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?