Enrique’s Journey follows a 17-year-old boy’s dangerous voyage to reunite with his mother. Throughout the story there is a recurring theme of abandonment, seen as an impossible choice that is forced upon each generation. Another prominent theme is perception versus reality, the ease of idealizing what we do not have, and later realizing that it is not what we had hoped.
The story begins when Lourdes, a single mother, decides to leave her children, Enrique and Belky, in Honduras, hoping to make enough money in the United State to support them. Lourdes loves her children and that is why she was willing to miss out on their childhood in order to support them. Although Lourdes understood that her move was more beneficial than detrimental for her …show more content…
Enrique falls in love with Maria Isabel and is afraid of her leaving or him driving her away. Having lost every family unit he had been a part of, Enrique decided that he wanted to start one of his own. “If they have a child together, surely Maria Isabel won’t abandon him. So many people have abandoned him.” (Nazario 35) Despite his relationship with Maria Isabel, Enrique continued to struggle with his issues surrounding his mother, meanwhile his behavior and addiction continued to worsen. Enrique’s family attempts to confront him about his behavior, however he continues on his self-destructive path. Enrique begins to feel guilty for the way he is treating Maria Isabel and his other family members. He believes that because his feelings of anger and self-loathing stem from his mother’s departure and that a reunion with her was the only solution. By leaving for the states Enrique filled the role that his mother had when she left him as a child. Enrique believed that he had no other choice but to abandon Maria Isabel in order to resolve his issues and give them their best chance. "Many children including Enrique, begin to idealize their mothers. …In their absence, these mothers become larger than life. Although in the United States the women struggle to pay rent and eat, in the imaginations of their children back home they become deliverance itself, the answer to every problem.”(Nazario 7) Like with most children with an absent parent Enrique began to idealize his mother, which compelled him to make the treacherous journey to the United