The Line Becomes a River Epilogue Summary & Analysis

Cantú is in Big Bend National Park one hot evening when he sees a man on a horse riding across the Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande marks the natural boundary between Texas and Mexico. This man’s ease in riding across the river contrasts with the extreme difficulty of crossing the manmade border that Cantú was paid to enforce earlier in the book. In this way, Cantú again reminds his readers that there’s nothing inherently deadly about migration or crossing borders—humans have simply made it that way.

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The man asks Cantú if he’s with border enforcement, and Cantú says no. Cantú asks the man about his village, and the man says it’s very safe: there’s no trouble from drug cartels or border enforcement. He invites Cantú to breakfast the next morning.

The lack of violence compared to Juárez suggests that border enforcement itself breeds violence in border regions by creating the necessity for people to circumvent the laws of border crossing. As such, Cantú implies that institutions can create a self-perpetuating cycle of violence.

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The next morning, Cantú mounts the man’s horse and rides with him over the river, into Mexico. He reflects on how much he’s trusting this stranger and how peaceful the village is. The man tells him people in the village look out for one another, so the violence of the surrounding area hasn’t reached them.

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The man takes Cantú back across the river, into the United States. Cantú asks him about the border crossing—whether there are cameras or sensors—and braces himself for the sounds of vehicles or men. But he hears only the river.

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Later that day, Cantú swims in the Rio Grande, noticing the fish and birds flying overhead. He crosses the river over and over, until for a moment he forgets which country he’s standing in.

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The Line Becomes a River: Epilogue Summary & Analysis