A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a novel by Betty Smith first published in 1943. It relates the coming-of-age story of its main character, Francie Nolan, and her Irish-American family struggling against poverty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, a nationwide best-seller that was distributed to servicemen overseas. It was also adapted into a popular motion picture, the first feature film directed by Elia Kazan.
Much of the book can be thought of as thinly disguised autobiography. Many of the characters derive from actual inhabitants of Williamsburg with whom the author grew up.
The central metaphor of the book is the Tree of Heaven, which is a hardy species commonplace in the back lots of New York City.
Story
In pre-World War I Brooklyn, young Francie struggles to keep her idealism alive in the face of grinding poverty, the comedies and tragedies of ordinary life. Her mother, Katie, is a realistic woman who works as a janitor in their tenement to make ends meet. Her father, Johnny, is an alcoholic singing waiter who is more of a dreamer. Along with her brother Neeley, the four of them live in a poor apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City.
The novel starts off with Francie and Neeley going to the pawn shop after scraping through garbage and such for foil, on a Saturday. They get pennies for this from the shop owner, and they split the earnings, with some of it going into the family star bank. Neeley spends his money on candy, and Francie has a nickel that she holds on to while she browses stores. All the kids in the neighborhood do the same thing as they do, and it's a routine weekend thing for them. Johnny has a job that night to perform at a wedding, and comes home to freshen up. He is a proud union member, and always tells his family about the wonderful benefits of being a union member. Francie loves her father but has a strained relationship with her mother. The mother admits to loving Neeley more than Francie, but only to herself though. When Johnny is drunk, he's quiet, which leads people to think he's sober, and he's happy and singing when he's sober, which makes people think he's drunk. Since it's Saturday, Francie is allow to sleep in the front room, which is one of her favorite things about Saturdays (besides from going to the library, and her cup of coffee to do as she pleases with it). She stays awake to wait for her father to come home from his job.
As the Nolans scrape by on pennies, the novel focuses on Francie's struggle for a better life despite all the pressures. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands;" Aunt Eve and her always down-on-his-luck husband, her grandmother, and various other people that comes into their lives. The story also goes back in time to tell how Katie and Johnny met, and leads up to when the novel starts with the current apartment that they're living in.
Francie and Neeley both attend school, with Francie going to a better school in a nicer location. She starts writing short stories to entertain herself, which is a vent for her. The family takes piano lessons from a spinister old lady that lives in one of the apartments in their building. Johnny gets kicked out of the union because of his drinking. Aunt Sissy gets an adopted baby girl, and a biological child of her own, that finally survives despite all of her others which ended in still-borns, after finally delivering in a hospital. She also finally settles down with her husband Steve, and gives up her promiscious ways. Johnny eventually dies of alcoholism after he learns that Katie is pregnant for a third time, and doesn't live to see his new baby girl born. Meanwhile, Francie and Neeley both take on part time jobs, but then Francie has to work full time to help make ends meet with the new baby and the death of Johnny. This upsets her because it means that she will have to leave school, despite her being the more academic one than Neeley. World War I has started, and Francie meets a solider that she falls in love with. Only, the solider turns out to be engaged, and she gets a letter from his new wife explaining everything. She heals her heartache with time and another young man. Katie marries a retired police officer, who is running for a government office position, ensuring a better life for her family.
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