Francisco Jimenez's "Breaking Through"
The passing of power
As we age and grow older we like to think we gain or learn something; In “Breaking Through”, Francisco Jimenez’s book, Francisco gains power in the household along with his brother, Roberto. We really start to see the loss of power from the father because he is unable to support his family. His father soon becomes depressed and starts to hide. Francisco gets some of his direction and influence when it comes to fighting his father’s authority and power in the household from the American culture. We see Roberto as a much more quiet obeying son where Francisco was just young enough he was able to absorb the American ways and let go of his traditional cultural ways of obeying one’s parents. As we see Francisco ultimately break through in finding his identity, we begin to see him question his father’s position and beliefs. We first see signs off of power passing, when the father starts to become unable to support the family. The father has to depend on the brothers to support the family and this causes him to become depressed. He states,‘But it won’t be until the end of next week, when Roberto gets paid,’ Papa added, biting his lower lip.” (Pg81.) He grudgly admits that he needs Roberto to pay for things, this is one of the first incidences where power has been passed from father to son. ‘Don’t think just because you give me your paychecks that you can do whatever you want,’ “he said firmly.” (Pg88.) The jobs that Francisco and Roberto have is what start the power change as they become the sole providers for their family. Their father sees this and tries hard to hold onto the power of authority, but as Francisco grows and gains more independence he starts to question this. Jimenez starts off in the book as a young boy, always obeying his father and his wishes because this was how he was
As we age and grow older we like to think we gain or learn something; In “Breaking Through”, Francisco Jimenez’s book, Francisco gains power in the household along with his brother, Roberto. We really start to see the loss of power from the father because he is unable to support his family. His father soon becomes depressed and starts to hide. Francisco gets some of his direction and influence when it comes to fighting his father’s authority and power in the household from the American culture. We see Roberto as a much more quiet obeying son where Francisco was just young enough he was able to absorb the American ways and let go of his traditional cultural ways of obeying one’s parents. As we see Francisco ultimately break through in finding his identity, we begin to see him question his father’s position and beliefs. We first see signs off of power passing, when the father starts to become unable to support the family. The father has to depend on the brothers to support the family and this causes him to become depressed. He states,‘But it won’t be until the end of next week, when Roberto gets paid,’ Papa added, biting his lower lip.” (Pg81.) He grudgly admits that he needs Roberto to pay for things, this is one of the first incidences where power has been passed from father to son. ‘Don’t think just because you give me your paychecks that you can do whatever you want,’ “he said firmly.” (Pg88.) The jobs that Francisco and Roberto have is what start the power change as they become the sole providers for their family. Their father sees this and tries hard to hold onto the power of authority, but as Francisco grows and gains more independence he starts to question this. Jimenez starts off in the book as a young boy, always obeying his father and his wishes because this was how he was