Analysis Of Sonia Nazario´s Enrique's Journey

Sonia Nazario’s piece, Enrique’s Journey, thoroughly depicts the hardships that come with modern day immigration and the issues that can stem from a single decision. In her book, Nazario writes that immigration “is a powerful stream...that can only be addressed at its source” (Nazario xxv). She uses the metaphor of a stream or river to illustrate the gradual escalation of complications that can arise from immigration and the choice of pursuing a greater future in the United States. Just like a river, a majority of the force behind immigration currently has developed through several minor justifiable situations that create a widespread consequence. Immigration is a vicious cycle stemmed from a lack of love and economic stability within Latino

Enrique’s Journey sheds light on the influx of single Latino mothers crossing the border in order to find work to support the family the left behind. Nazario seems to synthesize the effects of this kind of immigration when she says “separations almost always end badly” (Nazario xxv). What most commonly occurs is that once a child is abandoned they look to “find love and esteem elsewhere, by getting pregnant, marrying early, or joining gangs” (Nazario 191). As this type of resentment builds within the loved ones left behind, they begin to develop the viewpoint that reuniting with those who left them is the only way they could possibly get better. In Enrique’s case, he firmly believed “only his mother can help him” out of his drug issues and violent outbursts and to find his mother would be “deliverance itself” (Nazario 42,

It is made evident that immigration would indeed best be addressed at its source, by making conditions better in a potential migrants’ homeland in order to stop their motivations to leave entirely. Organizations such as Heifer International and the Grameen Foundation work to help improve the quality of life within foreign countries by supplying direct aid to people in need. For example, Heifer International provides educational training to the impoverished in other nations to show them how to make better lives for themselves and handle their finances wisely. A key feature all these organization share is their focus on improving the quality of life for others within their own countries and showing them that migration is not the only option and that they can flourish within their own