Project Reflection

Lit circles

Overall I really did enjoy the book I chose to read and getting to choose important quotes and commenting on them. I also enjoyed getting to know the people in my lit circles group perspective on how they feel towards the novel. It was interesting to get to know about what they think.
Something I learned from my L.C group was about their perspective towards the book and some connections they had to the quotes they chose. Something I learned from the novel was about why people immigrated to the U.S and what they had to go through. Like in my book the family had to cross the border illegally just to live better and to try to get out of the poverty they lived in. They came to the U.S illegally and they were still too poor because they were illegal and they couldn't get a decent job because they didn't go to school and they were illegal.



Art & Literature
For my art piece I decided to make a metaphor for the story and create an art piece out of the metaphor. Since the story I read was depressive and happy at times I decide to create the ocean, the sun, mountains, and the border. I used bright colors which represented happiness and hope in the story and the dark colors represented depression. The family also faced a lot of obstacles so the mountains and the border represented obstacles. I decide to make that a new cover page so people could see how the story is by looking at the picture.
I think there was a connection made between the book I read and the art piece I created. Like I said I created a metaphor by creating what I created and it represented how the story was.
I think I could have done way better on my art piece. I think I should have added more detail to it so when people look at the image they capture the message I'm trying to send. If I would have added more detail my final product would have been more successful. Something I learned about creating an art piece of the novel I read was how to express what I felt towards something by creating an image out of it.

Interview
I think the interview process was difficult at times especially the in person interview because my person coudn't do the interview the time i needed to.
That affected me because I had to turn in that assignment late and that affects my grade. It was also difficult because the person I got was young and he migrated to the united states at a really young age so he didn't really remember some thing that were important.
I thought interviewing a person three times was a little hard because we had to ask different questions each time we interviewed them and it would be hard to come up with good questions. It was also hard because sometimes my person would not reply on time so that was a problem.
How interviewing someone helped me understand what we were learning in class was that it helped me understand why people were immigrating to the U.S. Mostly because of poverty or because of school. My person migrated here because his daddy was in the army or something like that and he had to go to the U.S so they migrated here.

Book Review:The Circuit-Breaking Through

The Circuit and the sequel to that book, Breaking Through, by Fransisco Jimenez was a very good book. This book and sequel is basically about a poor family who immigrates to the Unites States from Mexico illegally so they can make a better life and try to get out of poverty. The Circuit is about the childhood of all the kids and the sequel Breaking Through is about the family trying to overcome what they go through while living their new life in America.
I really liked reading these books a lot because I like reading stories about immigration and I liked the way the author describes every moment of the story. It really helps me understand. I got really into this story because it was so good and getting into depth of someone's life was pretty cool. It was really shocking how this actually happened like how they immigrated illegally and they did succeed.
One of the main characters in this story is Fransisco Jimenez. Fransisco is the second oldest child before Roberto, his brother Fransisco is a very good student, good son, and person. Fransisco is intelligent, generous, and caring. He is always trying to find a way to help his parents out. He always puts himself after his family. He is always trying to find a way to help his parents out. He is also the author of the story which is basically a memoir of his life. Besides being an intelligent, caring, and generous person he is a great writer.
I would recommend for people to read this book because it is pretty good. The way the author describes his life makes you see immigration different. Well at least that is what it did for me. Some people might think immigration is bad or whatever they think of it. This story really makes you see how the family came here and how people treated them. It's very good and I recommended it.
Overall this was a great book. Normally reading doesn't interest me so much but this book really changed that. It really opened my mind to reading other books and I learned a lot about immigration and what some people actually have to go through to get a so called better life because in their countries they don't have the opportunities America has. I learned a lot about the Mexican culture which I am Mexican but I learned stuff I did not know about my culture. I really enjoyed reading this book and I learned a lot.

Breaking Through

Quote#1-
"His eyes turned red and watery as we approached and hugged each other. We were silent. Each one of us knew what we were feeling"page 190 Fransisco

This quote really shows how Fransisco made it through but he also struggled because he had to leave his family behind because of his education. He had a really hard time leaving his family because pretty much all his life he has been trying to help them and Fransisco really loves his family so he it's hard for him to leave home.

I had moments were I wanted to do something but I struggled with it because I didn't want to leave something behind or I didn't want to lose something For example when I swithced schools in 5th grade they switched me to a good school so I can better education. I wanted to go but I at the same time i didn't because I knew I would be leaving my friends behind. So it's similar to what Fransisco went through when he had to go to college.

Question#1-
Have you ever experienced a moment similar to Fransisco were you wanted to do or go somewhere really badly because you knew it would help you some how but didn't want to at the same time because you didn't want to leave something or someone behind?




Quote#2-
I speed ed up, crossed the bridge, and headed north to Santa Clara. I was going to college. After so many years, I was still moving. page 193 Fransisco

This is a thing Fransisco overcame in life. He wanted to get a good education and do something in the furore and he did. He overcame a challenge in his life which was getting a good education. The part were he said he was still moving was like sort of reflecting about his life because he would always move to different labor camps each season and now he was just moving forward through life accomplishing something.

I can connect to this quote because in life you face many, many things and I haven't gone through anything that Fransisco has been through and has overcome but I do have many things I have relized helped me. The conflicts I've had in live ended up getting resolved and learnd, just like how Fransisco faced his problems.

Question #2

I'm sure everyone has made a mistake in live, but how can you connect to how Francisco faced his?

Breaking Through

Quote#1-

"You can't wear that t-shirt, mijo, Mama cried out. "It's yellow-ish and frayed."
Page 58 mama

This quote shows how the life of the Jimenez family is very challenging. They live in a lot of poverty and that is very challenging because it's harder for them to live so they really have to save a lot of money and handle it well. So Fransisco has to wear his brother's big shirt because he doesn't have one.

This moment in the story reminds me of this show I once saw about a kid who once was required to wear new shoes to school because there was a very important person coming. The kid was poor and all he could afford was a pair of sandals. So it is very similar to Fransisco's situation.

Why couldn't the rest of Fransisco's family attend Fransisco's graduation?

Quote #2-
"I knew Papa's check was for sixty five dollars, because he got paid a dollar an hour. ROberto and I reiceved eighty-five cents per hour just like the braceros.

This quote shows a how challenging their life is too because papa gets paid a little bit of money for all that hard work. It is also a big change though too compared to their life in Mexico because they were even more poor than they are now. That is a challenge they have to face and also a big change in the their life.

This part of the story reminds me of the same show I mentioned in the connection for quote number one. The little kid's father worked so hard and only got paid like ten dollars or less for all he worked so Papa's situation is similar to the kid's fahter in the television program.

Do you think Papa will ever get a better job that he gets paid a little bit more?