The Devil's Highway By Luis Alberto Urrea

Literary Analysis Research Paper The Devil’s Highway is a small section of the Sonoran Desert that must be crossed to make it into America. The Devil’s Highway, written by Luis Alberto Urrea is about a group of men crossing through one of the deadliest regions in Arizona’s deserts. Through this crossing, they had to face the hardships and conditions of this highly harsh desert. Many of these men died for the opportunity of freedom and a new life for their families. A major issue within the novel, The Devil’s Highway, was desolation, which was demonstrated throughout the book's conflict.

Desolation is a state of complete emptiness or destruction. In The Devil’s Highway, the group of walkers crossing the Sonoran Desert faced both mental and

Two symbols that are used in The Devil’s Highway are borders and death. Borders and death are important to the novel because it’s the whole book. If these were removed, the walkers would’ve made it to freedom extremely easy and have no troubles. The borders symbolize the physical borders as well as the physical and mental challenges. Death is a symbol in The Devil’s Highway because most of the walkers were unable to make the trek and died on the way. Death and borders were the main components of this novel. SuperSummary stated, “There is the literal border between Mexico and the United States. But there are also borders separating classes and races that must be crossed in order to achieve a better life (No available date).” The Devil’s Highway also stated, “The sign of the dead could be ghastly and haunting… the relentless heat baked him, literally cooking him in the ground (166).” These two quotes further illustrate the borders and deaths that the walkers had to face through the Sonoran

The major issue of the novel was desolation, and Urrea did an amazing job of describing just how bad it was for the walkers. The conflicts of the novel included desolation and betrayal, and both are still social issues that are faced by all in today’s world. While there were still conflicts going on, there were many symbols and title significance used in The Devil’s Highway. Luis Alberto Urrea wrote this novel to inform and educate others about the illegal immigration that goes on in the United States. He was able to describe tragedies and hardships that were faced in the section of the Sonoran Desert known as The Devil’s Highway. As times go on, and technologies advance, immigration should become less dangerous and gain easier access to the process to guard against unreasonable