The Street By Lourdes Analysis

Lourdes, Enrique’s mother, struggles to support her children, Belky and Enrique, in Honduras. She becomes aware that she will be unable to send her children to school past the third grade, but she is determined to not let he children live as she did, in poverty. Lourdes leaves her family and home, like many single mothers in recent years, for the United States so that she might send remittances home for her daughter and son.
Enrique is shuffled from one home to another, during which he is never told of what has happened to his mother, as none will tell him an answer. Enrique sells spices and foods in order to assist paying for family needs and his sister, Belky, attends a decent school as their aunt cares for her. Enrique lives with his grandmother

After giving birth to her daughter, Diana, Lourdes loses her factory job. She becomes a fichera, a type of prostitute and eventually finds steady work again. Lourdes is able to send money, clothing, and toys to her children in Honduras.
Enrique and Belky appreciate the gifts, but there is no alternative for their mother’s presence. Enrique continues to escalate his drug problem until his drug dealer threatens to kill a cousin, so Enrique steals jewelry from his aunt to pay off the debts, but is caught by the police and is thrown out of his home again. Although he does not want to desert María Isabel, who is has become pregnant with their child, Enrique feels induced to go to his mother, the only person he believes might understand and love him.
Enrique departs with almost no money, one extra pair of clothes, and his mother’s phone number written on a piece of paper. Enrique fails his first seven attempts, by where he is robbed, beaten, deported, and humiliated. To trek north, Enrique, like other migrants, must ride the tops of freight trains, a most dangerous

He raises money and calls his mother, who pays for a smuggler to take Enrique into the United States. Inside an inner tube, Enrique traverses the river and is taken to Orlando, Florida. Enrique hasn’t seen his mother in many years and is finally reunited with her. Enrique and Lourdes hug each other, but neither cry. Enrique finds work after moving in with Lourdes and her roommates.
The overemphasized reunion they both hoped for soon is crushed by actuality. Enrique imagined that if he found his mother, all his problems would vanish. Lourdes expects reverence for the sacrifices she had made for her family, but is greeted with only bitterness and sporadic malice. Enrique returns to his drug use for coping with his utter disappointment.
During this, Maria Isabel is raising Jasmin, their daughter, in Honduras. Enrique sends money to his girlfriend and baby, like his mother did before him. Enrique desires to send money back to Maria Isabel to care for herself and Jasmin, but his personal problems with Lourdes blinds him and he doesn’t send much back. Later, he comes to peace with his problems and begins to save and send more. After a few years, Enrique hires a smuggler to bring Maria Isabel into the United States, leaving Jasmin behind to be cared for by Belky, Enrique’s