Final Post

 The tone for the last third of the book is very complicated, changing and unsettled. Enrique's decisions and actions are all jumbled up and it is very hard for him to make one right decision. For example, Enrique moved to North Carolina to be with his mother and then he kept on moving in and out with his her and they kept on having fights that tore up their relationship but Enrique would always go back to his mother in the end. Also, Enrique got back into glue sniffing and marijuana smoking as well as heavy drinking which caused family problems and self constraint problems. Enrique always enraged his mother by saying that she didn't love him because she left for the U.S. and he created an everlasting argument with his mother that made her feel very guilty.  "On Christmas Eve, Lourdes goes to bed early.. Enrique goes out drinking with his friends. he comes home late and drunk. The next morning, Lourdes gives her son a shirt. Enrique doesn't have a gift for his mother"(203). In these few sentences Enrique is showing that Enrique is disobedient and ungrateful towards his mother while on the next page when Lourdes and Enrique go to a New Year's Eve party together, "At midnight, she kisses her son. Enrique hugs her back, hard. 'Happy New Year. I love you,' he tells his mother"(204). One day Enrique is mean to his mother and the next he is compassionate. Most of the end of the story goes like this until he finally settles in with his mother, almost problem free, in Florida. Enrique's entire journey was very complicated and the separation from his mother fueled his drive to be both loving and selfish.

My favorite part of the book was when Enrique was traveling through Oaxaca and Veracruz and he and the other migrants received gifts of clothing, food, drink, and blankets. This was my favorite part because after all of the despair and trouble that Enrique went through, the people of Veracruz gave him hope that he could make it through all the way to the North and find his mother. The people of Veracruz were kind enough to realize the struggle of the migrants and then they supplied them with items that could help them achieve their goals. This is a reminder to always help out others to reach their dreams.