“Tell Me How it Ends” by Valeria Luiselli is both a moving story and a comprehensive guide to the American immigration story. As she navigates the multiple questions that small children are expected to answer, she delves deeper into the logistics and realities of life on the road. Hopeful immigrants often board La Bestia, a dangerous train that is both the promise of a new life and the risk of losing the one you already have. Luiselli includes the Immigrant’s prayer which is said by those traveling on La Bestia which says “to leave is to die a little/ to arrive is never to arrive.” I was particularly interested in this prayer partially because of its vagueness. What is the arrival and how does one arrive and yet not arrive? The first line of the prayer is fairly straightforward. Often the child migrants are faced with gang violence or death in their home countries; leaving is not just a desire but rather a move for survival. Immigrants have to leave behind their homeland, culture, and family in hopes of securing their future. While many might be relieved to make it to the United States, this relief does not negate the sadness of their journey or the way they miss home. The second portion of the prayer is harder to analyze. Initially, I took the line to mean that to arrive at the destination is to not arrive at heaven, meaning they might escape death. Yet the inclusion of “never” seems to complicate this interpretation as even if a person makes the journey, they will still eventually die. In doing more research, the lines of prayer seem to be part of a larger prayer in which the line says “to arrive is never to arrive definitively until resting in You.” This longer line seems to confirm the sentiment that travel is temporary until passing on and reaching heaven, resting with God. I was glad that Luiselli included the prayer as it was helpful in showing what brings comfort on the road for migrants. What did you take the prayer to mean?
I really enjoyed your analysis of the lines that Luiselli included in her work. When I first read the lines, I was also confused by its vagueness. It didn’t seem as hopeful or uplifting I’d expect a prayer while riding La Bestia to be. Yet, when putting these lines in their context, it makes sense as to what she is communicating with these lines. I’d think that when you are traveling through such dangerous situations, reaching the states would become heaven in your mind. This prayer however reminds them that being in the United States will have its own challenges, and true heaven will only be reached after death. I think the sentiment that the prayer communicates compliments Luiselli’s work well. Although she describes some of the journey to the states, most of her work is focused on what happens to the immigrants when they arrive, much like how the prayer communicates that just arriving is not the end of the journey.
Hello Daisy, I am intrigued by your post and would like to offer my own opinions on what the prayer means. Due to this being called the “Immigrant’s Prayer” we can assume that this prayer is made by the perspective of immigrants trying to cross into a foreign country. “To leave is to die a little”, represents the loss of the original culture and traditions from the origin country. While “to arrive is never to arrive”, demonstrates the struggles of adapting/integrating into the destination’s cultural values while still retaining their own. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Your post made me wonder about how the children are most likely habituated to a life of danger from their environment in Mexico. Hence, I do not believe that they could fully process what a life without these dangers in the US could look like. I wonder if while taking La Bestia, it was such a different experience for them. For us, that experience seems so wild, tragic, and unbelievable. But perhaps to those children and adults, they see it as not that much different to what they have been used to. Which is tragic to think about.