Enrique's Journey Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Enrique's Journey.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

A Note for Teachers

Originally written as a newspaper series for the Los Angeles Times, Enrique’s Journey tells the true story of a Honduran boy’s journey to find his mother in America. As a literary text, the work lends itself easily to the study of primary elements: plot, setting, character, theme, etc. Beginning in Honduras with Enrique’s mother (Lourdes), the text follows multiple story lines (those of Lourdes, Enrique, Enrique’s girlfriend, immigrant care workers, and other immigrants). The text also includes multiple characters and encourages an analysis of their motivations and the results of their actions. Enrique’s Journey will also provide the catalyst for meaningful discussions of universal themes such as parent-child conflict, family responsibility, separation, and assimilation into new cultures.

As a social commentary, this work will fit easily into any social studies classroom or into any class’s discussions of the issues the text presents. Immigration policies in both the United States and in Mexico are brought sharply into focus through this narrative. In addition, the incredibly divergent attitudes of the people with whom Enrique has contact will provoke discussion of and offer opportunities for analysis of the opinions toward immigration held by different cultures. The narrative also deals with other social issues that can prompt study and discussion, such as: poverty, economic policy (in the United States, Mexico, and Central America), race relations, and gang activity.

Ultimately, Enrique’s Journey can provide challenging and appropriate study for middle school through college. Its story line and themes will lend themselves easily to multiple levels of examination, in many different classroom settings.



About This Book

Sparked by a conversation with the author’s maid, Carmen, about Carmen’s separation and reunion with her own son, Minor, Enrique’s Journey began as a series of articles for the Los Angeles Times. After their publication, the articles won two Pulitzer prizes (feature writing for Sonia Nazario and feature photography for Don Bartletti), the George Polk Award for International Reporting, and the Grand Prize of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards.

Realizing that the immigrant’s journey was “the adventure story of the twenty-first century,” Sonia Nazario set out to tell a story that is very common — the story of the trek to the United States (xvi). The unique aspect of her treatment, however, is that the immigrant whose story she chooses to tell is only a child, and he is one, Nazario discovered, of “an estimated 48,000 children who enter the United States from Central America and Mexico each year, illegally and without either of their parents” (5). While she was researching the story, Nazario also discovered the many hazards of these children’s journeys and the sometimes disappointing outcome of their reunions with their families.

Enrique’s Journey tells the true story of a five-year-old boy whose mother leaves him behind in Honduras so that she can seek better fortune in America. Planning only to stay until she can send for her children or return with enough money to support them, Enrique’s mother promises to bring him to be with her, but each year setbacks prevent her from keeping her promise. Enrique desperately misses his mother and believes that only she can understand and support him.

After disappointing stays with other relatives, Enrique decides he will go to America to find his mother. With only her phone number on a piece of paper, Enrique sets out on the perilous journey at age 16. His journey means hopping trains to get through Mexico to the United States border. Seven times he fails; each time, though, he learns ways to make it further on the next trip.

After terrible hardships — attacks by gang members, near misses on the train, extreme hunger and thirst — Enrique makes it to his mother, only to find that in the years of separation, his image of her and the reality he finds are very much different.



Teaching Ideas

This text offers a wide range of instructional opportunities in a variety of courses. It is particularly well-suited to those in language arts, social studies, and to courses within the social sciences. The text also lends itself to a range of grade levels, beginning as early as middle school and up to college-level coursework. The ideas addressed in the work have depth — inequality, prejudice, parental conflict — but the pure adventure of the story would allow any of these weighty issues to be glossed over in discussions in lower grades. Other mature topics — rape, assault, robbery — while present in the text, do not take place with such detail that they cannot be lightly touched upon or ignored, depending on the teaching context.

This text also lends itself well to addressing the four strands of the language arts curriculum — reading, writing, communication, and research — and to the standards offered by the National Council of Teachers of English (these may be accessed by linking to this site: http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm ). The activities in this guide offer ideas for these four strands and in these curriculum areas.

Enrique’s Journey easily lends itself to a study of immigration in the United States and of the trends in immigration that have formed this “nation of immigrants,” as President George W. Bush has called the country (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/04/20010409-4.html ). Teachers may wish to have their classes trace the historical patterns of immigration to the United States: from mostly northern European in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, to the addition of Scandinavian countries in the late 1800s, to southern European in the early 1900s, and finally to modern patterns of immigration. Classes might also wish to examine peaks of immigration — Irish, Chinese, Italian, Cuban, etc. — throughout America’s history and to examine events that motivated these peaks.

Enrique’s Journey fits comfortably within the tradition of investigative journalism that has often forced Americans to examine their beliefs and practices. As Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle forced a closer look at the meat-packing industry in the early 1900’s, Enrique’s Journey shows Americans a side of immigration they might not wish to see and, in the process, presents a set of characters that can only create sympathy for immigrants’ plight–and perhaps move its readers to a deeper understanding of and acceptance for the immigrants with whom they might come into contact.

Finally, Enrique’s Journey holds many parallels to other texts that have become standard parts of many curricula. Enrique’s trip is an odyssey, and like Odysseus, Enrique’s Journey may be analyzed as an epic journey. The problems Enrique faces are common problems that many students and their families may have faced, as well; instructors may use these commonalities to generate discussion.

While Enrique’s story is a current story–which will allow students to find parallels in daily newspapers and news magazines–it is, ultimately, timeless. Enrique’s Journey is a story that is essential to the American, and, further, to the human experience.



Discussion & Writing

Comprehension

“Prologue” — In this section of Enrique’s Journey, the author allows readers an inside view of her creative process. Nazario reviews her background as the child of immigrants, her inspiration for writing this story, and the process — both logistical and compositional — that she begins as she prepares to research and write Enrique’s story. The writer tells how and where she finds Enrique and how he is representative of the children whose story she desires to tell.

1. How did the author get the idea for this work?
2. What shift, that is a change from the 1980s, has taken place in the face of the modern immigrant population?
3. Why has this change in the profile of the typical immigrant taken place?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Random House. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.