Enrique's Journey Compare And Contrast

In both Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario and Gleam and Glow by Eve Bunting, the authors portray migrants leaving their family and homes, sacrificing the things they cherish, and saying goodbye to a familiar setting. Enrique’s Journey tells the story of a young boy traveling North in search of a better life in the states, with extreme and treacherous challenges along the way. In Gleam and Glow, a family is forced from their home because of war. While the stories are very different, both have one thing in common: they are forced to leave their homes. However, the reasons people immigrate can vary entirely for each individual. But, many times all we hear is a single-story narrative about immigration. When we compare and contrast Enrique’s Journey

For example, Nazario writes how Enrique has made the difficult decision to leave, “Enrique feels shame for what he has done to his family and what he is doing to Maria Isabel, who might be pregnant. Maria Isabel pleads him to stay”(42). Enrique wants a better life for himself and his family, he “feels shame” for what he has done. But feels trapped because of drugs and poverty, so to escape these problems and help his family, he decides he has to leave. In contrast to the narrative that immigrants want to take from Americans, many people who immigrate are desperate to get out of a dangerous environment. When Maria “pleads him to stay” we can tell her love for him and how tough this decision is. In Gleam and Glow Marina and her family hear the terrors of the war approaching them every day, “Our enemies are coming, Sweeping through villages like great brooms, forcing people out of their burning homes.”(4). They are sacrificing their home because of a war that is out of their hands. When the author says they are, “forcing people out” it becomes clear that they have no choice, if they stay they die. When put in this predicament the choice of leaving transforms into surviving. At the end of both stories, they had to leave. It was forced more than it was a choice; Unlike how we usually hear about

In both stories, they were forced to leave, but the reason differs, Enrique leaves because of poverty while gleam and glow leave because of war nearing them. Enrique is living in extreme poverty after his mother left him as a child, he lacked the basic necessities such as food, clean water, and shelter. As the author, Sandra describes where Enrique was living she says, “Enrique can see daylight in the cracks it has four rooms three without electricity there is no running water” (11) This was the first home Enrique lived in after his mother left, and it only got worse after. When she says “no running water” we learn just how desperate his situation was, having water in the house is a fundamental essential. Subsequently, the poverty and lack of opportunities force him to leave, in these conditions he cannot build a substantial life. His story highlights what many people experience in their everyday lives in impoverished countries. In contrast in Gleam and Glow Marina leaves for entirely different reasons, war is nearing them. Before they left people would come knocking every day to tell, “terrible stories about how it had been for them and their neighbors then the soldiers came. They cried as they talked.”(4). They were told about the horrors coming for them. We can infer just how terrible the violence approaching them was from “they cried as they talked '' after hearing those stories no one