Enrique's Journey Sparknotes

Part I: Summary

In the beginning of Enrique’s Journey, Lourdes is faced with a tough decision: live in poverty with her children in Honduras or travel to the United States to find a job. The decision does not come easily, she is well aware that growing up without a mother will be difficult for her five-year-old son Enrique. She contemplates if he’ll feel neglected or abandoned but she comes to the conclusion that she must financially provide for him and his sister, Belky. Enrique clings to her as she sets for the door, but she cannot bear to face him. She knows in her heart that this will lead to a better life. As a single mother in Central America her options were limited. She resorted to street-side vending and cleaning, but that was not enough. She wanted more for her children. It was not unusual for women to travel north to find work under these circumstances. She landed a job as a nanny in Beverly Hills - caring for a young child much like her own. Although it was not as she anticipated, Lourdes made enough money to send back to Honduras.

Lourdes was gone longer than she anticipated, and

The ones that are most significant to the story are demographic and the feminization of the labor force. Demographically, Mexico and Central America are notorious for having high unemployment – not counting those who aren’t recorded because of illegal business or “under the table” side-jobs. Feminization of the labor force is equally as important because more women are either not marrying or are divorcing, which leads to a single income for a family as opposed to two. This is what drove Lourdes and thousands of other women to leave their children behind to find work in the United States. In the United States unemployment isn’t as low- but there is additional struggles such as discrimination, low-wages, and under qualification, which she most likely encountered before landing her job as a nanny in Beverly