Crossing the Wire

The story brings personal survival together with pressures around poverty, work and migration. It may offer a starting point for discussing why people undertake dangerous journeys without reducing the issue to easy answers.

The journey includes danger, hunger, extreme cold and heat, deportation, and exposure to violence and death. Victor’s family faces serious financial hardship, and drug smugglers are part of the plot.

What pressures make Victor feel responsible for finding work, and what choices might be available to someone in his situation?

Consider reading together or checking in at points involving physical danger, violence or death. You could pause afterwards to ask what felt most difficult for Victor and whether the story changed how you see his choices.