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Solito: A Memoir

Javier Zamora

Faiza Moshood & Stephany Rodriguez-Peliz

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Javier Zamora migrated through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert in 1999. His parents migrated before him; his dad when he turned one, and his mother when he was five. His first work was a collection of poetry called Unaccompanied, and later was acknowledged as a 2018-2019 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University, and later at MacDowell, National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and many more. He has won several awards which include a 2017 Lannan Literary Fellowship, the 2017 Narrative Prize, and the 2016 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. He now lives in Arizona where he volunteers at Salvavision and the Florence Project. (Zamora 389)

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This memoir is about Javier Zamora, who at the age of 9 migrated from El Salvador to the United States to reunite with his parents. Javier travels through Guatemala and Mexico and forms a bond with other migrants such as Patricia and Chino who become like second parents to him and watch over him. The memoir highlights Javier's bravery, trauma, resilience as well as the bonds he makes with strangers and how it and the experience left him permanently changed.

Solito matters because it shows the journey of immigration from the point of view of a child and gives perspective on what child migrants experience during the immigration process and allows readers to understand the struggles faced by migrants. The memoir allows immigration to been seen as a story rather than it just being a political problem/issue.

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point of view and the reader's interpretation perspective

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point of view and the reader's interpretation perspective

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Due to the book being a memoir, which makes the story true and personal, as Javier recalls the journey of his migration, the story is told in first-person from his perspective.

It shapes the readers experience as it allows the readers to see the events through the eyes of a child making the migration feel more emotional and human, it also allows the readers to see the thoughts of Javier throughout the journey, especially the uncertainty and fear of him being left behind or deported, as well as his longing for his parents in the U.S and grandparents back in El Salvador.

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One key individual in the book was Grandpa (Don Chepe). He was an older, kind-hearted man, who always cared for Javier even when he wasn't his actual father. Through the little time they spent together, Javier realized that his grandpa wasn't just a stone-faced man, but that he genuinely wished only the best for him.

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A key individual in the book was Patricia, a kind and helpful mother with a caring soul. Patricia was the main person who helped protect Javier after the group split, resulting in Grandpa not continuing the journey with them. While at first, she was wary of Javier and mainly focused on protecting her own daughter, Carla, as time passed, she learned and adjusted to care for Javier as well.

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The main message/ theme of Solito is the struggle of survival and want to belong during migration. As the title of the book implies, Solito means Alone, which is how Javier felt at the beginning of his journey till he becomes closer to his group especially Patricia, her daughter, and Chino, in which they become his found family. The struggle of survival is seen throughout in the book from Javier's point of view through the violence, corruption and hunger migrants face. The author develops the theme of belonging in the book from moments such as when Chino asks Javier if he's cold and wraps him in his jacket on the boat, to when Patricia helps wash his clothes in the shower in pages 107-109. The struggle of survival is developed as every step of the migration gets more dangerous than the last, such as the crossing from Guatemala to Mexico by boat, and the desert crossing from Mexico to the U.S.A, each step of the journey portrays and brings to light how dangerous the migration process truly is.

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A key event in the story is when Javier first leaves his home in El Salvador. This is a key event because he is taking his first step of independence, and of finally being able to reunite with his parents in the US, at such a young age. He is leaving the comfort of his family and of the town he has known his whole life to step into a whole different world filled with uncertainty and danger.

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A key event in the story is when Javier and Grandpa part ways at the bus stop. This is important to the story because it was tough to say goodbye to each other. This scene signifies that throughout the small amount of time they got to truly know each other, they began to care for each other so deeply that it was hard to let go. Additionally, this is Javier's step of traveling solo, only with a group of strangers to guide him.

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A key event is when Javier is left alone with the group who wishes to cross the border. This is a key event because this is what allows Patricia, Carla, and Chino to develop a closer relationship with Javier. It's this way that they become a 'fake' family, but nevertheless care for each other throughout their journey and keep an eye on each other. This is also important because it is Javier's first development of a familiar/friendly relationship outside of his home town and of his actual family, preparing him for when he finally goes to school in the US and meets new people.

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A key event is when Javier, Patricia, Carla, and Chino are caught by La Migra when they try to cross the road near the border. This is an important event because it is the first time Javier truly sees for himself how treacherous and dangerous the journey really is. Even though he's been told the dangers of the trip before, everything that he's been imagining was just based on what he expected it to be like. This event serves to show Javier how the real world really is, and that he must be smart and take care of himself to not get hurt again.

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A key event is when Javier finally reunites with his mother and father in the US. This is important because it's essentially the whole point of his journey. This is the reason he's gone through so much danger and fear, and he's finally gained some sense of stability and safety by reuniting with them. He is now safe and will be cared for in the hands of his parents, and this is the first step of his new life in the US.

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An important historical context is the legacy of the Salvadorian Civil War. This particular war was the reason his family fled, due to violence and the crashing economy of El Salvador. During this time, most migrants sought the US because they believed it was their only option to sustain their families in their war-filled home country. In addition to the poverty, gangs became a prominent threat to the families that still resided in El Salvador, which caused more and more people to want to flee to the US for their own well-being and safety.

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An important circumstance which influenced this story so deeply was the lack of immediate access of technological devices. Mobile phones had not yet developed completely, so when Javier departed onto this fear-filled journey, his family back home and in the US were unable to reach him whenever they could. This caused the story to have an even deeper impact on how his own family didn't know if he was alive or dead, as was with many other migrants.

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The circumstance of the lack of immediate access to technology for communication instilled a deep fear within Javier's family, since they did not know if he was still alive. Additionally, coyotes were often unreliable and did not allow many opportunities for Javier to directly communicate with his family. Most phone calls back home were just a measly few seconds of the coyote calling and relaying information onto the parents, but never a direct conversation between Javier and his mother and father.

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The most pivotal moment of the book would be in Chapter 2, page 73, when Javier's Grandpa, Don Chepe, leaves Javier to continue his journey on his own. From the beginning of the journey, until they get to Tecun, Guatemala, Javier was with Don Chepe who was there to guide him and keep him safe until he leaves for Ocus, Guatemala. Don Chepe provided a sense of security and familiarity. His departure, in which Javier goes on without him to the second stage of his migration, signifies that Javier is now alone with no one he knows and truly trusts. Although Javier's goodbye to his Grandpa was his last link to his family and home, it forced Javier to depend on other migrants, particularly Chino, Carla and Patricia, by forging new bonds with them.

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el salvador boy watching his grandpa from a bus window 

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Checkpoint

Definition: a barrier or manned entrance, typically at a border, where travelers are subject to security checks

Part of Speech: noun

Sentence Usage: can use it as a subject or object in a sentence like any other noun

Example: "Twelve plus hours! Was there a checkpoint? I would've woken up, right? Patricia would've told me." (Zamora 154)

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Pollero

Definition: In the context of Mexico and other Latin América countries, a pollero is a person who help transport illegal migrants to the U.S.A.

Part of Speech: noun

Sentence usage: would be used to refer to someone smuggles illegal migrants across the border.

Example: "The polleros have thick gloves to pull the sharp wires up from the ground so people can crawl under." (Zamora 220)

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Gringo

Definition: (in Spanish-speaking countries and contexts, mainly the Americas) a person, especially an American, who is not Hispanic or Latino.

Part of Speech: derogatory noun

Sentence usage: would be used when referring to a white, non-Hispanic person. In Brazil, it refers to any foreigner regardless of nationality or appearance while in Mexico, it refers to any one from the United States and in Peru "gringo" is used to refer to a white person.

Example: "La Migra. I know they're the bad gringos Mom and Dad and Mali talked about." (Zamora 197)

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One rhetorical device used during the story is similes. Throughout the story imagery can be noticed quite often, and it is used to portray the perspective of a child. It describes scenes and images in a way that a kid would interpret it. An example of this is on page 93, where Javier describes the stars reflections on the ocean they are traveling over like "tortillas on a comal".

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A rhetorical device used in Solito is a metaphor. This rhetorical device can be seen on page 150, where Javier describes the fried fish that has a “light-brown color of a guitar.” The author uses this rhetorical device to help the readers vividly imagine the scene and fully immerse themselves into it. It also makes a small scene feel grand and gives it great importance. While the author could’ve just said, ‘brown fried fish’, they went the extra mile to fully describe fried fish, giving it more meaning and depth. It is important because it’s been so long in the book since Javier had eaten fried fish, so he notices every little detail as if it was his first time eating freshly fried fish.

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A rhetorical device used in Solito is allusion. Throughout the book, Javier constantly references cartoons and shows like The Lion King, Dragon Ball Z and Animaniacs. The references create a massive and shocking contrast to Javier. For example, on the first page of Chapter One, Javier dreams "I'm Superman, or I'm Goku, flying over the fields, rivers, over El Salvador, over all the countries, over the people, towns, all the way to California, to my parents." Before he embarks on the journey, Javier sees the migration as a heroic adventure, in reality, the migration is a difficult, and scary ordeal. The allusion creates a conflict between the stories told by his family and the dark journey he has to go through and Javier does not realize this till he begins the migration.

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In Solito, a rhetorical device used throughout the entire book is tone. For most of the book, Javier's tone is mainly childlike and innocent. The childlike narration is unfiltered and raw, and uses very simple and straight to the point language, which captures Javier's small understanding of serious and complicated situations. It also adds to the sensory imagery because Javier's narration is filled with innocence and wonder, especially when it comes to the little things, such as him naming the cacti in the desert, and his descriptions of the scenery. The use of a childlike tone, humanizes the journey of migration and turns it into a personal and emotional story.

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A cultural aspect that is deeply relevant to the story is the expression of shared language and community within the immigrants that Javier travels with. The untranslated parts of the story give the story itself a sense of belonging. This is also expressed in the book with the use of Spanish slang within the group Javier travels with, essentially depicting a sense of security for Javier during his travels, which is often rare in these types of trips.

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A historical aspect of the book that can still be seen today is the trauma of family separation in these countries from which immigrant parents flee from in many cases. Often times parents have no choice but to flee to another country to be able to provide for their kids and spouses. This is seen in Javier's journey and the fact that he hasn't seen his biological parents in so long. This can also be seen with Patricia and Carla, and how the father and other sister of the family were in the US, while they were still in their home country.