Enrique's Journey Case Study
Book Case Study: Enrique’s Journey
By
Amanda Emerson
Our Lady of The Lake University
SOWK 6325 Generalist Social Practice with Organizations and Communities
Abstract
In the book Enrique’s Journey written by Sonia Nazario, a projects reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nazario discusses the true story of a man named Enrique born in Honduras who was abandoned at 5 years old by his mother Lourdes. Lourdes chose to leave Enrique and his sister Belky to travel to the United States as an immigrant for better financial opportunities to provide for her children back home. After 11 years of depression and substance abuse, Enrique becomes determined to go the U.S in search of the mother who abandoned him …show more content…
This causes Lourdes to stop sending as much money if any money at all back home, and thus creating a longer time span between being able to either have enough money to go back home and set up her shop or bring her children over to be with her in the U.S. The greatest hardship that Lourdes’s is facing is not her accidental pregnancy or menial jobs, it the simple fact that the U.S comes with its own set of challenges. Lourdes is unable to rely on any kind of steady income with her alcoholic boyfriend and odd jobs. The copious amount of racism and her own illegal status greatly affects the limit of her earning potential. Though she can send money home, her own pregnancy limits her ability to do so. Though Lourdes is able to prosper somewhat in the U.S., it requires significantly more sacrifice than "The American Dream" led her to expect, and also requires her to accept a certain sense of shame. The country is less open to immigrants than she had once believed. Lourdes is using her children as her means of strength to survive, she wants to be strong for them so they never feel the pain that she felt growing up in an impoverished …show more content…
The only thing that is keeping Lourdes from giving up is the fantasy of being whole, happy, and well off with all of her children by her side. This fantasy will soon shatter when Lourdes and Enrique are finally united, and she can see how the decision she made to leave many years ago to find prosperity has played out in reality. Overall, the family unit itself was broken, and this is one of Nazario 's overall points. Enrique continues to enable his broken family when he asks Maria Isabel to join him, risking starting the same cycle of abandonment with his own daughter, suggesting that these decisions are not easily criticized, but rather must be considered as one of many factors at risk in the immigration debate. Nazario explains, “How some children grow into restless adults, who are never able to forgive their parent(s) for leaving them. Others, like Enrique, try to overlook the past and move toward a brighter future; however, their lives are often marked by addiction or other coping methods.” (Nazario,2013). “The true irony is the fact that the mothers originally left their country and children to help keep their family intact.” (Nazario, 2013). At the time little did they realize the
By
Amanda Emerson
Our Lady of The Lake University
SOWK 6325 Generalist Social Practice with Organizations and Communities
Abstract
In the book Enrique’s Journey written by Sonia Nazario, a projects reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nazario discusses the true story of a man named Enrique born in Honduras who was abandoned at 5 years old by his mother Lourdes. Lourdes chose to leave Enrique and his sister Belky to travel to the United States as an immigrant for better financial opportunities to provide for her children back home. After 11 years of depression and substance abuse, Enrique becomes determined to go the U.S in search of the mother who abandoned him …show more content…
This causes Lourdes to stop sending as much money if any money at all back home, and thus creating a longer time span between being able to either have enough money to go back home and set up her shop or bring her children over to be with her in the U.S. The greatest hardship that Lourdes’s is facing is not her accidental pregnancy or menial jobs, it the simple fact that the U.S comes with its own set of challenges. Lourdes is unable to rely on any kind of steady income with her alcoholic boyfriend and odd jobs. The copious amount of racism and her own illegal status greatly affects the limit of her earning potential. Though she can send money home, her own pregnancy limits her ability to do so. Though Lourdes is able to prosper somewhat in the U.S., it requires significantly more sacrifice than "The American Dream" led her to expect, and also requires her to accept a certain sense of shame. The country is less open to immigrants than she had once believed. Lourdes is using her children as her means of strength to survive, she wants to be strong for them so they never feel the pain that she felt growing up in an impoverished …show more content…
The only thing that is keeping Lourdes from giving up is the fantasy of being whole, happy, and well off with all of her children by her side. This fantasy will soon shatter when Lourdes and Enrique are finally united, and she can see how the decision she made to leave many years ago to find prosperity has played out in reality. Overall, the family unit itself was broken, and this is one of Nazario 's overall points. Enrique continues to enable his broken family when he asks Maria Isabel to join him, risking starting the same cycle of abandonment with his own daughter, suggesting that these decisions are not easily criticized, but rather must be considered as one of many factors at risk in the immigration debate. Nazario explains, “How some children grow into restless adults, who are never able to forgive their parent(s) for leaving them. Others, like Enrique, try to overlook the past and move toward a brighter future; however, their lives are often marked by addiction or other coping methods.” (Nazario,2013). “The true irony is the fact that the mothers originally left their country and children to help keep their family intact.” (Nazario, 2013). At the time little did they realize the