey to find his mother in the United States who, like Enrique, left when he was very young. After giving a detailed recount of his story, he ends with "I need to see her. I want to see her" (Nazario 146). His story was extremely violent and dangerous, however he never ceased trying to find his mother. Another migrant, Gabi, also tells of her journey from Honduras to the border. She explains how she "rebuffed constant demands for sex", making herself "look as ugly as possible" in order to prevent sexual assault on her way to the U.S. (145). It took her many months of travel, and to keep herself going she constantly kept "repeating to herself, 'I have to get to my mother'" (145). Gabi risked everything in order to be reunited with her mother, whom she hadn't known very long. It has been reaffirmed in my mind that these migrant children are not only very brave, but also hold an incredible amount of love in their hearts for their mothers. This type of love puts me in awe of these kids and seems very rare or hard to come by these days.

I'm not sure I could ever build up enough courage to make the journey that thousands of these kids have made. If I were to choose one person in my life who I could make this journey for, it would, much like these kids, be my mom. I love my mom as well and cannot imagine life without her. She takes care of me and makes me feel special, something that I value  a lot. If you were to make this same journey, who would you do it for? Would you do it at all?

Small World, Big Decisions

In the novel, Enrique’s Journey, there are many life altering choices that need to be made and sometimes not for the better.  Maria Isabel, Enrique’s girlfriend, is faced with a tough decision of leaving her daughter Jasmin in Honduras and living a poorer life, or travelling to the United States to be with Enrique to rebuild their relationship and make money faster to provide for Jasmin.  Enrique pleads to her through the phone for her to join her, “’Together we will provide her a better life’” (237 Nazario).  She decides to go for Jasmin’s sake and swears to herself she won’t miss too much of her childhood like Lourde missed Enrique’s and Belky’s.  It proves to be hard on her when she leaves because she cries in the presence of Jasmin and doesn’t say goodbye in hope it won’t be final. 

Although I have never had to make a decision as great as Maria Isabel had to make, I have had had to make some hard ones.  When I was in second grade we lived in Brussels, Belgium and my dad’s work gave us the opportunity to move to Hawaii at the end of the year or stay another year in Brussels but he would not be promoted again.  I faced the ultimate decision: moving to Hawaii for two years and not seeing my dad as much, or stay in Brussels another year and have my dad retire and spend more time with me.  I chose to stay in Brussels another year with my friends and have my dad retire after I finished third grade and spend more time with him.  My parents agreed with what I had decided and told me they were hoping I would choose that.  Have you ever had to make a decision that affected your future?

The Real Judicial Police

If any common American were asked to describe their idea of a policeman, the most common answers would include words like safety, protection, defense, and/or authority. Common answers from American children would go along the lines of a man wearing blue with a shiny badge in a car that goes "weee-woo weee-woo!" However, in the first half of Enrique's journey, a reader may quickly identify that although the perception of policemen in America is somewhat positive, just a few miles across the Mexican border policemen are regarded with a negative connotation. In the novel, central Americans trying to gain access illegally to the United States are under a constant fear of assault, battery, larsonay, and robbery by the police. When Enrique stumbles into a field in Las Anonas, Mexico, he is bloody and naked. A mayor from a nearby town tells his driver to take Enrique to a clinic to receive medical attention. On the road, the driver stops to discuss personal business with a policeman in a white pickup truck--the same policeman who robbed Enrique just the day before. When Enrique tells this to the driver, the driver is not surprised, saying, "The judicial police routinely stop trains to rob and beat migrants". How can the people in Central America feel safe when the men who are assigned to protect them are violating their safety and commiting crimes against them?

This book has been showing me the differences between the North and Central Americas. I cannot understand how all of the problems with the police system began. However I have one question that keeps coming up: Why are systems of protection in these Central American countries so different from the ones in the United States. Why does the level of corruption increase as one goes south?