Enrique's Journey: Chapter 7–Afterword

by Sonia Nazario
Enrique's mother left Honduras to find work in the United States; eleven years later, Enrique embarked on a dangerous journey to reunite with her. In this powerful nonfiction account, journalist Sonia Nazario recounts his experiences.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Chapter 3, Chapters 4–6, Chapter 7–Afterword
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. resentment
    a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
    Enrique knows he does not hate his mother. But with each passing day, his resentment grows.
  2. quell
    overcome or allay
    Did she think sending money could substitute for having his mother at his side? Or quell the loneliness he felt being moved from one relative to the next?
  3. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    He berates Lourdes for leaving him with a father she knew was irresponsible.
  4. destitute
    poor enough to need help from others
    If he was destitute, he had no one nearby who could help.
  5. prosper
    make steady progress
    “People come here to prosper. You have nothing here. What have you accomplished?”
  6. reproach
    a mild rebuke or criticism
    The women next door have another reproach: Maria Isabel is misspending the hard-earned money, $100 to $150 a month, that Enrique diligently sends his daughter.
  7. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    On the phone, he also chides Maria Isabel: “If you don’t take good care of that girl, I will come to Honduras and take her away from you!”
  8. penchant
    a strong liking or preference
    Enrique blames the boy’s father for his aggressiveness and penchant to fight.
  9. bodega
    small shop selling groceries, especially in a Hispanic area
    Jasmin crawls down a steep flight of stairs to a tiny bodega below.
  10. goad
    provoke as by constant criticism
    Enrique likes to goad his mother by making noise.
  11. linger
    remain present although waning or gradually dying
    He wishes he could fix all the lingering effects of his beating on the train: the scars on his forehead and his knees, the bump under the skin by his left eye, the pain in his teeth anytime he eats anything hot or cold.
  12. plight
    a situation from which extrication is difficult
    For the first time, Belky understands her own mother’s choice to leave her as a young child. She has watched Mirian’s plight.
  13. grapple
    work hard to come to terms with or deal with something
    She has seen her grapple with the gut-wrenching decision to leave.
  14. inferior
    of or characteristic of low rank or importance
    She doesn’t like the way people from North Carolina look at her in public sometimes. As if she were inferior, different.
  15. gilded
    made from or covered with gold
    She takes her into the cathedral, up to the gilded altar.
  16. devolve
    grow worse
    The discussion devolves into another big fight.
  17. amnesty
    a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense
    Mostly, she prays for an amnesty for immigrants so she can become legal and bring her daughter Belky to the United States.
  18. stall
    waste time or postpone doing what one should be doing
    He knows Maria Isabel has been stalling, that she is anxious about leaving Jasmin. He’s been stalling, too: he wants to learn English and get his vices totally under control before bringing her to the United States.
  19. cajole
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
    Enrique cajoles. I’ve changed, he tells her. I drink, but just a little now.
  20. void
    an empty area or space
    “But it never fills the void I have felt for so long.” Her hand taps her heart. “Not even now that I have my baby. The love of a mother is something you cannot replace with anything else.”
  21. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    One of the gangsters, brandishing a gun, grabs Enrique and flings him over the railing.
  22. intimidate
    compel or deter by or as if by threats
    Enrique and Lourdes believe the gangsters want to intimidate him so he does not report what he witnessed about the beating to police.
  23. deport
    expel from a country
    Worse, Lourdes fears that because she went on Don Francisco’s television show without disguising herself and because many in the neighborhood have tied her to a bestselling book about undocumented immigrants, her family’s odds of being deported are potentially higher.
  24. tutelage
    attention and management implying responsibility for safety
    There are moments when Maria Isabel, who has become less shy and timid under Lourdes’s tutelage, packs all of Enrique’s clothing into garbage bags and tells him to get out.
  25. carouse
    celebrate or enjoy something in a noisy or wild way
    Besides, Enrique sometimes uses his paycheck to go out carousing at night.
  26. implement
    ensure observance of laws and rules
    In 2008, the federal government began rolling out a program every police department in the country had to implement by 2013: if someone is arrested for any reason, their fingerprints must be sent to federal immigration authorities, who will deport people who are in the United States illegally.
  27. proceeding
    a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
    The day after Enrique’s arrest, sheriffs hand him over to immigration authorities, who place him at Baker County Detention Center in Macclenny, Florida, and begin deportation proceedings.
  28. prominent
    having a quality that thrusts itself into attention
    My book has made Enrique famous in his neighborhood and in Honduras, where three prominent TV shows about the book have been widely viewed.
  29. notoriety
    the state of being known for some unfavorable act or quality
    To instill fear and earn greater notoriety, gangs in Honduras target and kill famous people.
  30. asylum
    a shelter from danger or hardship
    They claimed the U.S. government should allow Enrique to stay in the United States by awarding him political asylum because his notoriety would make him the target of the Zetas in Honduras.
  31. prod
    urge on; cause to act
    In 2011, prodded by human rights activists and accounts such as Enrique’s Journey, Mexico passes a law allowing Central Americans to transit legally through their country.
  32. persecute
    cause to suffer
    Grimm says Enrique is in danger going back to Honduras but hasn’t met specific criteria for asylum: proving he is part of a persecuted group.
  33. prosecute
    bring a criminal action against
    Congress created a U Visa that allows migrants to stay legally in the United States if they are victims of a crime, provided that they report that crime and then help prosecute the perpetrator by serving as witnesses.
  34. incentive
    a positive motivational influence
    Sui Chung believes the visa helps make many communities safer by giving migrants a powerful incentive to cooperate with authorities.
  35. saga
    a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family
    For if he is deported, a migration saga that began with Enrique’s mother departing from Honduras will begin anew.
  36. clandestine
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    Later that year, the bodies of 193 migrants were found in clandestine graves nearby.
  37. controversial
    marked by or capable of causing disagreement
    The issue remains as controversial as ever and the questions the same: Is immigration good for the migrants themselves? Is it good for the countries from which they are migrating? Is it good for the United States and its citizens?
  38. deterioration
    the process of changing to an inferior state
    The crush of immigrants has hastened the deterioration of many public services, namely schools, hospitals, and state jails and prisons.
  39. covet
    wish, long, or crave for
    Immigrants weren’t just taking the jobs that natives didn’t covet; they competed with the natives for work as painters, mechanics, and construction workers.
  40. stint
    an unbroken period of time during which you do something
    Immigrants, particularly those from Mexico, once returned home after brief work stints in the United States.
Created on Thu May 05 17:17:21 EDT 2016 (updated Thu Aug 30 13:28:47 EDT 2018)

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