Every immigrant has a unique story of how they reached a certain point in their life which they worked hard for and which opened their eyes. In Sonia Nazario’s novel, Enrique’s Journey, we are walked through the experiences of Enrique reaching the United States of America to find his mother and settle down. To further understand the novel, I interviewed someone close to me who once immigrated to the United States of America to have a better life for himself and his family back in India, that man is my father. I tried to ask my father as many questions as I could about his immigration without getting too personal. There are some thoughts that my father keeps to himself and does not share with anyone so I tried to be careful. The main question that I focused on while writing my paper was “How does my father’s immigration story compare to Enrique’s journey?” The paper was divided into 3 major sections: Enrique’s story, My father’s story, and how they compare.
To begin with, Sonia Nazario does a great job showing the struggles and hard work that an average immigrant has to go through, leaving their families and children behind to have a better life for themselves and their families. Enrique’s life story starts all the way in Honduras where he lived with his mother and his sister Belky and other family. His mother, Lourdes, knows that she wouldn’t be able to afford to send Enrique and Belky to school past third grade since she is already struggling with the money situation. She did not want her children to grow up in poverty like she did so like many other single mothers in the country, she left to United States to earn money so that she could send it back to her children for their educations needs. She did not tell her children why she was leaving so the younger Enrique always wondered why his mother had left him and his family in Honduras would not give him the truthful answers. Through the years, Enrique moves to various different houses and starts selling foods and spices as a child to help pay the house expenses, Belky, however, attends a good school and is well treated by her aunt. After being kicked out of the house by his godparents and followed by the death of his uncle, Enrique starts using drugs to calm himself down. Meanwhile in United States, Lourdes discovers that life is difficult in America, she works several low paying jobs and becomes pregnant and gives birth to her daughter, Diana. After giving birth, she loses her job and becomes a prostitute. A while later, she finds a steady, well paying job and sends toys and money to her children in Honduras. The children appreciate the gifts but still feel sad since they are missing the presence of their mother. Enrique continues to abuse drugs until his drug dealer threatens to hurt his family for not paying him money, so in order to pay him back, Enrique steals his aunt’s jewelry, gets caught and gets kicked out of the house again. Enrique gets his girlfriend, Maria Isabel, pregnant. He leaves to United States to find his mother who is the only one who will understand and love him at that point in his life. He makes his way through Central America and Mexico to reach America, on the way, he faces many challenges such as being beaten up, humiliated and robbed. However he does not give up and tries over and over. "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."(60) This shows that he will do anything to reach America and be with his mother again, it also shows the consistency and hard work that an immigrant has to go through. He attempts the journey eight times before he succeeds. He saves enough money to call his mother who helps him pay for a smuggler to get him across the river to Orlando, Florida. After dangerously crossing the river, he reaches America and finally reunites with his mother. Enrique moves in with Lourdes and starts working immediately. Both Lourdes and Enrique are disappointed by reality because they thought being with each other will make life better. Enrique returns to abusing drugs and alcohol to cope with the disappointments in his life after United States. Back in Honduras, Maria Isabel is raising their daughter, Jasmin. Enrique sends money occasionally to his girlfriend and baby. He also saves up enough money to paya smuggler to bring Maria Isabel to America so that they could both work and provide a better life for themselves and most importantly their daughter, Jasmin. "We’ll have to leave the baby behind."(196) This shows that, in order, to come to America, Maria Isabel has to leave Jasmin behind to be looked after by Belky and by doing this, they repeat the pattern of the separation of mother and child. However, doing this, they believe they will be able to provide the best life for their daughter.
Furthermore, interviewing my father, Surinder, and understanding the novel showed me how much an immigrant has to struggle for a better life in a different country. The questions were kept simple and my father was told that he could answer the questions in any detail he liked. My father came to United States of America in early 2000. He had a successful mechanic shop in India but he knew, in order for a better life for his children, he had to leave India and go somewhere with more opportunities. I was 3 months old, in the hospital sick, and that was the moment he had gotten his visa and flight. He called my mother and told her to come home fast, my mother had to discharge me from the hospital and rush home. My father and a group of his friend decided to leave their families behind because they were trying to provide a better life for themselves and their families. My father landed in Boston and from there he went to California, he started working as waiter in an Indian restaurant. With all friends who worked at the restaurant, my father had to sleep inside the restaurant. After a few months of working there, he moved to San Jose and started working as a mechanic and started driving a limousine with my uncle, they shared a house together. They would take turns taking the limousine calls, my father would usually drive at nights and my uncle would drive during the day. Back in India, my mother, my brother and I were living with my grandparents and uncle. My uncle and grandfather both ran the mechanic shop which my father had left behind. My father used to video call and phone call us and my mother would try to make me talk to him but since I did not know him, I would not talk to him. My father would send money back to us in order to help around the house and to pay the school fees for my brother and I. Few years after my father had left for America, he sent us enough money to buy a better house in India, the house was in a better neighborhood. My father would send us money and toys from America, my brother and I would get excited when we would receive them. At that point, I still did not know who was sending the gifts, my mother would try to explain that I have a dad in America but I just did not understand her since I had a bigger family in India. My grandparents were like my parents at that time. After 9 years of being away from his family, my father finally applied for us to come to him. On February 7th, 2009, my brother, my mother and I came to America to my father and they finally met after a long time, this was my first time seeing and meeting my father. I still did not know him so I did not talk to him that much so my father would try to buy me gifts and games so I would talk to him. Now we are as close as a father and son should be. My grandmother got cancer and passed away just one year after we came to America and my father still could not go back since the government only gave him part of his papers. My father went back to India after 14 years of living in America. A question I asked my father was “How did you feel leaving your whole family behind and coming to a land where he did not know many people?” He stated that it is not easy for anyone to leave their families behind, specially leaving a newborn child behind to go and work long hours, it was all so that his family could live a better life. I asked another question, “If you could go back and change anything about what you did, would you?” He replied with a simple no because now his family is living a much better life in California even though India is much more advanced that before. Another question which was asked was “Do you believe that the immigration laws should be changed?” My father answered yes since he could not go back to India even when his own mother passed away because the government did not give him his full papers back. He stated that it is painful to be away from someone who is terribly sick and someone who is so close to him.
Therefore, Enrique’s story and my father’s story have some similarities when it comes to immigration. Both of them had to leave their home countries and travel to the United States of America find a better opportunity. Enrique came to America to find his mother after being shattered mentally and to live a better life, and my father came to America seeking a better opportunity for his family back in India. Enrique and Surinder both had to work low paying jobs in order to survive in America but later on worked better jobs and sent money to their families back home. "The effect of immigration has been family disintegration. People are leaving behind the most important value: family unity."(248) This shows the book’s main purpose and shows how people have to leave their families in order to have a better life for the same families. The phrase “you have to lose some to gain some” fits in perfectly with the context of the quote. Enrique and Surinder both had to leave their small children to be raised by their mothers alone which Surinder stated was a tough decision because they won’t be a part of their childhood. They both had to suffer for the enhancement of their families future and their children’s education. They did not want their children to grow up in the same situations that they faced.
In conclusion, Enrique’s Journey can be related to any immigrant since it is based on the reality which not many people can face, leaving their families and moving to a land where opportunities are better but times are tougher. My father’s story is very similar to Enrique’s story which shows that many people can relate to it. Throughout the book, we are showed that family unity is very important but gets torn apart by the effect of immigration. The main focus of this paper was to answer the question: How does my father’s story compare to Enrique’s? The author, Sonia Nazario tries to focus showing the harsh realities of immigration.