Summary Of Enrique's Journey

Imagine one day your mother tells you that she is leaving and is not sure with she will see you again. Imagine growing up only occasionally speaking to your mother on the phone. Immigrants make the decision to leave behind their life and move to a new place mainly because they believe it will be better for them and for the people they care about. The Book of the Unknown Americans and Enrique’s Journey show the advantages and disadvantages of parents leaving their children behind or bringing their children along when they migrate. This decision causes harsh consequences that affect the family immediately and in the future.

In Enrique’s Journey Nazario showed a couple different perspectives on the same family in which the mother migrated from

Maybe that had an impact on why they brought their children, maybe it was that they had no close family to leave Enrique and Mayor with or maybe they just did not want to be separated from their children. Either way bringing them had a lot of advantages. The Toro’s migrated because of the dangers in Panama, during the invasion they were so terrified that they stayed inside their house for three weeks straight. After Noriega was taken they finally felt safe enough to leave their home and what they saw around them was destruction. Rafael said “We never felt safe there again. We felt as if our home had been stolen from us.” (Henriquez 22). Due to Enrique and Mayor growing up in America they learned English and the culture very quickly, they started school in America, and they have lived in a safer government for most of their lives. Also because the Toro’s live in America and gained citizenship they have access to many resources such as better education, better healthcare and higher paying jobs just to name a few. Enrique for example was able to go to college on a scholarship for sports and get education at the collegiate level. However I think the most important advantage or bringing their children is that they were able to keep their family

Simply looking different made them perfect targets for stereotyping and discrimination. Henriquez included many examples but one that jumped out at me was on the bus to Christmas mass and the bus driver turned up the radio when Feliz Navidad came on. Just because Feliz Navidad is partially sang in Spanish the bus driver automatically assumed the Toro’s and the Rivera’s liked this song. The bus driver did not mean for this to be cruel but it is a perfect example of how people are put into categories based on the way the look or the way they sound. An example of how Henriquez showed discrimination was when Sr. Rivera lost his job at the mushroom plant making the Rivera’s illegal. He only lost his job because the company was no longer being pressured to hire migrant employees. There are other disadvantages that include the entire family. These could include parents feeling disconnected with their children because their child learn to assimilate faster, and disconnected to their friends and family back home. Immigrants can hardly ever see or even speak to their family back home. Even through all of the obstacles the advantages still make everything worth