A Reflection on Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

The Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario is primarily the authors perspective on the experiences of kids left by their parents ate a young age. Essentially, the author was describing how Enrique’s, Lourdes, as a struggling parent had to bring up his sister and son. For instance, the book demonstrates how she was struggling to provide for her family by doing laundry in a muddy river, going door-to-door selling tortillas, plantains and used clothes. However, she was tired of all these struggles and decided to leave his family behind and move to the United States so that she can support the family better. Mainly, her decision of going to the United States made her leave behind something very precious, and this was Enrique. Moreover, this decision was not favorable since Enrique was just five years at that time and he had to undergo emotional depression. This element was more emotive since I had to figure out leaving without parents at that tender age. Consequently, the author captured this feeling by explaining how many kids such as Enrique spent most of their time in agony trying to remember their mother feeding them and bathing them. As a result, the Lourdes absence became larger more important and larger than life.

In addition, even though in America, these migrants had many struggles such as paying rent, and looking for food, the author shows that in their children’s imagination back home they became deliverance itself an answer to any every situation since finding them was the quest for the Holy Grail. This shows that even though parents usually left their kids behind, the kids were always yearning to go and search for their mothers wherever they were. Other elements that caught my eyes when going through the book were the challenges migrants were experiencing when trying to leave their home countries. For example, within the Mexican-American border, Enrique met various challenges such as encountering hostile border patrol. In addition, sometimes he had to strip and wage into the Rio Grande to cool off, but the patrol officers always caught him and sent him back. This element depicted how difficult it was to cross the border for the migrants coming to the United States.

After Enrique managed to arrive at the borders in Texas, he finally managed to call his mother. However, his ordeal experiences were still far from over. This is because, after several lengthy delays and complications he managed to make a dangerous crossing but this there was no fairy tale reunion with his mother. Also due to his bitterness over heartbreaking separation spilled put his words and actions of self-destruction. At last, things got better when he grew up, started working, and started seeking legal status. As a result, the author created a more profound human emotion to an issue that is highly emotive now when he focused on a story of a young boy who was brought up from a broken family, and whose perseverance, courage and resilience seemed extraordinary in the face of impossible odds. Equally important, migrant such as Enrique was also coming across people with good hearts even though they were ales living an impoverished life. For instance, some of this individual with kind hearts made it their responsibility to toss food and water to the immigrants who were clinging on the top and side of passing trains. These people made me reflect and appreciate agencies and churches that show compassion to the migrants by providing accommodation and food for them.

Most importantly, the case studies and statistics presented in the book were captivating. However, at no point was I moved than when she explained her personal experiences of riding the trains. In comprehensive and heart-wrenching detail, she described the struggles she encountered, while at the same time acknowledging the privileges she had as a well-off American citizen. For instance, she described experiences of extreme weather conditions, sustained injuries from rocking the train, and most importantly, one scenario in which a gang member attempted to rape her. ​In a nutshell, the book Enrique’s Journey' by Sonia Nazaro is a recount of a young Honduran boy quest of searching for her mother after eleven years of separation when her mother was forced to leave her starving family to search for a job in the united states and braved unimaginable risks. For example, exposure to extreme weather conditions, traveling in a hostile environment full of bandits, robbers, and corrupt government officials. However, she preserved by relying on her courage, wit and kindness and hope of some of the people he came across. Therefore, the raw emotions and passions she displayed together with inarguable statistics made the presentation of her narrative evoke the reader’s emotion. This is because the way she incorporated her immigration narrative into immigration made her work engaging, and deeply personal. Therefore, the book was an instrumental piece since it narrates and depicts the significant information on the experiences of migrants and the book made me sympathize with the immigrant and I was left asking several questions on how I can personally intervene and assist them.