Enrique's Journey

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Enrique's Journey is a nonfiction novel written about one boy's experience with immigration into the United States. After his mother leaves him to go to the United States for a better life for her children, he waits eleven years before he attempts to find her. On his journey from Honduras to go find her, he endures through numerous trials like drug lords, corrupt law officers, etc. These experiences that author, Sonia Nazario, writes about have given us insight to what it is like as an immigrant to the United States. Based on this novel, the journey is dangerous, expensive, and possibly deadly to whoever is on it. Personally, it makes me wonder why anyone would want to put themselves and even their children in a situation like that; however, I have never been in a country where my life is threatened everyday either.

While I may not understand this journey fully, I do respect anyone who is willing to abandon everything they know and are comfortable with. I think that it is truly an amazing picture of love for a mother to leave her children for their own good. I am sure that it is the last thing they could ever imagine doing to their children, though. For Enrique, he suffered because of his mother's absence. Children need a mother and a father, but they also need shelter, food, and safety. The question then becomes, is it worth it for a mother or father to leave their children to help them find a better life? I would personally rather stay with my children until there is an opportunity for all of us to leave, because I would rather my children have someone to depend on rather than money, etc. But again, I have never been put in that kind of situation, so I do not truly know how I would react.

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