The Idea of Destiny in Learning to Read and Chapter 1: The Boy Left Behind

In 62% of Americans, they believe in control over their destiny, 32% of no control on our destiny and the rest is borderline. In both stories “Learning to Read” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and “Chapter 1: The Boy Left Behind” by Mark Matousek shows how much control the characters have on their destiny. Harper had more control than Enrique because of the situation they were in. Francis Ellen was born into a black family during slavery, teaching slaves to read was against the law at the time, but that didn’t stop her. She continued to read and even stole a book just to read, she later became a poet and a writer. Enrique was born into a Mexican family with poverty, with no father figure and a mother that would later abandon them to move the U.S to get a job so they can attend school. Enrique will later search for his mother by crossing the border and taking dangerous risks to find her. Enrique’s destiny was already shaped since his mother left them.

Firstly, Harper was born into a slave-state. Slaves were not supposed to learn how to read, her only type of source of reading was a bible and some of the books that were stolen by other slaves. In Harper's poem “Learning to Read,” it demonstrates how Harper the beginning of her reading:

Our masters always tried to hide

Book learning from our eyes;

Knowledge didn’t agree with slavery—

‘Twout make us all to wise.//

But some of us would try to steal

A little from the book.

And put the words together,

And learn by hook or crook . (Harper)

Harper would learn how to read by guessing until she is correct. She struggled while the Rebs “sneer and frown.” She would later on get a place to call it home and feel independent. On Enrique’s side, the only independence he had received was him traveling to Mexico in search of his mother.

Enrique is a Mexican that would eventually cross the border like other teenagers. From his mother migrating to the U.S, it has already decided his fate into searching for his mother like the other 75% from Texas. In the story “The Boy Left Behind” by Mark Matousek, it states “...the unaccompanied children it catches. Of those, the counselors say, 75 percent are looking for their mothers.” He falls into the category of unaccompanied children who seek out in search of their mother. Finding his mother has become a mission for Enrique like other Mexicans who travel across the border. In the story “The Boy Left Behind,” it states “Many including Enrique begin to idealize their mothers. They remember how their mothers fed and bathed them, how they walked them to kindergarten... Finding them becomes the quest for the Holy Grail.” Enrique only remembers her mother from his childhood, which gave him enough motivation for him to search for her in the U.S. Harper had more control over her destiny than Enrique because of the people they had around them.

Harper had teachers from the North to help her read, while Enrique ventured out by himself with no help at all. In Harper’s poem “Learning to Read,” stanza 1 states, “Very soon the Yankee teachers/ Came down and set up school;” and stanza 7 states “Well, the Northern folks kept sending/ The Yankee teachers down;/ and they stood right up and helped us,”(Harper). Harper has received help from the North to help the slaves at the time to learn how to read. With Enrique’s situation in Mexico, he had no father figure and his mother migrated to Mexico when he was at a young age, and later on his journey to find his mother is risk-taking. In the story “The Boy Left Behind,” by Mark Matousek it states, “...Lourdes cannot afford uniforms or pencils. Her husband is gone…She will leave. She will go to the United States and make money and send it home…To evade Mexican police immigration authorities, the children jump onto and off of the moving train cars. Sometimes they fall, and the wheels tear them apart.” Enrique’s dangerous and terrible life made Enrique had no control over his destiny.

In conclusion, Harper had more control than Enrique had because of the people they had around them. Harper had Teachers, Yankee teachers as the poem would call them, to help slaves read, while Enrique had no one to help him find his missing mother or even hand out a new purpose in his life. Enrique has fallen into the category of the 75% of children, unaccompanied children in the search for their mothers. This already tells us the result of the life he is going to end up in. A life that is going to be spent on searching for his mother. In Harper’s case, she had help from the north and her peers by stealing a little from the book and learn by guess until they are right. Harper had a better environment than Enrique which helped her attain control over her destiny.