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Breaking Through By Francisco Jimenez Analysis

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The book Breaking Through, by Francisco Jimenez is about his autobiographical novel. According to Wikipedia, he received both his master’s degree and his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and he is the director of the ethnic studies program. In this book, he wrote about his life and his challenging life in the United States, and how he overcame the challenge. His family moved to the U.S.A from the Guadalajara, Mexico when he was 4 years old, so he faced too many problems to live in the U.S.A. However, the major struggles that Francisco Jimenez faces were language and money, but he overcame them. Francisco Jimenez struggled with the English language, but he overcame that struggles by reading a book and studying. For example, when he was in the …show more content…

For example, when he was young, He and Roberto missed months of school because his family struggled to make ends meet, so he needed to help his family on the field. He writes that “Every year Roberto and I missed months of school to help Papa and Mama work in the fields. We struggled to make ends meet, especially during the winter, when work was scarce” (2). This means that his family is very poor, so they need to work in order to make ends meet. However, he overcame that money problem. For example, he worked more hours and day in the San Maria Window cleaners, Western union, Betty’s Fabrics, helping Mike, gas company, and oil company. He writes that “I increased my hours of Santa Maria Window Cleaners, working from six in the morning until midnight. In the early morning cleaned the Western Union and Betty’s Fabrics. During the rest of the day I helped Mike Clean houses doing window, washing walls, stripping and waxing floors. In the early evenings I did my regular chores at the gas company and late evenings I worked with Mike cleaning the standard oil company, which was located on the outskirts of Santa Maria” (149). This means that he increased the Santa Maria Window cleaners, Western Union, Betty’s Fabrics, Gas company, and Mike cleaning. I think, Jimenez worked more than 40 hours per week to survive. All of these shows that money was also a Jimenez major problem, but he was getting through that problem. In Francisco Jimenez book Breaking Through, the narrator, Francisco describes the struggles of his childhood life and how he overcame them. Money and languages are one of the Jimenez major struggles. However, he was passing through that problem. In my opinion, Jimenez played a major role in the Breaking Through book. I found both joyful and sad while I’m reading the

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