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Essay On Breaking Through By Francisco Jimenez

532 Words3 Pages

In the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, the main character, Francisco Jimenez, learns to not let other people’s opinions of him affect his personality. In the beginning of the novel, Francisco tries his best to fit in and listens to his classmate’s interests so he can have something in common with them. However, as time passes, Francisco realizes that he is proud of who he is and where he comes from and learns to embrace that. Francisco and his brother, Roberto, go to a dance held at the Veterans Memorial Building every Saturday. At this dance, Francisco becomes friends with one of his classmates, Peggy Dossen. One day Peggy asks Francisco to walk her home after school, she invites him inside and Peggy’s parents hear his accent and ask if he is Spanish to which he proudly replies, “‘I am Mexican’” (Jimenez 39). …show more content…

Later on in the book, Francisco realizes that she was ignoring him because he is Mexican, he is furious and can’t understand why he is disliked because of his ethnicity. Even though some people see Mexicans as inferior, this does not waver Francisco’s pride for Mexico and who he is. Another part of Francisco’s personality is his love of learning, Francisco is determined to be a teacher and is willing to go through school while having multiple jobs to get there. Francisco keeps up his grades and works hard to eventually become class president to better his chances of getting into college. However, when Francisco tells his father about these plans, Papa bluntly states, “‘Don’t be stupid. Only rich people become teachers’” (72). This makes Francisco very angry knowing that his father does not believe in him, but Francisco still continues to believe in himself. Eventually, Francisco’s hard work pays off when he is accepted into the University of Santa

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