Enrique: The Boy Who Beats the Odds

by Gina Crosby-Quinatoa, Julia López-Robertson, and Melissa Summer Wells, University of South Carolina

Enrique

On March 2, 2000, he goes to his grandmother Agueda’s house. He stands on the same porch that his mother disappeared from eleven years before. He hugs Maria Isabel and Aunt Rosa Amalia. Then he steps off.
(p. 50)

This week we introduce you to Enrique, the protagonist in Sonia Nazario’s prize -winning novel, Enrique’s Journey (The Young Adult Adaptation): The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother. The author introduces Enrique on the streets of Tegucigalpa where the perils of poverty and gang infested controls plague his childhood, the youth of many in Central America and Mexico. From the day she steps off the front porch in search of the “American Dream”, Enrique’s every breath is sustained by hope, a palpable longing to be with his mother again. Enrique is a fighter, a survivor with a raw addiction and quick wit guiding him through immeasurable trials faced throughout his life, those self-inflicted and others stimulated by poverty, abandonment, and US immigration. Using critical literacy with YA novels like Enrique’s Journey, we can begin to transcend typical unilateral views, national statistics-the nightly news- on critical social issues like immigrations. This week, we introduce you to Enrique and hope you will begin to consider how his story can serve as a critical tool in your classroom

Enrique

Aside from his many personal problems – a drug addiction, and anger fueled from deep resentment of his mother abandoning him- Enrique is defined by his unwavering determination, bravery, and unbelievable sense of hope. He is complicated; he’s a survivor, a scarred warrior.

Determined:
“In spite of everything, Enrique has failed again – he will not reach the United States this time, either. He tells himself over and over that he’ll just have to try again.”
Sonia Nazario (p. 64)

Nothing will stop Enrique, not the Migra (Border Patrol), not the abuse or humiliation, and not the 7 return trips on el Bus de Lágrimas (the Bus of Tears). Enrique is determined to see his mother again. His journey is one of sacrifice and suffering with a longing to belong and be loved igniting his will to continue. Despite treacherous detours along the way, Enrique’s unwavering tenacity fuels his passage to the U.S. border. He never gives up.

Brave:
“Although I often felt exhausted and miserable, I knew I was experiencing only an iota of what migrant children go through…The journey gave me a glimmer of how hard this is for them.”
Sonia Nazario (p. 13)

Enrique is savagely beaten and robbed on El Tren de la Muerte (The Train of Death). Throughout his travels, he faces violent opposition from people who don’t think twice about pushing him over the rails or killing him in the name of killing. A journey laden with dangers, survival is all that he has. “Bandits will be out to rob him, street gangs might kill him, but he will take those risks because he needs to find his mother” (p. 60).

Hopeful:
“His mother never returns, and that decides Enrique’s fate. As a teenager he will set out for the United States on his own search for her.” (p. 5).

For Enrique, finding his mother “becomes [his] quest for the Holy Grail” (Nazario, 2007, p. 7). It is hope that catapults him on that first train to El Norte, the U.S. He may lose momentum along the way but he never stops despite the unimaginable scars he endures. Every obstacle is just that, an obstacle but never a barrier. Knowing his mother sleeps under the same moon, gives Enrique promise, a hope fueled by her imagined love.

Enrique’s story is not a once in a lifetime journey made by a sole survivor. Today, over 18 million children in the United States are first or second generation immigrants. (US Census, 2013). Each of them has a story to tell, funds of knowledge and experiences to share and Enrique’s Journey provides a unique space for “conscientization”, a chance to critically engage with students like Enrique and with their world (Freire, 1970).

There are many venues and opportunity for engaging in critical literacy. In practice as a speech-language pathologist, I use YA novels and children’s books in therapy and clinical training with graduate students to mediate space on subjects such as immigration, and critical responsive clinical practices. A novel like Enrique’s Journey can stimulate authentic dialogue and create a milieu for exploration of one’s own critical awareness and biases. This same discourse is easily adapted with younger children using picture books; book sets themed on immigration – a few examples:

• One Green Apple by Eve Bunting
• My Diary From Here to There by Amada Irma Perez
• The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman
Migrant by Maxine Trattier
Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale by Duncan Tonatiuh.

As we end this week, let us consider how we would fair on a journey like Enrique’s. Do you have the determination, hope and bravery to make it across the U.S. border? In return, what you can do tomorrow to make space for stories like Enrique’s, to give a voice to those too often living in the shadows. Enrique’s story has not ended; moreover, it continues as a beacon of hope, a hope many of our students have for a better tomorrow.

From the recent devastations in our state to Enrique’s unfinished story, like we say it in South Carolina-

“Dum Spiro Spero” While I Breathe, I hope….

Citations:

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder,.

Nazario, S. (2014). Enrique’s Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite With His
Mother
. New York: Delacorte Press.

Nazario, S. (2007). Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite With
His Mother.
New York: Random House.

Please visit wowlit.org to browse or search our growing database of books, to read one of our two on-line journals, or to learn more about our mission.

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