Plot and Analysis of Enrique’s Journey

In 2003, the Pulitzer Prize for the essay was received by journalist Sonia Nazario, who spoke about the path of a boy from Honduras to the United States, which he went through to find his mother (Enrique’s Journey). Sonia Nazario met the hero of the future book, 17-year-old Enrique, in a migrant camp in the Mexican city - Enrique told her about his amazing journey. The journalist reproduced the dangerous path of the guy, overcoming 2.5 thousand kilometers, mostly on the roof of freight trains, then she repeated his path again - each journey took three months. 

The Plot and Analysis of Enrique’s Journey

Enrique’s Journey is a story about risk, courage, love, and danger. Enrique’s mother, Lourdes, leaves him and Squirrel’s sister in Honduras to go to the United States. Lourdes abandons her children because she needs to earn money to feed them and let them finish school. At the beginning of the book, Enrique lives and grows up in Honduras, when he grows up and decides to find his mother, he spends most of his time traveling around Mexico (Underiner 298). The story of Enrique is quite intriguing and dramatic, containing quite much symbolism of a person who finds lost himself in life.

At the age of 17, Enrique managed to drive from Honduras through 13 of the most violent states in Mexico and across the border into the United States, largely due to his decision. Much of Enrique’s journey revolves around overcoming insurmountable obstacles, facing extreme dangers, and surviving (Nazario 17). This path symbolizes the path of life itself, with a person overcoming various obstacles in order to find themselves and their purpose in the world.

Enrique’s Journey follows a Honduran boy’s unforgettable search for a mother eleven years after she was forced to leave her starving family in search of work in the United States. Enrique had no idea why his mother left, he is disappointed with his mother, and it is very hard for him to be abandoned. In addition, a beloved uncle dies, and he even uses drugs to feel comfortable. Addicted to drugs and expelled from his grandmother’s house, 16-year-old Enrique spends a year finding his mother in the United States and embarks alone on a perilous journey through Guatemala and Mexico (Underiner 300). The further the story goes, the more specific the symbolism of the hardship of migrant life in the United States appears. Enrique, while pursuing his life and his dream becomes stuck in an unfamiliar place that does not appear helpful at all.

Maria Isabelle is Enrique’s friend and the mother of his daughter Jasmine, she loves Enrique. Enrique calls the girl Maria Isabelle every Sunday, telling her that he will return to her and her little daughter in two years. The book culminates when Enrique crosses the Rio Grande, enters the United States, and finally reunites with his mother in North Carolina. Rather, it is a brief account of the efforts of a seventeen-year-old boy to find his mother (Nazario 356). Sonia Nazario wrote Enrique’s Journey to tell the readers about the difficulties migrants face on their long journeys in search of their mothers. The most important lesson in the book is to be grateful for what you have, and that if we are determined, we will achieve what we want.

Conclusion

The biggest source of conflict in this book was Enrique’s sense of abandonment when his mother left him and his sisters in Honduras, which is why he travels to America to find his mother. The story shows Enrique’s struggle with drug addiction, his broken relationship with his mother, and his struggle to be a husband and father in an environment that is often hostile to illegal immigrants. Enrique in many ways represents many of his compatriots who came to the US illegally.

Works Cited

Nazario, Sonia. Enrique’s Journey. Random House Publishing Group, 2007.

Underiner, Tamara. “Performances Of Suffering In Latin American Migration: Heroes, Martyrs And Saints”. Ecumenica, vol 14, no. 2, 2021, pp. 298-301. The Pennsylvania State University Press, https://doi.org/10.5325/ecumenica.14.2.0298. Accessed 26 June 2022.