Danielle Pangan Mrs. Grant English 1 Honors November 29, 2022 Overcoming Hardships “My success made me happy, but, this time, the grades seemed less important than what I had learned from reading the book.” (Jimenez 102). Throughout his life, Francisco Jimenez learned to endure his hardships and strive for success. In the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, the common themes of education, poverty, and prejudice are shown. He needs to financially support his family to make ends meet. He must also balance his obligations to work and school while attempting to succeed and improve his lot in life. Jimenez seeks success through education and sees it as an opportunity to change his life. Poverty is one of the many hurdles he has to face while …show more content…
Poverty takes people away from getting opportunities to do things they want. “Roberto and I missed months of school to help Papa and Mama work in the fields. We struggled to make ends meet.” (Jimenez 2). Francisco was taken away from his education because his family wasn’t able to make enough money to live. Francisco's education was interrupted since his family was unable to provide enough money to support themselves. Francisco felt upset whenever they had to go to the fields and was upset he had to miss school. Francisco was sad that he had to miss school and felt bad every time they had to go to the fields. Yet, he never blamed his family or harbored any negative thoughts against them. Another time was when Francisco's dad had back problems and could not work. “He wore a wide belt for support, and when he could no longer stoop over, he worked on his knees until his back gave out completely.” (Jimenez 83). Due to this, Francisco and Roberto had to take over and were the only people who could financially support the family. When overworking himself, Francisco looked in the mirror and saw that he resembled Papa. He finally knew what it felt like to be in his position. He sympathizes with Papa in the sense that he wants what's best for the family, even if it means going through a lot to get it. Francisco struggles when having to choose between work and school. He still managed to balance it but ended up sacrificing his mental and physical