1.Quote #1:
"A couple of weeks after Enrique disappears, his paternal grandmother, Maria, traverses Tegucigalpa to talk to Enrique's realtives and Maria Isabel. Has Anyone heard anything from Enrique, who came to bid her good-bye before leaving for the the United States?

It is no joke.

Maria Isabel knows Enrique longed to be with his mother. He spoke often of going to the north to be with Lourdes."

PAGE: 55 [bottom] and top of 56 [1 sentence] WHO SPEAKS: the Narrator

2. Significance: The first question under Immigration Unit Literature Circle Guidelines is Why have the characters in your book come to America?
Well the character in my book, Enrique is 17 years old and since his mother Loudres left him and his Sister Belky in Honduras he has wanted to be with her and has waited..... but to him its been too much... he's waited long enough and noone can stop him form his decision to going to North Carolina to find his mom. First his Mom was in California but now she's moved with her new daughter Diana and a friend to North Carolina.

When Enrique decided to take the dangerous train and find his mother, he said his good-byes to his family in Honduras. His girl friend Maria Isabel obvously didn't really believe that he was actually going to go. I am on page 67 so far and from what I have read Maria Isabel is going to go with a friend after Enrique. Throughout the book its been saying that she is pregnant so I think she is and she doesn't want Enrique to leave her so she's also gonna go.

If she is pregnant it shows how much or how desperate Enrique is to see his mom, Lourdes. It answers the question of why he wants to go to the U.S. And that I think is like the main reason because of his mom. He's gone through alot and I think he just can't take it anymore and he's finally going to do what he's wanted to since he was young. SEE his mom and hug her and just be with her. Theres another really sad quote in the beginning of the book where Enrique is like younger and he notices hsi mom gone so he says to his grandmother, "Donde esta mi mami?" Now he knows and he;s not waiting for another person to tell him what to do now hes thinking for his own. Right now in the book he;s on his way to the Untied States to find his mom.

3. Character Jugdement: I don't really have a connection to this but from how the narrator describes how the character feels and looks I can kind of visualize what its like. Let me tell you it'd seem horrible to not have a mom or a dad no matter what they tell you and how many times they ground you, and even if they don't let you do things sometimes and are somewhat nosy.... its only because they care and they're parents so its their job. Also it would feel weird to see everyone else with a mom and you not having one just'd make you feel left out [its smae if it were a dad too.]

I could tell that Maria Isabel cares about Enrique because she is also going to follow Enriques journey and she isn't mad because she understands how he must feel. Maria Isabel has loved him since they met she just kept saying"i'll think about it" but once she was sure she knew him more she said, "yes" and they went out. And even though he did drugs and all this other bad stuff she still helped him and unitl now still loves him. Also it says I'm supposed to describe Isabel so I'll just say she has curly brown hair and is about the smae height as Enrique[who is 5 feet tall].

4. Question: How would you feel if you had to travel far way to see your mom/dad? The way that Enrique has to see his mom , also hasen't seen her since he was kindergarden age and is now 17 years old. Its been years. How'd you feel if it was you going through this?
Would you risk your life to find your mom/dad?

1. Quote #2:
"Enrique sobs, but this time with relief. He says to the driver, I thought I was going to die."



"That guy robbed me yesterday, Enrique says"

PAGE:48 paragraph 2 WHO SPEAKS: Enrique

2. Significance: Question 4 which is What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival? This quote answers apart of that question which is... what he faces to get to the U.S and find his mom. It's a long way and after like more than 5 trys he realizes it. Along his journey Enrique gets beat up he falls of the train to El Norte, he has to sleep in graveyards as a hideout to the police of Mexico and Guatemala, etc. Enrique is robbed, pretty much anything can happen to him if he's not careful. Of course this is just the beggining he still needs to cross the U.S border which is also going to be hard I assume. Also Enrique needs to go to North Carolina not california. Thats going to make his journey much longer I think.

3. Personal Connection: The only close enough personal connection I have to this is when I went to Sinaloa and we were going to go to a ranch and I needed to hind my money because there might be people who stop our car with guns and try to take it. We luckily didn't get robbed but easily could have. Also I can tell that the feeling of getting robbed isn't a good one, I bet your stomach twirls and you kind of get sick at the fact that someone just took your money. But then you could be crying because your scared that you could have died or because your glad that they took the money and didn't kill you. Enrique got beat up which makes the situation worse. Yes, he alive but he has no money and is loosing blood. Its disgusting. If I were in this situation I'd give them the money as long as they don't hurt me.


4. Questions:
Have you ever been in a stiuation where you needed to give somebody something that you had?... or else you'd pay the price meaning, you'd get hurt if you didn't give the person what they wanted.