enrique's journey epilogue summary

Class of 2027: Enrique's Journey

At age 16, Enrique begins the long, difficult, and perilous journey from Honduras to the United States to reunite with his mother. In reading his story together, we focus on universal themes of struggle, resilience, and refuge, as well as the complex issues surrounding immigration.

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• About the Book

Enrique is only 5 years old when his mother, Lourdes, leaves him and his sister, Belky, behind in Honduras so that she can go work in America. Lourdes promises only to stay until she can send for her children or return with enough money to support them, but each year setbacks prevent her from being with her children again. Enrique desperately misses his mother and believes that only she can understand and support him. After difficult stays with other relatives, Enrique sets out to find his mother. He is 16 years old when he makes the first of seven failed attempts to get through Mexico in the hopes of crossing the border into the United States. Along the way, he encounters gangs and bandits, but learns new survival skills that help him when he successfully crosses the border on his eighth try. Enrique is reunited with his mother in North Carolina, but the years apart have been tough. How Enrique envisions his mother and the reality he finds are very different.

An Epilogue recounts many interviews that the author conducted with Enrique, Lourdes and their family in Honduras since Enrique’s Journey was initially published in 2006. It reveals Enrique’s battle with drug addiction, his fractured relationship with his mother, and his struggles to be a husband and father in an environment that is often hostile to illegal immigrants. In many ways, Enrique is emblematic of many of his countrymen who came to the United States illegally. Finally, the epilogue poses questions and offers solutions to address the socio-economic issues raised by Enrique’s story.

More than 60 universities, 50 high schools, and 10 cities have selected Enrique’s Journey as a common or one-city read.” (source: Penguin Random House: “Enrique’s Journey Teacher’s Guide ”)

• Frequently Asked Questions

Can I keep my book?

• Unfortunately, no. All One Book, One Helix books belong to Helix Charter High School. You will be required to return your book on the designated return day.

Can I write in my book?

• No, you may not. Because these books belong to Helix and we would like to use them again, please do not write in your book. If you want to take notes, highlight quotes, or use other active reading strategies, please use sticky notes, index cards, or other non-permanent devices to do so.

Why was this book chosen?

• We chose Enrique's Journey as the as the Summer 2023 selection because of its themes of resilience and refuge, which are motifs all freshmen will study in English, Social Studies, and Helix First classes. Based on the author’s Pulitzer Prize winning series in the Los Angeles Times , the adult version of the book was the first One Book, One San Diego selection in 2007. The Young Adult version, which our students will read, was published in 2014.

Will I be graded on Enrique's Journey ?

• Yes. Freshmen classes will include assignments, quizzes, and tasks for students to complete, with the assumption that all students have read Enrique’s Journey . These tasks will start the first week of school with a short quiz in your Helix First class. Your summer assignment will be due on Thursday, August 17th.

In which classes will I be expected to show my understanding of Enrique's Journey ?

• Helix First, Introduction to Social Studies, AP Human Geography, and Freshman English have all worked together to create curriculum and assignments specific to the One Book, One Helix text.

I am confused about an assignment or the book itself. Where can I ask questions?

• Please refer any questions to Christina Potter ( [email protected] ) or Aleen Jendian ( [email protected] ).

Can I read the book online or find my own copy?

• Of course you can! We encourage all students and parents to read the book in any form or medium they are comfortable with. Please know that you are still responsible for the hard copy the school has loaned you, and will be expected to return it in good condition.

What if I have lost my copy of the Enrique's Journey book?

• Please contact the school librarian, Christina Potter ( [email protected] ) in the case of a missing or lost book.

Where can I find more about Enrique and his Family? 

• There are additional resources here

I want to talk to others about Enrique's story. Will there be an opportunity to share my opinions and perspective?

• There will be multiple opportunities throughout the year to discuss the specific and general themes addressed in Enrique’s Journey . Please listen for announcements about these opportunities.
• Checks for Understanding

The following questions are to help you think about some of the central ideas & questions raised in the book. While you do not have to formally respond to these questions, you might find them helpful “guides” as you read through the text. And, some of these questions are ones that will be addressed in your classes.

1. Enrique’s Journey is a work of nonfiction. What sparked the idea for the book? One of the goals of any type of research is to deepen an understanding of the issue. How does Nazario set out to accomplish this goal? 

2. What does the United States offer Latin American immigrants that they cannot get in their own countries? Contrast the images of the United States that Lourdes and Enrique see on television versus what each finds in the United States.

3. Compare and contrast Enrique and Belky’s lives after their mother leaves. What negative habits does Enrique develop in his mother’s absence? How is his father partly responsible?

4. Describe the guilt that Lourdes feels when she leaves her children. Why does she kiss Belky good-bye, but find it too hard to face Enrique? How does she attempt to rectify her guilt when she gets to the states?

5. Cite evidence that Aunt Rosa Amalia is correct that the separation from their mother has caused Enrique and Belky deep emotional wounds. How do these problems continue to haunt Enrique after he is reunited with his mother?

6. What do the migrants mean when they say of Chiapas, “Now we face the beast” (p. 61)? What is the “beast”? How does Enrique endure his encounter with the “beast”? Debate whether Enrique is surprised by the brutal attacks on migrants.

7. Describe the gangs aboard the trains. What is Enrique’s attitude toward the gangs? How is his view of El Brujo different from other gang members? Why does their friendship end?

8. Latino immigrants come to the United States with hope for a better life. Why is their hope fragile? How do Padre Leo and Olga work to restore dignity to migrants, and give them hope? How do the “coyotes” take advantage of the migrants’ hopes and dreams.

9. What is the significance of the statue of Jesus that Enrique encounters? How does his journey change after this encounter?

10. Describe Enrique’s relationship with María Isabel. Why does she find it difficult to forget Enrique despite his flaws? How does she call upon her religion to get through her darkest moments with Enrique? What is Enrique’s reaction when he finds that he has a daughter? What conflicts arise between María Isabel and Enrique’s family?

11. What is Enrique’s relationship with Diana, his half-sister? How is her life more stable than his? 

12. How does Enrique become the “most famous undocumented immigrant in America”? How might his story be a lesson about the perils of drug use and addiction? What chance do his children have for a better life?

13.  What motivates Enrique to stay in the United States? What things make him wish to return to Honduras?

14. Enrique continues his struggle with drug addiction, and suffers from depression. How does he blame his mother for his troubles? Explain what María Isabel learns from Lourdes about dealing with Enrique. Discuss why Lourdes tells María Isabel, “We have to cut him loose” (p. 257) 

15. The purpose of an Epilogue in a book is to add interesting developments since the book was written. What new information has Nazario revealed about Enrique and his family? 

(source: Penguin Random House: “Enrique’s Journey Teacher’s Guide ”)

• Summer Assignment

Creative Response to Enrique’s Journey . Due Thursday, August 17th in your Helix First class.

Choose an activity from the options below. The guidelines for each activity are intentionally “loose” in order to encourage creativity and individual expression. While we expect that you will challenge yourself and do your best work, we’re less concerned with page length, word count, and formatting, and more interested in a thoughtful, reflective response to the book.

Use your imagination. Be creative. And allow the power of Enrique's story to inspire you.

Your responses may be typed or handwritten.

Every freshman is expected to complete ONE activity from the list below:

6 - 10 JOURNAL ENTRIES

Using what you’ve learned from the book, and your imagination, write several journal entries from the perspective of one of the book’s characters. Each entry should be a reflection on an event / issue that occurred, that day, in the character’s life. Be sure to include the name of the character from whose perspective you’ve chosen to write.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:

Imagine a judge orders Enrique to be deported. Write a newspaper article or editorial for a newspaper that takes Enrique’s side to stay in America or the judge’s decision to deport him. Support your opinion usings facts from the book.

CREATE A 3-D SCENE:

Choose an important scene, or setting, from the story and create a model of that scene using clay, a shoebox, balsa wood, or other materials of your choice.

LETTER TO ENRIQUE, THE AUTHOR, ENRIQUE’s MOTHER, or a POLITICIAN:

Write a letter to Enrique, the author, Enrique’s mother, or a politician that includes the following:

Your reaction to her story / what her story means to you

What you felt was the most powerful message in her book and why

Questions you’d like to ask about the story or issues revolving around the story

GRAPHIC NOVEL / COMIC :

Create your own graphic novel / comic book adaptation of Enrique’s Journey . Choose the major events of the book and create an “abridged” graphic novel version, OR choose a major scene / event and illustrate it in graphic novel format.

VIDEO BOOK TRAILER:

Create a “book trailer” (similar to a movie trailer) that promotes the book Enrique’s Journey . Use live actors, puppets, stop-motion, or a “slide show” format...or use a free tool like PowToons or GoAnimate to create an animated trailer. Upload your finished video to YouTube.

Create a timeline outlining major events of the book and their significance. The timeline should have at LEAST 10 events and include photos, drawings, clipart, or other graphics that help illustrate the events you choose to include.

DRAWING / PAINTING OR POSTER:

Create a drawing, painting, or poster inspired by the book. This could be a scene from the book, a thematic response, or something else that sparks your creativity.

TRACE YOUR OWN FAMILY’S JOURNEY TO THE U.S. :

If appropriate, reflect on your own experiences as an immigrant, or talk to your family members to find out more about when, why, and how your family came to the U.S. Write a brief history of your family’s journey, reflecting on the following questions:

1) Where did your family originate?

2) When did you or your descendents come to the United States?

3) How and why did your family come to this country?

4) What were some of the challenges you / your family members faced?

BROCHURE: 

Make and illustrate a brochure to aid newcomers to your community (this can be created on a computer or paper). Include information such as:

1) where to go for health care

2) how to register children for school

3) where to find free activities for children

4) where to find affordable places to shop for food, children’s clothing, toys, etc.

5) how to find legal aid

6) where to find religious organizations that conduct services in other languages

Remember that many immigrants don’t speak English. You may wish to use symbols, images, and very few words to describe the information in the brochure.

YOUR CHOICE

Create a project of your choice. Please email [email protected] or [email protected] for approval before you start your idea.

Example projects:

Questions about the summer assignment? Please contact:

• Aleen Jendian (English Department Chair):  [email protected]
• Christina Potter (Librarian):  [email protected]
• Additional Resources

We have listed links to videos, articles, and blogs to help you better understand the book.

You will also find volunteer opportunities to help our own community.

Business Insider article: "Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants ride Mexico's 'train of death' every year to get to America"

CBS News photo series: "Child Immigration Crisis"

Pew Research Center:  "Five Facts about Honduras and Immigration" .

Los Angeles Times : "Enrique’s Journey: a Six-Part Times Series"

Other Resources

Sonia Nazario’s Author Page

Updates on Enrique and his Family

Media Stories About Immigrant Children

Q and A with the Author

• Crisis Support

While we are reading to focus on universal themes and complex issues, we are highly aware that each reader comes to this story with their own very personal histories. If your experience has included some of the violence depicted in this story, you may find some sections of this book to be particularly difficult to read. If you encounter a section that triggers some past experiences or memories, know that you are not alone. Here are some ideas to help you through.

• Breathe. Remember that you are safe.  Yes, you breathe all the time, but let’s slow it down for a few minutes.  Here are some recordings you can use:
• http://youth.anxietybc.com/calm-breathing
• If you find that you can’t continue reading, take a break .
• Go for a walk with a friend, talk with a trusted adult, work on a different task.  
• If you find that this is continuing to bring up difficult and painful memories, here are some places to get support this summer:
• Talk with a trusted adult.
• Call the Youth Crisis Line (24/7) 1-800-843-5200 or the SD Access and Crisis Line (888) 724-7240 or http://up2sd.org/hotline/ (live chat is also available)
• Check with your doctor or health insurance provider for referrals to local therapists.
• If you already have had a therapist or counselor in the past, reconnect with them if that feels right.
• If you are already actively experiencing mental health symptoms related to trauma prior to starting this book, and this book is triggering your symptoms, please continue to see your mental health provider.

Once you are here at Helix, if you need support regarding personal/social issues or mental health please visit us at the Wellness Center. We are able to meet with you to individually and in groups, and have access to resources to help with the variety of challenges our students and families face. We have walked with hundreds of students on their journeys towards wellness and success and we are here for you, too. All are welcome.

• study guides
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Enrique's Journey Summary & Study Guide

Enrique's Journey Summary & Study Guide Description

Enrique's Journey is a tale of risk, courage, love and danger. Enrique's mother, Lourdes, leaves him and his sister, Belky, behind in Honduras in order to go to the United States. Lourdes leaves her children because she needs to make money to feed them and allow them to finish school.

Over the next several years, Enrique bounces from relative to relative. He begins sniffing glue and finds a girlfriend, Maria Isabel, who eventually gives birth to a daughter, Jasmin. All the while, Enrique dreams of following his mother to the United States. He loves her and misses her and he feels abandoned. Finally, at 17 years old, Enrique leaves Honduras to travel across Mexico on top of trains. Aside from the risks of jumping onto and off of moving trains, Enrique comes up against gangsters, bandits and corrupt law enforcement officials. Along the way, gang members beat him and he goes through periods of not being able to find enough food. He's deported several times across the Mexican border, but every time, he tries again.

Finally, Enrique makes it to Nuevo Laredo, which sits on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. He can see Texas across the river -- as well as American immigration agents who will send him right back to Mexico if they catch him crossing illegally into the United States.

Enrique lives in Nuevo Laredo for weeks and works washing cars to earn enough money to contact his family in Honduras. He's lost his mother's phone number and has no way to find her without it. When he finally reaches his mother, she arranges to pay a smuggler to get Enrique to Orlando, Florida, where her boyfriend picks him up and drives him back to his and Lourdes' home in North Carolina.

During her years in the United States, Lourdes has given birth to a third child with a man who has since disappeared. She's moved from Los Angeles to North Carolina and she lives with her boyfriend, daughter Diana and six others in a trailer. Enrique and his mother are happy to see each other, but in time their relationship deteriorates. He still resents her for leaving and she's angry because she doesn't feel he's paying her enough respect. They fight often and eventually Enrique moves out on his own.

The family eventually moves to Florida. Enrique goes back to North Carolina for a while before moving back to Florida. He pays for a smuggler to bring Maria Isabel to the United States, and a few months later, they bring Jasmin to live with them.

Enrique can't shake his drug and drinking habits, which lead to his arrest and near deportation. His daughter testifies in a trial about a crime she witnessed and receives a U Visa, which allows her and her family to stay legally in the United States.

Author Sonia Nazario chose Enrique as her subject because he represents the typical teen making the trek from Central America to the United States in search of their mothers. Nazario's goal in writing the book was to discourage mothers from leaving their children and also to discourage children from following their mothers, due to the danger. The book explores the issues behind the mothers' need to leave in the first place and possible solutions. There aren't enough jobs in their home countries that allow them to provide the most basic necessities for their children -- food, clothing, shelter and school. Going to the United States to work and send money back home is the only solution they can think of.

Poverty is the main theme in this book. It is what drives the actions of almost all the players. Mothers, and in some cases fathers, leave their children because they need to find a way to feed them. There is a stark, sharp difference between the haves and have nots in Honduras and very few opportunities for those who have little to improve their financial situations. Women have to choose between staying with men who abuse them or cheat on them and leaving and not being able to care for their children. The situation often requires children to leave school in order to work with their mothers just so they can eat.

So the mothers leave and the children left behind live a slightly better life than their peers. But the children feel abandoned and they resent their mothers. Several times in the book, someone says that there is no replacement for a mother's love. However, the people who say this are people who didn't have to spend a significant or memorable part of their lives without enough food. Some even finished school and started their own businesses thanks to their mothers' money.

Poverty is also a large factor in young men joining gangs and attacking and robbing the migrants trying to get through Mexico. Local officials resort to the same behavior in order to give their own families a better life. It seems that all negative behavior is a consequence of someone not having enough.

Drugs play a vital role in Enrique's life from early on. The glue sniffing is his way of coping and he doesn't have the emotional tools to try anything else. His mother has left him and then his father chooses a woman over his own son. Enrique has a lot of pain and abandonment in his life, so he looks for an escape.

But even once Enrique is with his mother again, when he has a girlfriend and child he loves, he can't stop the drinking and drugs. He still holds onto his hurt and rebellious nature, and by now he has developed a physical addiction. While he languished on the banks of the Rio Grande, the glue sniffing helped him feel less hungry when he couldn't get food. That and alcohol helped him forget how helpless he often felt while trying to raise enough money to reach his mother and hopefully get a smuggler so he could get to the United States. When Enrique felt alone, the drugs were always there for him.

In the book's prologue, author Sonia Nazario compares her family's legal immigration from Argentina to the United States with the illegal immigration of the people who are the book's subject. Her experience was much different from her subjects'. Nazario's family arrived on an airplane and there was no danger in the move. In contrast, Enrique and his family risked their lives to get to the United States and lived in fear of deportation from the time they arrived.

Nazario explores many facets of illegal immigration. There are pros and cons both for the immigrants and the country they've moved to. United States citizens are divided about what they want to see happen with this issue. Some are for full amnesty, seeing the immigrants as an asset to the country. Others believe they are a drain and lawbreakers and are in favor of the immigrants being deported. Even the immigrants themselves can't agree on which is the right answer. At one point, Enrique says if he were a citizen, he wouldn't want illegal immigrants in the country, but then he changes his mind and says they provide a service the country's citizens can't or won't.

There are statistics to support both sides -- from the immigrants being particularly hard workers that are assets to businesses to the cost of educating them or providing them with public assistance because they make so little money. Regardless of whether the immigrants are good or bad for the United States, they continue coming. They need to do so in order to provide for their families back home. Lourdes says she likes the United States and will never return to Honduras. It's cleaner and safer in the United States.

Read more from the Study Guide

FOLLOW BOOKRAGS:

Enrique's Journey

By sonia nazario.

• Enrique's Journey Summary

Enrique ’s Journey chronicles the life of a young Central American boy, and his quest to reunite with a mother who left him at the age of five to find work in the United States.

Enrique's mother, Lourdes , struggles in Honduras to support her young children, Belky and Enrique. She knows she will not be able to send her son and daughter to school past the third grade, and does not want them to grow up as she did, in extreme poverty. Like many other single Latina mothers in the recent decades, Lourdes leaves her home and family to travel to the United States so that she might send money home for her children.

Young Enrique has no idea why his mother has left, and his family in Honduras does not give him straight answers. Over the years, Enrique is shuffled from one family home to another, while his sister Belky attends a good school and is well cared for by their aunt. Enrique is forced to sell food and spices when still a child, in order to help pay for family expenses. He lives with his paternal grandmother for most of his young life, but is eventually kicked out of her home when he begins to rebel. Frustrated with his mother, his own issues of abandonment, and the death of his beloved uncle, Enrique turns to drugs for comfort. His family and his girlfriend, María Isabel, try to intervene but make little headway.

In the meantime, Lourdes discovers that life in the United States is more difficult than she expected. She works a series of low-paying jobs, and becomes pregnant. After she gives birth to her daughter, Diana , Lourdes loses her factory job, and becomes a fichera, a type of prostitute. Eventually, she finds steady work again, and is able to send money, clothing, and toys to her children in Honduras.

Although Enrique and Belky appreciate the gifts, they are no substitute for their mother’s physical presence. Enrique’s drug problems continue to escalate until his drug dealer threatens to kill his cousin over unpaid debts. Enrique steals his aunt’s jewelry to pay off his dealer, but is caught by the police. Later, he is kicked out of his home again, and although he does not want to leave María Isabel, who is pregnant with their child, Enrique feels compelled to journey to his mother, the only person he believes might understand and love him.

So begins Enrique’s journey through Central America and Mexico on his way to the United States. He departs with little money, a change of clothes, and his mother’s phone number written on a scrap of paper. Enrique attempts the dangerous journey eight times before he succeeds. During his first seven attempts, he is severely beaten, robbed, deported, and humiliated. However, he never gives up.

To travel north, Enrique, like other migrants, rides the tops of freight trains, a most dangerous endeavor. Many migrants have been killed on the trains, by being pulled under the wheels or by falling off. Gangsters rule the tops of the trains, robbing, beating, raping, and killing migrants. Bandits and robbers are also a threat. Equally dangerous are corrupt police officers and la migra , the Mexican immigration officers who have been known to rob migrants before deporting them. Lastly, migrants must weather the threats of starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion. Many migrants fail to make it as far as the U.S./Mexican border, but Enrique is not one of them.

On his eighth attempt north, Enrique waits on the banks of the Rio Grande in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. It is a dangerous setting, but he is protected as part of a small encampment. He raises enough money to call his mother, who helps pay for a smuggler to take him across the river and into the United States. Enrique crosses the river in an inner tube and is taken to Orlando, Florida. He is soon reunited with his mother for the first time in over a decade. He and Lourdes embrace each other, but they do not cry. Soon enough, he moves in with Lourdes and her roommates, and begins to work.

The idealized reunion they both imagined is soon shattered by reality. Like many children who travel north to find their parent(s) in the United States, Enrique had created a larger than life image of his mother; he felt that if he found her, all of his troubles would go away. Lourdes, on the other hand, expects respect for the sacrifices she had made, but is met only with resentment and occasional cruelty. Enrique returns to using drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with his disappointment.

Meanwhile María Isabel is raising their daughter, Jasmín , in Honduras. Enrique, like Lourdes before him, sends money to his girlfriend and baby. Enrique wants to save enough money to hire a smuggler to bring María Isabel to the Untied States, so that they might work together to provide a better life for their daughter. Initially his personal problems and conflict with Lourdes distract him from sending much money back. However, time passes and he comes to peace with his resentments, and saves more. After these few years of indecision and miscommunication, Enrique pays a smuggler to bring María Isabel to the United States. Jasmín remains in Honduras, to be cared for by Belky.

Throughout Enrique’s Journey , Sonia Nazario exposes the harsh realities of immigration. In many ways, her own perspective is as much a character as Enrique is. She suggests that the separation between a mother and her child, as experienced by Lourdes and Enrique, is not beneficial in the long run. Resentment, anger, and frustration lead to lasting emotional damage and misunderstandings. Nazario also explores the many questions - political, social, economic, and personal - of immigration through interviews and explanations as Enrique makes his journey. However, these many problems are ultimately presented as less profound than that of family deterioration.

Enrique’s Journey Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Enrique’s Journey is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

WHAT IS ENRIQUE FORCCED TO DO UPON RINALY REACHING THE AMERICAN SIDE OF THE RIO GRANDE

In order to remain undetected, Enrique and the others must wait for an hour in a half in a freezing creek into which a sewage treatment plant dumps refuse.

Why is crossing the river so difficult?

For Enrique, crossing the river by himself is dangerous. He cannot swim and if he's caught, he will be deported.

They are put in detention centers and sent back. The detention centers ar cramped full of crooks and people that exploit them.

Study Guide for Enrique’s Journey

Enrique's Journey study guide contains a biography of Sonia Nazario, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Enrique's Journey
• Character List

Essays for Enrique’s Journey

Enrique's Journey essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario.

• Criticism, Sympathy, and Encouragement: Depicting the American Dream in 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Enrique's Journey'

Lesson Plan for Enrique’s Journey

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Enrique's Journey
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Enrique's Journey Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Enrique’s Journey

• Introduction

Enrique's Journey

39 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-5

Chapter 6-Epilogue

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Sonia Nazario

Sonia Nazario is an American journalist and author best known for her six-part series “Enrique’s Journey,” published in the Los Angeles Times in 2002, with photographs by Don Bartletti. The articles served as the basis for the book, Enrique’s Journey . As a social justice activist and a child of immigrants, Nazario was well-placed to write about migrants’ experiences in an enabling and compassionate manner. Her goal to humanize migrants prompted her to retrace Enrique’s travels through Mexico to the US.

The LA Times series won over a dozen national journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, the George Polk Award for International Reporting, and the Grand Prize of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. The book has been published in eight languages. Young adult versions in English and Spanish were released in 2013. Fifty-four colleges and universities nationwide have adopted Enrique’s Journey as compulsory reading for incoming students.

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Enrique’s Journey

Sonia nazario.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

At the age of five, Enrique watches his mother, Lourdes , leave their doorstep in Honduras. He does not know that she will not return. Lourdes is heading to the United States in search of work so that she can send money home to her two children, Enrique and Belky . Her experience in America is not easy; she becomes pregnant and works many different jobs. She wires money back home, but feels guilty and sad at the thought that her children are growing up without her. Meanwhile, Enrique struggles through his childhood and wishes for his mother's return. After many false promises, he begins to realize that she may never come home. He becomes lonely and angry, and turns to drugs when he becomes an adolescent. He moves from house to house under the care of different family members. When he is seventeen, he knows that he cannot continue his life in Honduras without the love of his mother. He sets out to find his mother in the United States, determined to make the difficult journey through Guatemala, up Mexico, and across the river. With hardly any money and few belongings, he leaves his hometown of Tegucigalpa and travels north.

Enrique must cross thirteen of Mexico's thirty-one states and traverse over 12,000 miles to reach his mother. He is one of many children who make a similar journey in search of a parent. The journey is extremely dangerous—he must face the depredations of bandits, gangsters, immigration officers, and corrupt police. Every region is different, and he must learn what to look out for and guard against through multiple trials. He attempts the journey from Honduras seven times. Much of the trip is made atop freight trains, where the chances of getting severely wounded and even dying are high. He survives the trip because of his perseverance, luck, drive, and above all, with the help of others. On his way, he meets fellow migrants with whom he shares stories and common experiences. In spite of the harsh circumstances and the ruthless people who target migrants, Enrique also encounters generous, kind, and compassionate people who offer their help at the risk of their own punishment. Although he makes much of the journey alone, crossing the river is too risky on his own. After getting in touch with his mother, he is able to secure a smuggler, his protector El Tiríndaro , to help him cross the border. Finally, on the eighth journey, after an arduous and long trip, he finds himself in the hands of his mother.

Their reunion, at first, is happy. Lourdes has established a good life in North Carolina with her boyfriend and daughter, Diana . Enrique is glad to be with his mother, but soon the complicated feelings of abandonment and anger come out. He and his mother begin to argue, and their relationship becomes tense. Back home in Honduras, Enrique's girlfriend, Maria Isabel , gives birth to their daughter, Jasmin . Enrique longs to bring his family to the United States, but continues to struggle with drug addiction and emotional problems. He sends money back to Maria Isabel as often as he can, but their relationship becomes strained. Maria Isabel receives criticism from Enrique's family members about how she is raising Jasmin and spending Enrique's money. Maria Isabel grows closer to Jasmin and has trouble deciding what will be best for her child. Finally, she decides to go to the United States to join Enrique. If she leaves now, the chances that her daughter will be able to come to America and grow up with both her parents will be higher. The book ends much in the same way that it begins: with a mother leaving behind her young child, unable to say goodbye.

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