Devils Highway

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Lynette Saldana
Torres
Junior English
21 May 2018
The Devils Highway
Challenges are rough, they make it difficult to perceiver; they let you think it is easier just to
give up. The book “The Devils Highway” is a nonfiction novel written by Luis Alberto Urrea on
the long and painful journey of those Mexicans trying to cross the border into the United states.
The author can describe from his own experiences how difficult this challenge was, this book
created an impact on the way they view those who do this and survive.
The book was written about Yuma 14 (also known as Welton 26) the incident that occurred in
2001, however the book was published in 2004. The meaning of the book is “The Devil's Highway,
a desolate place along the Mexican-Arizona border, witnessed the tragic death of fourteen Mexican
immigrants, part of a party of twenty-four souls, in 2001” (Urrea, Luis Alberto). The worst journey
any human being can go through. It is known to be “What we take from granted in the United
States as being Mexican, to those from southern Mexico, is almost completely foreign. Rural
Mexicans don't have the spare money” (Urrea, Luis Alberto). Those Mexicans trying to cross the
border would use up their very last dime to cross the border, many of the Mexican army can be
bought off.
Luis Alberto Urrea was born in Tijuana, Mexico but was raised in San Diego, his father was
Mexican and his mother was American. The way Urrea can grab the reader’s attention is
significant. Through all sixteen chapters he gives great detail on what is going on the pain the
characters are going through. He gives powerful images that help paint the image he is going for.
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Many will say “Urrea focuses on the individual subjects and the circumstances that brought them
to make the decision to cross the border and risk death” (ENotes). In the book Urrea put in his
input on these men called coyotes, they were “The guides are young, uneducated, and desperate
to earn money, respect, and status” (ENotes), in a nutshell they took care of the group or so they
tried.
The book put an impact not only on peoples’ minds but in their hearts as well, Urrea states
“we try to put numbers on a story that is, at base, a story of the heart” (Urrea, Luis Alberto).
Throughout the story Urrea does not just give one example from one point of view on the
tremendous experience he gives varies ones, he gives an insight on how the desert was known to
be different names. At the beginning of the book he describes how “fallen angels” have landed
there and old Mexican legends such as la Llorona and El Cuycuy lived in the desert and just that
alone gives the fear to the desert alone. The desert is known to kill you due to “The intense heat
and sun in the desert causes horrific physical afflictions: swollen and cracked lips, black urine,
organs that “cook” inside bodies. Urrea describes the heat as sizzling “at the edges of things.”
(ENotes). Reading the book, you can fill what they are going through. Having Americans read
this book it opens their minds on the struggle people will fight for and risk just to live here.
In Mexico their wages are less than ours in the united states, many Mexicans coming have
absolutely no spare change and they waste all their survival money to cross over, Urrea gives an
excellent choice of words to create a prefect image for those who do not know what Mexican
have to go through just to enter the united states. During this era had a lot of effect on when the
story was written and it comes to show it had an effect on Americans. Me as a student reading
this novel and hearing the stories and point of views of the different walkers breaks my heart and
makes me appreciative of what I have.

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“The Devil's Highway Summary.” Enotes.com, Enotes.com,
www.enotes.com/topics/devils-highway.
Thompson, Bridget. “The Devil's Highway.” Prezi.com, 25 Mar. 2015,
prezi.com/ibtggmcwq3bk/the-devils-highway/.

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What challenges do migrants face when crossing the border?

How does the author describe the difficulties of crossing the border?

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makes me appreciative of what I have.

“The Devil's Highway Summary.” Enotes.com, Enotes.com,

Thompson, Bridget. “The Devil's Highway.” Prezi.com, 25 Mar. 2015,

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