Book Review: Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario
by Dale Perkins
Enrique's Journey is the story of one seventeen year old boy's journey from Honduras to the United States to reunite with his mother whom he has not seen since he was five.
One of the remarkable things in the story is the powerful association we have with mothers. Early on in the book, the astute reader can guess that Enrique is headed for a great disappointment when he finally meets his mother. For clearly in her twelve-year absence, Enrique was able to idealize how much better his life would be if only she had never left or would soon return. Every struggle in his life is framed by the idea that her absence is both the reason and the solution to the current problem.
Once Enrique succeeds in his terrifying journey to the United States and reunites with his mother, the expected happiness does not materialize. Both Enrique and his mother give in to long submerged and simmering resentment to each other. Much as they try to focus on the joy of being together, they can't get the "formula" right for how much authority his mother should have now. Further complicating matters is the fact that life in the United States has its own set of problems (which Enrique can't blame on his mother's absence), and Enrique continues to abuse alcohol and drugs.
This book is a powerful lesson to me as an ESOL teacher because I have so many immigrant families whose stories may differ in specific detail from Enrique's, but not in complexity or depth of challenge. I am reminded of a Mexican boy I had known for almost seven years as an ESOL teacher. In his essay to apply to The Academy at Palumbo, a very selective magnet high school, the boy revealed that his father had been kidnapped by a drug cartel, then escaped with the boy and his pregnant mother, only to nearly die in the Arizona desert as they crossed into America without documents. Fortunately, this family has prospered better than Enrique's, perhaps because the family remained intact.
We as teachers must know our students on a deep understanding level. To get the best from them, we have to honor and even be a part of the healing process. No we're not counselors or social workers, but within our classrooms or even outside of them, we have to give them the support they need to develop an authentic sense of self -- a self that integrates all that has preceded with all that can now proceed.
Dale Perkins is an ESL teacher at Fells High School. She joined Philadelphia Writing Project in 2014 after attending the ELL Invitational Summer Institute