Breaking Through

Strawberries were the predominant crop that Mexican laborers harvested in the

late 1940s and, as such, the fruit is woven throughout the narrative of Breaking Through. Picking strawberries is how the Jiménez family survives. What is the overall symbolic role of strawberries throughout the book? Consider these points as you reflect on the text.

• How are strawberries an important symbol and/or motif in Breaking Through?
• How do strawberries relate to the theme of Solidarity of Family and Community? Does picking strawberries bring the Jiménez family closer?
• How do strawberries relate to the theme of Rage Fueled by Injustice? What injustices do strawberries represent, relating to cyclical poverty and sharecropping/immigration in Breaking Through?
• What is the final moment when strawberries appear in the text? How does it compare to the opening chapters of the book, when it is established that the Jiménez family must pick strawberries to survive in the US?

Teaching Suggestion: Before having students respond to this question, it may be helpful to review the definitions of symbol and motif in the context of literary analysis. For further context, it might also be useful to discuss with students the article “Motif vs. Symbols in Writing: Similarities and Differences Between Literary Devices” as they try to discern whether strawberries fall into the category of symbol, motif, or both in Breaking Through.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners and visual learners, it might be useful to create a “map” that visualizes the moments when/in what ways strawberries appear throughout the text. Explain to students that, as a class, you are going to “map out” the moments when strawberries appear in the book, taking note of where they appear in relation to (1) Panchito’s character development and (2) major plot points in the book. Draw a line on the board and write “beginning” at one end and “end” on the other. Then have the students talk through some of the pivotal moments in the text, making sure to capture moments at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Draw notches at each moment when strawberries appear and talk through the questions above as you chart them on the graph.