106 pages • 3 hours read
Francisco JiménezBreaking Through
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Rage Fueled by Injustice
Francisco becomes increasingly aware of social inequities as he progresses through higher grades in school. His first experience with prejudice occurs when he is brought home by Peggy Dossen, a junior high school classmate whom he meets at the Vets dances. Mrs. Dossen immediately questions Francisco about the derivation of his “strong accent” (39). When Peggy invites Francisco to see her bedroom and invites him to sit on her bed, Francisco immediately refuses to do so; she tries to pull him toward her by the arm and he resists, causing her poodle to bark and pull at Francisco’s pant leg. Subsequently, Peggy is always driven home by her mother, instead of walking with Francisco. When he tries to question her about the cause of her avoidance, she refuses to talk to him. As Francisco reviews this event in retrospect, he realizes that the Dossens refused to allow Peggy to socialize with him due to his Mexican descent. As he recalls his family’s deportation to Mexico during his childhood, Francisco vividly remembers the gleeful manner in which the immigration officer advised him that “[…] one of your own people” (5) had advised authorities of their illegal status.
Various iterations upon this theme occur throughout the work. When Francisco first meets his high school guidance counselor, it is immediately assumed that the young man will be pursuing trade school courses. Despite all odds, including working numerous hours per week in order to support the family, Francisco graduates with a 3.7 GPA. He is invited to a Rotary Club luncheon in his capacity as student-body president and notices the great contrast between his own luxurious surroundings in the restaurant and the circumstances of the Mexican gardener laboring on the grounds outside. Finally, he notes the physical condition of his parents as they accompany him in the car to start his college career at Santa Clara University. His mother falls into an exhausted sleep as soon as the trip is underway; his father moans with pain due to the chronic back injuries suffered as a crop picker. Coupled with a growing awareness of unrest in the US at the time of the civil rights movement, Francisco starts to experience anger which he channels into positive activities, such as running for student-body president, graduating from college, and becoming a teacher.
Solidarity of Family and Community
The Jimenez family is poor and struggles to survive, but they are steadfast in the belief that their role is to protect and assist one another at all times. As Papa’s physical and mental health deteriorates, Francisco and his older brother, Roberto, willingly take on as much paid janitorial work as they can find in order to provide for their parents and younger siblings. All of the children in the family work alongside their parents as pickers as soon as they are old enough to do so. The welfare of the group always supersedes the desires, or comfort, of the individual.
This sense of pursuing the common good extends beyond the immediate family. Specifically, when Francisco waivers in his decision to run for student-body president, his decision is made firm after a chance meeting with a childhood friend who has heard of this possibility. Manuelito advises Francisco not to ruminate about running for office: “Do it. Everyone in Bonetti Ranch will be proud” (139). There is a strong sense of support within this community of laborers, and the success of any one individual has far-reaching psychological benefits to the rest of the group.
When Francisco contracts mononucleosis due to exhaustion from overwork, Mama and Trampita take over his morning job in order to allow him to rest properly. As the young man heads off to college, Mama presents him with a few carefully chosen articles of new clothing purchased from J.C. Penney’s, admitting that she saved a bit each week from her grocery money in order to make the purchases. Despite his exterior gruffness, Papa is sentimental and tries to provide the children with mementos on important occasions. When Francisco graduates from middle school, Papa presents the boy with his own St. Christopher’s medal, which he has worn for so long that “[…] the necklace had left a white ring around his sunburned neck” (59). Finally, on the morning of his departure for college, Francisco leaves sentimental tokens behind for his younger brother, Trampita. He places a handwritten letter of gratitude under Trampita’s pillow, thanking the boy for taking over his janitorial job and thereby allowing the author to attend college. Francisco adds his “copper pyrite rock for good luck” (189), one of his most cherished possessions, under the pillow, as well.
The Value of Spirituality and Faith
The author’s mother, Joaquina, is a woman of great faith and devotion. Despite the numerous adversities in her life, including poverty, physical labor, a large family, and a husband suffering physical and emotional illness, she retains her optimism in the idea that through faith, they will overcome all problems. While Papa is embittered by his disappointments and economic hardship, Mama has a very strong belief in the power of prayer and that ability of God to overcome all problems. She describes her children as “saints” and “all a blessing,” despite the fact that Trampita (“Little Tramp”) is so named because his mother dressed him in clothes from the city dump. As her two teenage sons leave Mexico alone to attend school and work in order to support the family, she gives them her traditional blessing: “Que Dios los bendiga” (17).
When Francisco becomes ill from exhaustion during his senior year in high school, he experiences a sense of despair and imagines that this is how his father must feel. He remembers that his father has always felt himself to be “cursed,” and confides in Mama that perhaps he (Francisco) is, as well. Mama disagrees vehemently, reminding the author that it was the family’s prayers to Santo Nino de Atocha for an entire year that saved his little brother, Torito, when doctors predicted his imminent death. She encourages her son to pray, and he starts to do so once again. The concepts of faith and charity have been inculcated into the character of these children by their mother.
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