Quote 1 “What’s really incomprehensible, she adds, are middle-class or wealthy working mothers in the United States. These women, she says, could tighten their belts, stay at home, spend all their time with their children. Instead, they devote most of their waking hours and energy to careers, with little left for the children. Why, she asks, with disbelief on her face, would anyone do that?”(Prologue xi).”
This passage is from the beginning of the book. The person speaking in this passage is Sonia Nazario’s housekeeper Carmen. Carmen had shared with Sonia Nazario that she left her children behind when she came to the United States in search of a better life for herself and her children. In this quote Carmen is voicing her opinion on women …show more content…
The main theme in this book is the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. Although Enrique barely has memories of his mom and has only talked to her on the phone a handful of times in the past ten years of his life he still feels the need to be with her. The passage that I pulled from the book as the most important and meaningful is a short dialogue between Enrique and his mom. At this point in the book Enrique has just crossed the border into America and the smugglers that got him there called his mom and said that they need more money. To make sure that he is alive Lourdes, Enrique’s mom, ask to speak to him and this is the conversation that they had, “What kind of shoes do you have on?” she asks. “Two left shoes,” Enrique says. Fear drains from his mother like a wave back into the sea. It is Enrique. She feels pure happiness.” (Pg. 187) This passage was the most meaningful to me because even though she knows nothing about her child she still loves him just as much as she would if she wouldn’t of left them. I felt like the two left shoes that Enrique was wearing is symbolic for all of the hardships that he has faced, from fighting gang members on a train to someone stealing only his right shoe. It also makes the reader realize how little the mom knows about her child. Since Lourdes didn’t know what her own child’s voice sounded like she asked the only question she could think of and that was what shoes she was wearing. Lourdes knew that Enrique was wearing two left shoes because of a call he made to her a few days earlier. It was a sweet moment in the book that showed a deep connection between the mom and her
This passage is from the beginning of the book. The person speaking in this passage is Sonia Nazario’s housekeeper Carmen. Carmen had shared with Sonia Nazario that she left her children behind when she came to the United States in search of a better life for herself and her children. In this quote Carmen is voicing her opinion on women …show more content…
The main theme in this book is the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. Although Enrique barely has memories of his mom and has only talked to her on the phone a handful of times in the past ten years of his life he still feels the need to be with her. The passage that I pulled from the book as the most important and meaningful is a short dialogue between Enrique and his mom. At this point in the book Enrique has just crossed the border into America and the smugglers that got him there called his mom and said that they need more money. To make sure that he is alive Lourdes, Enrique’s mom, ask to speak to him and this is the conversation that they had, “What kind of shoes do you have on?” she asks. “Two left shoes,” Enrique says. Fear drains from his mother like a wave back into the sea. It is Enrique. She feels pure happiness.” (Pg. 187) This passage was the most meaningful to me because even though she knows nothing about her child she still loves him just as much as she would if she wouldn’t of left them. I felt like the two left shoes that Enrique was wearing is symbolic for all of the hardships that he has faced, from fighting gang members on a train to someone stealing only his right shoe. It also makes the reader realize how little the mom knows about her child. Since Lourdes didn’t know what her own child’s voice sounded like she asked the only question she could think of and that was what shoes she was wearing. Lourdes knew that Enrique was wearing two left shoes because of a call he made to her a few days earlier. It was a sweet moment in the book that showed a deep connection between the mom and her