Important Characters (To Many to List in Two Page)

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn By Betty Smith

Plot Summary

· The book is a long story of Francie growing up after the turn of the 20th century in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is nearly 500 pages long. She tells the story of her family and neighbors around her and how she fits into the world. She writes of her dreams for a better present and future. She writes of real life hunger and poverty. She writes lightly of how she carries junk to get pennies and candy, of how they caught a heavy tree for Christmas, and how her Aunt Sissy lied to her teacher to get her a better seat in class and later lied about having a baby herself. She writes of her mother’s preference of Neely, her brother. She writes of her father’s singing of piano lessons, and her Uncle’s created one man band. She writes of how a horse treated and mistreated an uncle and how Any Evy won over the horse. She wrote of a neighbor who died of consumption (Tuberculosis), of a sexual assault, and how her mother killed the man. She writes of love and of disappointment and of critical acclaim and failure to win over an English teacher. She writes about the death of her father and their grief, and the birth of their baby sister. She continues are writes about the strained relationship between her and her mother. The plot is very, very long and through it shows the emotional and moral development of Francie, the teller and protagonist of the story.

Important Characters (To many to list in two page)

· Mary Frances Nolan (Francie) – Protagonist of the book is a girl growing up as a 2nd Generation immigrant in Brooklyn, NY. She is bright, loves to read, but is friendless outside her family. She imagines stories and learns to write them down.

· Mary Nolan – The mother figure in the story; Francie’s mother is proud, strong, hardworking, loving (although favor’s the son), supporter of the family who wants an education and better life for her children

· Johnny Nolan – A charming, handsome singing man who is also a drunk. He is a dreamer and dreams of a better life.

· Cornelius Nolan – Francie’s brother Neelie. Close friend growing up with Francie who shares his father’s looks and musical talent, but not his weakness for drinking.

· Aunt Sissy – Adored by Francie, she is a great lover and mother to all until she final “gets” a child near the end of the book and settles down with her John really named Steve.

· Aunt Evy – Francie’s other Aunt; hardworking and practical.

· Mary Rommely – Francie’s Grandmother who is uneducated, but advises Mary to use Shakespeare and the Bible to see that her kids are better educated.

· Mr. McGarrity – The saloon owner who supplies and befriends Johnny and gives his children work in their time of need after his death.

· Annie Laurie – The baby born to Mary and Johnny 5 months after his death.

· Sergeant Mc Shane – The man who marries Mary near the end of the book which enables them to move on and for Frances to attend University of Michigan

· Lee Rynor and Ben Blake – Francie’s love interests. Ben assists her at summer college and Lee breaks her heart.

Themes

· Poverty

· Perseverance through hardship

· Self improvement through education

· Classes: Rich verses poor.

· Ethnic and religious belief and identity

· Sex and morality

Important Symbols

· The tree in concrete perseveres no matter how challenging the climate or how many times it is cut down. It also appears where there are tenements and only where there are tenements.

· The book was turned into a movie in 1945 and there are too many quotes to list. However the tree is very prominent symbol and lines quoted on many websites are about it.

Quotes

· “The one tree in Francie's yard was neither a pine nor a hemlock. It had pointed leaves which grew along green switches which radiated from the bough and made a tree which looked like a lot of opened green umbrellas. Some people called it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky. It grew in boarded-up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps and it was the only tree that grew out of cement. It grew lushly, but only in the tenement districts.”

· "Francie is entitled to one cup each meal like the rest. If it makes her feel better to throw it way rather than to drink it, all right. I think it's good that people like us can waste something once in a while and get the feeling of how it would be have lots of money and not have to worry about scrounging."

· “He had sung many a song about ships and going down to the sea in them with a heave ho and a heave to. He wondered why it hadn't turned out the way it said in the songs. The children should have returned exhilarated and with a deep and abiding love for the sea and he should have returned with a fine mess of fish. Why, oh why didn't it turn out the way it did in the song?”

Author Information

· The book is a retelling of people in Betty’s life. She grew up as a German immigrant in Williamsburg Brooklyn and attended The University of Michigan as the narrator, Francie, was to do at the end of the book. She trained as a playwright at Yale and in 1943 moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she wrote this novel.

Key Facts

· Bildungsroman; Coming of age novel of main character’s (Fancie’s) moral development

· Protagonist is Fancie

· Set between 1900- and 1919 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

Sources

· http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/brooklyn/

· http://web.njit.edu/~cjohnson/tree/bio/bio.htm

Sarah Stoloff