Book Review of Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario
Table of Content
The book fascinates in the description of the journey from Central America that culminate in struggles that expose the reality that immigrant from the region confronts in the quest for opportunities in the US. Unlike the rest of travelers seeking to enter the US to earn a living in the country featuring in the story, Enrique’s motive is meeting the mother. He is unable to accomplish the mission due to the risk of attacks from gangs and corrupt law enforcers that divert her on different escape missions. However, his persistence for the entire period results in successful entry into the US. Enrique settles and begins to pursue life just as the mother. His tribulation brings to fore the motive for the mother to travel, as well as, other immigrants featuring in the tale. As a result, the recount of Enrique’s tribulations captured in the text published by Sonia after years of research manages to portray the realities that immigrants confront in their journey in the quest for a fulfilling life abroad.
After reading the tales of Enrique together with other characters in the story Enrique’s Journey from the beginning to the end, one gets the opportunity to visualize the diverse themes relating to the life of immigrants both within the US and in their host nation. The book is fascinating because the writer exploits journalism knowledge to capture the social, political, and economic development emotively. According to her historical accounts of Enrique’s life, economic difficulties forced the mother to move to the United States. She secured a job that enabled her to remit finances home to grant the children a fulfilling life. She had separated with the husband thus affecting Enrique as well as the daughter’s upbringing. The economic hardship in Honduras necessitated her journey (Nazario 2). Although Enrique is not confronting similar challenges, the book manages to intertwine his story to the mother’s life. His attitude indicates that he is unaware of the reality at the time the mother leaves.
The child is interested in motherly affection just as the case of many Honduran households. The phrase where immigrants come from divorce and separations are increasingly common affirms the outlook of the families in Central America (Nazario 243). Children needs for affection is overwhelming and such underpins the motive for the journey of Enrique in his teens. He desires a sense of belonging and visualizes the solution in the mission of moving to the US. Sona’s narration best exemplifies the tribulations that commenced in Enrique’s childhood. The narrator follows through the struggles for 12 years that marks the beginning of the plot to seek entry to the United States. The challenge that ensues portrays a clear image of the risk that illegal immigrants confront on their pursuits.
The commendable aspect of the text is that the narrator sums up the experience of thousand through the holistic portrayal of the life of Enrique that unfolds as he moves across international borders. The 17-year-old has to learn to cope with the risk of attacks from gangs and corrupt officers en route to the United States. Sonia narrates that Enrique is unaware of his destination but is conscious of the fact that her mother is in the US. He could not withstand unending promise of the mother returning home. He indirectly espouses the aspiration of thousands of immigrants entering the US with a mission although Enrique’s motive is different at the beginning. After learning that he has to cope with the threats that endanger his life, the character embraces cunning tactics of survival that includes hiding in boxcars and traveling on top of trains. Unlike the majority that dies on the way to the US, he succeeds. The plot in his life afterward captions that reality of interaction with the gangs and the law enforcement authorities. The dynamics that follow as captured by the journalist Sonia shed light on the nature of life in the US. Sonia uses humor to diffuse the tense moment in Enrique’s life in the text. Her expression proves that social structures strive to discourage immigrants from settling in the country. Nevertheless, the determination of characters like Enrique as captured in the story Enrique’s Journey makes reading the text interesting.
Another theme manifesting in the journey of Enrique that makes reading the story worthwhile is the effort to settle in the US despite the risks. His mission was different from other individuals but the manner exploited in interwoven his narrative to the life of millions of immigrants makes reading the text educative. The realities project the motives of immigrants moving out of Central America to the US for a fulfilling life. The statement ‘another cousin and her husband left behind a four-year-old daughter, the husband has never seen his daughter, and his wife was pregnant when left, ‘ portray the picture of the real hardship (Nazario 193).’ The characters that came to fore courtesy of their association with Enrique sheds lights to legalities that the united states confront in trying to curb immigrants. The book’s expression manages to prove that the US pays homage to a significant number of people in search of lucrative opportunities. Sonia’s goal in communicating the escapades of people from Central America is expressing the status of the nation as well as the host country. Her communication is an affirmation that the economic situation of the United States is appealing in comparison to the condition of the home nation of the immigrants.
The book highlights the issue emanating from the struggles in gaining access to the US using a tone that encourages audiences to sympathize with the characters. The story portrays the person with a sense of guilt in their actions as claimed in the phrase ‘the years before that, a young man’s forehead was beaten with a metal tube’ recollecting the experiences of an immigrant (63). The situation explains why the authorities in the United States consider the group a source of the problem in the country and such has been the rallying call for immigration policies. The language used in narrating Enrique’s trouble suggests that immigrants are entering the country in large droves leading to the alteration of the social dynamics. The law enforcers use force in their treatment of the immigrants on the presumption that the groups contribute to the high case of crimes in the United States. Sonia portrays law enforcers as ruthless in the text. Her argument that the officers guarding the borders associate the immigrants with immorality even in cases where the motive of the journey is noble approves their ruthlessness.
Lastly, the book strives to communicate about the subject of affection. The motive comes out in the story describing Enrique’s relation with Lourdes. The writer uses the characters expression in communication with the mother in crafting out the sense of identity that eluded Enrique. He could not fathom the reason for her mother’s inability to reconnect with the family despite his sense of loneliness. His motive of reestablishing the connection mandated the journey to the United States. Enrique had not visualized the possibility of starting life in a new country just as the case of the mother. The efforts that he made marked the commencement of the travels of the rest of the relative to the country yet at the beginning the intent was reconnecting with the mother. His wit captures the reality facing households in the larger Central America. The economic difficulty in the nation is pushing citizens in drove to immigrant northwards in search of a lucrative life. The decision, in turn, threatens the political stability of the US since the nation has to seek ways of resolving the immigration crises.
In conclusion, the text Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario is a narration of the life of a 17-year old that begins with the highlights of the realities in Honduras before focusing on the struggles that immigrants confront on their quest for a fulfilling life in the US. The writer succeeds in conveying the themes of social inequity, and affection that reconnects audiences to the reality confronting thousands of immigrants. The writer’s competence in adopting a tone and using a language that evokes empathy with the main character makes reading the book worthwhile. The text is equally an integral source for a person seeking information relating to the social, political and economic concern relating to immigration in the US and Central America region. After reading the story, one should be able to reflect on the experiences captured by Sonia after years of research as the realities that immigrants confront in their journey in the quest for a prosperous life as the case of Enrique in his endeavors to the US.
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Book Review of Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario. (2022, Sep 28). Retrieved from
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