Enrique's Journey: Chapters 4–6

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. generosity
    the trait of being willing to give your money or time
    Enrique is stunned by the generosity. In many places where the train slows in Veracruz—at a curve or to pass through a village—people give. Sometimes twenty or thirty people stream out of their homes along the rails and toward the train. They wave. They smile, they shout, and then they throw food.
  2. necessity
    the condition of being essential or indispensable
    In these places, residents understand that poor people leave their country out of a deep necessity, not because they want to.
  3. impetus
    a force that makes something happen
    The impetus to help comes from the local bishop, Hipolito Reyes Larios.
  4. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    Wherever the trains stopped, the migrants went, gaunt and dirty, plagued by parasites they had picked up along the way, to front doors to beg.
  5. procession
    the action of a group moving ahead in regular formation
    As the procession of migrants has grown, so has the determination to help.
  6. sanctuary
    a shelter from danger or hardship
    Word spread that the church was providing sanctuary.
  7. humane
    marked by concern with the alleviation of suffering
    “We are human. We should treat people in a humane way. It’s okay to send people back. But they shouldn’t shoot them, beat them this way.”
  8. detain
    deprive of freedom; take into confinement
    Because there are more trains and because so many migrants have been hurt or detained back in Chiapas, fewer riders are on board.
  9. camaraderie
    the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
    He relishes the camaraderie: how riders take care of one another, pass along what they know, divide what they have.
  10. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    Enrique realizes that the friendships will be fleeting.
  11. semaphore
    an apparatus for visual signaling
    Then he sees switches and semaphores.
  12. hospitality
    kindness in welcoming guests or strangers
    The Veracruz hospitality has vanished.
  13. mercy
    the act of showing great kindness toward the distressed
    Enrique goes house to house, hoping for mercy.
  14. scarcity
    a small and inadequate amount
    If they are caught inside, it will be hard to escape, but they count on the scarcity of migra checkpoints in northern Mexico.
  15. desolate
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    The landscape turns more and more desolate—sand and scrub brush, jackrabbits and snakes.
  16. exploit
    use or manipulate to one's advantage
    Some migrants say Mexicans exploit illegals by stiffing them after a day’s work.
  17. trough
    a container from which cattle or horses feed
    At the end of the day, covered in clay and manure dust, he bathes in a cattle trough.
  18. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    Oblivious to the chatter on the trucker’s two-way radio, Enrique falls asleep.
  19. relentless
    never-ceasing
    The soldiers chased him relentlessly.
  20. fatigue
    temporary loss of strength and energy from hard work
    Enrique ached with fatigue.
  21. haven
    a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary
    The encampment he has joined is a haven for migrants, coyotes, junkies, and criminals, but it is safer for him than anywhere else in Nuevo Laredo, a city of half a million and swarming with la migra and all kinds of police, who might catch him and deport him.
  22. balk
    refuse to proceed or comply
    Hernandez balked, and the officers lowered their price. “If you don’t give us five hundred pesos, ten days in jail!” he says one yelled.
  23. accumulate
    get or gather together
    By 10 P.M. he has accumulated only 10 pesos, about $1.
  24. atrocity
    an act of shocking cruelty
    He hears of atrocities: knives, a rifle to the chest, beatings with tree limbs, demands for shoes and money.
  25. loiter
    linger, remain, or wait around for no apparent reason
    He leaves, only to be arrested in town—twice, both times for loitering.
  26. refectory
    a communal dining-hall, usually in a monastery
    In addition to the refectory, on the second floor are two small rooms where up to ten women share four beds.
  27. mottled
    having spots or patches of color
    His arms and legs are mottled with bruises, and he has been wearing the same clothes for days.
  28. treacherous
    dangerously unstable and unpredictable
    They tell him the trek is treacherous from the moment you step into the river.
  29. lacerate
    cut or tear irregularly
    The trek to San Antonio takes seven or eight days, in desert heat of up to 120 degrees, with diamondback rattlers, lacerating cactus needles, water slimy with cattle spit, saucer-size tarantulas, and wild hogs with tusks.
  30. trespass
    enter unlawfully on someone's property
    Texas ranchers have become increasingly riled by immigrants who trespass.
  31. ramshackle
    in poor or broken-down condition
    “There are two kinds of wets,” says retired trucker Jake Smith, who lives in a trailer on a ramshackle ranch in Martinez, near Cotulla, Texas.
  32. apprehend
    take into police custody
    Some of Enrique’s campmates say they were apprehended when a rancher pointed a pistol at them, told them to freeze, and then dialed the U.S. immigration agents on his cell phone.
  33. dogged
    stubbornly unyielding
    Enrique will have to outsmart Border Patrol agents on the other side who are skilled and dogged.
  34. quarry
    a person who is the aim of an attack by a hostile influence
    Marks in the dirt show that their quarry has crawled under it.
  35. circumvent
    avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing
    To clothe the migrants, he circumvents Mexican Customs, which inspects cars and confiscates used clothing coming into the country, in what Padre Leo believes is an attempt to protect Mexican clothing manufacturers.
  36. torrent
    a violently fast stream of water or other liquid
    The Rio Bravo, as it is called here, is swollen with rain, a torrent of water coursing toward the Gulf of Mexico.
  37. effluent
    water mixed with waste matter
    Effluent spills into the water from a three-foot-wide pipe close by.
  38. smuggle
    import or export without paying customs duties
    In front sit a Latino driver and a woman, part of El Tirindaro’s smuggling network.
  39. bound
    move forward by leaping
    At 10 A.M., after more than 12,000 miles, 122 days, and seven futile attempts to get to his mother, Enrique, eleven years older than when she left him behind, bounds from the backseat of the car and up five faded redwood steps, and swings open the white door of the mobile home.
  40. culminate
    reach the highest or most decisive point
    The clash culminates several weeks after Enrique arrives, when Maria Isabel telephones collect and her call is rejected because some of the immigrants in the trailer do not know who she is.
Created on Thu May 05 17:02:19 EDT 2016 (updated Thu Aug 30 12:13:38 EDT 2018)

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