A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Encyclopedia
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1943 novel written by Betty Smith
. The story focuses on an Irish-American family in Williamsburg
, Brooklyn
, New York City
. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, especially among inhabitants of Williamsburg with whom the author grew up.
The main metaphor of the book is the hardy Tree of Heaven, native to China
and Taiwan
, now considered invasive
, and common in the vacant lots of New York City.
has made it impossible for him to hold a steady job, and he sees himself as a disappointment to his family as a result. The only antidote to alcohol Johnny accepts is coffee, which enables him to come out of and sometimes stay out of his alcoholic stupors but gives his behavior an odd quality nearly as closely associated with his alcoholism as the barbiturate itself. Francie admires him, however, and relies on her imagination and her love of reading to provide a temporary escape from the poverty in which she lives.
Book Two jumps back to 1900, with the meeting of Johnny and Katie - the teenage children of immigrants from Ireland
and Austria
, respectively. Although Johnny panics when Katie becomes pregnant with first Francie and then Neeley, and begins drinking heavily, Katie resolves to give her children a better life than she has known. During the first seven years of their marriage, the Nolans are forced to move twice within Williamsburg, due to public disgrace brought about first by Johnny's drunkenness and then by the children's Aunt Sissy's misguided efforts at babysitting them. They arrive at the apartment introduced in Book One.
In Book Three, the Nolans settle into their new home and the children (now seven and six) begin to attend the squalid, overcrowded public school next door. Francie enjoys learning even in these dismal surroundings, and with Johnny's help, she gets herself transferred to a better school in a different neighborhood. Johnny's attempts to improve the children's minds fail, but Katie helps Francie grow as a person and saves her life by shooting a child-rapist/murderer who tries to attack Francie shortly before she turns 14. When Johnny learns that Katie is pregnant once again, he falls into a depression that leads to his death from alcoholism-induced pneumonia
on Christmas Day 1915. Money from the family's life insurance
policies and the children's after-school jobs keeps the Nolans afloat in 1916 until the new baby, Annie Laurie, is born in May and Francie graduates from grade school in June. The latter occasion allows her to finally come to terms with the reality of her father’s death.
At the start of Book Four, Francie and Neeley take jobs since there is no money to send them to high school. Francie works first in an artificial-flower factory, then in a press clipping office. Although she wants to use her salary to start high school in the fall, Katie decides to send Neeley instead, reasoning that he will only continue learning if he is forced into it while Francie will find a way to do it on her own. Once the United States enters World War I
in 1917, the clipping office rapidly declines and closes, leaving Francie out of a job. After she finds work as a teletype operator, she makes a new plan for her education, choosing to skip high school and take summer college-level courses. She passes with the help of Ben Blake, a friendly and determined high school student, but fails the college's entrance exams. A brief encounter with Lee Rhynor, a soldier about to ship out to France, leads to heartbreak after he pretends to be in love with Francie when he is in fact about to get married. In 1918, Katie accepts a marriage proposal from Michael McShane, a pipe-smoking retired police officer who has become a wealthy businessman and politician.
As Book Five begins in the fall of this same year, Francie 17 - quits her teletype job. She is about to start classes at the University of Michigan
, having passed the entrance exams with Ben's help, and is considering the possibility of a future relationship with him. The Nolans prepare for Katie's wedding and the move from their Brooklyn apartment to McShane's home, and Francie pays one last visit to some of her favorite childhood places and reflects on all the people who have come and gone in her life. She is struck by how much of Johnny's character lives on in Neeley, who has become a talented jazz/ragtime piano player. Before she leaves the apartment, she notices the Tree of Heaven that has grown and re-sprouted in the building's yard despite all efforts to destroy it, seeing in it a metaphor for her family's ability to overcome adversity and thrive.
Katie Rommely Nolan is Francie's mother and the youngest of her parents' four daughters. She is a second-generation immigrant with an evil father and an angelic mother who emigrated from Austria. She married Johnny Nolan when she was only 17 years old. Katie is a hardworking, practical woman whose youthful romanticism has been replaced by a frigid realism that often prevents her from sympathizing with those who love her most. She runs her home in such a way that her children are able to enjoy their childhood despite their extreme poverty. Because Johnny is an alcoholic and can rarely hold down a job, Katie becomes the family breadwinner by cleaning apartment buildings. Johnny, however, is more attuned to Francie's hopes of graduating from high school and becoming a writer. As Francie matures and develops an inclination toward academia, Katie realizes she is more devoted to Neeley than to Francie. Katie becomes pregnant just before Johnny dies and survives on her own until she agrees to marry Sergeant Michael McShane, a pipe-smoking local policeman-turned-politician.
Sissy Rommely is Katie's oldest sister and one of Francie's two aunts. Because of her parents' immigration and lack of knowledge in their new environment, Sissy never goes to school and is therefore illiterate. Sissy is kind, compassionate and beautiful, and many men fall in love with her. She is first married at 14, but after being unable to have any live children with her husband Sissy leaves him. She marries two more times without ever getting a divorce. In between marriages Sissy has a number of lovers. She calls each of her husbands and lovers by the name "John" until her final husband, Steve, insists that she get divorced and call him Steve. Sissy has ten stillborn children, and eventually adopts one daughter and finally successfully gives birth to a son.
Johnny Nolan is Francie's father. He is a second generation immigrant from Ireland. He has a protective mother and had three brothers, all of whom died young. Johnny marries Katie Rommely at nineteen. He is charismatic and a loving husband and father. He is, however, also an alcoholic, loved dearly by his family but especially by Francie. When he does have a job, Johnny works as a singing waiter. He has a beautiful voice, a talent that is greatly admired but that is largely wasted because of his reputation as an alcoholic. After Katie tells him that she is pregnant with their third child, he stops drinking and immediately falls into a deep depression that ends with his death from alcoholism-induced pneumonia. He is a dreamer, in sharp contrast to Katie's realistic view of the world.
Cornelius "Neeley" Nolan is Francie's little brother. He is a year younger than Francie and is favored by his mother, Katie. Neeley is a normal child who is more widely accepted by the neighborhood children than Francie. He shows more emotion when his father dies than Francie, who reacts to the loss by becoming even more determined to get an education and rise above her mother's limited vision. Neeley refuses to follow the tradition of Nolan men and determines to never become an alcoholic. He, too, admits with Francie that despite their poverty, the Nolan children's childhood was pleasant.
Eva "Evy" Rommely Flittman is Katie's youngest sister and Francie's other aunt. Considered throughout most of the novel to be in less dire circumstances than Katie. Evy has more of a minor role than Sissy, and deals with the struggles with her lazy husband. At the end of the novel, Evy's husband, Willie, leaves her to travel as a one man band and like Katie, Evy carries on without him. When McShane gives Katie $1,000 upon their marriage, $200 is passed on to Evy - the value of Willie's life insurance policy. Eva has not had several marriages and is not assumed to be promiscuous, as her sister, Sissy, is. She has 3 children, a girl(Blossom),and 2 boys(Paul Jones and Willie Jr.)
Thomas and Mary Rommely are the parents of Katie, Evy, and Sissy; they emigrate to America from Austria just before Sissy is born. While Thomas hates America, enjoys tormenting Mary, and forbids the speaking of English at home, Mary patiently endures her hardships and serves as a moral/practical guide for her daughters. She cannot read or write English, but she encourages Katie to ensure that her children learn the language--also to begin saving money so she can buy land someday. (The Rommelys' other daughter, Eliza, their second oldest, is mentioned only briefly; she became a nun and joined a convent.)
Flossie Gaddis is one of the Nolans' neighbors, a single woman who scares men away as she constantly looks for new relationships. She keeps her right arm covered at all times to hide scars from a childhood accident with a tub of scalding water. She has a brother, Henny, who is dying of tuberculosis
.
Lee Rhynor is Francie's first love; a soldier on leave who tries to manipulate Francie into sleeping with him after he won over her heart. When Francie refuses, he goes back to his fiancee.
Ben Blake is a boy Francie befriends during her first summer of college classes. Ben is driven and determined. While he is the object of Francie's affection at first, she feels differently after falling in love with Lee. However, at the end of the novel Francie goes to college with a promise ring from Ben and hope of a future with him.
elements in the book, it is not naturalistic. The Nolans are financially restricted by poverty but yet find ways to enjoy life and satisfy their needs and wants. For example, Francie can become intoxicated just by looking at flowers. Like the Tree of Heaven, Brooklyn's inhabitants fight for the sun and air necessary to their survival.
Truth and falsehood are weighed and found equally necessary to survival in Brooklyn. Johnny lies about his family's address in order to enable Francie to attend a better school, presenting Francie with opportunities that might not have been available to her otherwise. Sissy helps Johnny recover from alcoholic withdrawals by appealing to his libido, helping Katie and Johnny to stay together despite Johnny's disease. Katie also explains to Francie about love and sexuality from two somewhat clashing points of view: as a mother and as a woman. This book revises traditional notions of right and wrong and suggests pointedly that extreme poverty changes the criteria on which such notions, and those who embrace them, should be judged.
Gender roles are more fluid in A Tree than in previous novels about young people. As the book takes place before women's suffrage in the United States is achieved, some aspects of this theme are of historical rather than practical interest, yet others remain pertinent. Francie doesn't fully begin to realize her femininity until she can prove useful to her mother in childbirth. Katie's hands grow rough while she performs physical labor while Johnny's hands remain smooth and he wears expensive clothing. As Francie discovers her desire for companionship, she begins to understand the injustices women were often forced to endure when pregnant out-of-wedlock.
Other issues the book addresses include:
cartoon A Hare Grows in Manhattan
is based on the title of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. At the end of the cartoon, Bugs shows the book to a pack of menacing dogs and they turn away from him and run to Brooklyn, presumably to make use of the tree.
The third episode in season 4 of Daria
is named "A Tree Grows In Lawndale".
Season 1 episode 22 of Ugly Betty
is named "A Tree Grows in Guadalajara".
The book also makes an appearance in the HBO series Band of Brothers in episode 9.
A Super Grover segment in Sesame Street #4224 takes place "where two trees grow in Brooklyn."
This is the favorite book of the character Katerina in the short story Lermontov, by Amanda Michalopoulou
In the track "Some How, Some Way," from Jay-Z
's The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
, he raps, "... take hold of my hand. Look, man! A tree grows in Brooklyn."
The opening lines of "Interlude" on Jay-Z's following album, "The Black Album"
, refer to "...a tree that grows in Brooklyn."
The Lifetime album "Jersey's Best Dancers
" includes a song entitled "Francie Nolan".
Rapper Talib Kweli
refers to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in Blackstar's track Respiration.
In an episode of I Love Lucy
, Lucy schemes to get her husband, Ricky, into a play she wrote called "A Tree Grows in Havana", referring to his Cuban homeland.
In the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers
Frank Perconte
reads the book while on guard duty
Betty Smith
Betty Smith, née Elisabeth Wehner , was an American author.-Biography:Born on December 15, 1896 in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, she grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and attended Girl's High School. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A Tree Grows in...
. The story focuses on an Irish-American family in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, especially among inhabitants of Williamsburg with whom the author grew up.
The main metaphor of the book is the hardy Tree of Heaven, native to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, now considered invasive
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
, and common in the vacant lots of New York City.
Plot
The novel is split into five "books," each covering a different period in the characters' lives. Book One opens in 1912 and introduces 11-year-old Francie Nolan, who lives in the Williamsburg tenement neighborhood of Brooklyn with her 10-year-old brother Cornelius ("Neeley" for short) and their parents, Johnny and Katie. The family subsists on Katie's wages from cleaning apartment buildings, pennies from the children's junk-selling and odd jobs, and Johnny's irregular earnings as a singing waiter. His alcoholismAlcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
has made it impossible for him to hold a steady job, and he sees himself as a disappointment to his family as a result. The only antidote to alcohol Johnny accepts is coffee, which enables him to come out of and sometimes stay out of his alcoholic stupors but gives his behavior an odd quality nearly as closely associated with his alcoholism as the barbiturate itself. Francie admires him, however, and relies on her imagination and her love of reading to provide a temporary escape from the poverty in which she lives.
Book Two jumps back to 1900, with the meeting of Johnny and Katie - the teenage children of immigrants from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, respectively. Although Johnny panics when Katie becomes pregnant with first Francie and then Neeley, and begins drinking heavily, Katie resolves to give her children a better life than she has known. During the first seven years of their marriage, the Nolans are forced to move twice within Williamsburg, due to public disgrace brought about first by Johnny's drunkenness and then by the children's Aunt Sissy's misguided efforts at babysitting them. They arrive at the apartment introduced in Book One.
In Book Three, the Nolans settle into their new home and the children (now seven and six) begin to attend the squalid, overcrowded public school next door. Francie enjoys learning even in these dismal surroundings, and with Johnny's help, she gets herself transferred to a better school in a different neighborhood. Johnny's attempts to improve the children's minds fail, but Katie helps Francie grow as a person and saves her life by shooting a child-rapist/murderer who tries to attack Francie shortly before she turns 14. When Johnny learns that Katie is pregnant once again, he falls into a depression that leads to his death from alcoholism-induced pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on Christmas Day 1915. Money from the family's life insurance
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
policies and the children's after-school jobs keeps the Nolans afloat in 1916 until the new baby, Annie Laurie, is born in May and Francie graduates from grade school in June. The latter occasion allows her to finally come to terms with the reality of her father’s death.
At the start of Book Four, Francie and Neeley take jobs since there is no money to send them to high school. Francie works first in an artificial-flower factory, then in a press clipping office. Although she wants to use her salary to start high school in the fall, Katie decides to send Neeley instead, reasoning that he will only continue learning if he is forced into it while Francie will find a way to do it on her own. Once the United States enters World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1917, the clipping office rapidly declines and closes, leaving Francie out of a job. After she finds work as a teletype operator, she makes a new plan for her education, choosing to skip high school and take summer college-level courses. She passes with the help of Ben Blake, a friendly and determined high school student, but fails the college's entrance exams. A brief encounter with Lee Rhynor, a soldier about to ship out to France, leads to heartbreak after he pretends to be in love with Francie when he is in fact about to get married. In 1918, Katie accepts a marriage proposal from Michael McShane, a pipe-smoking retired police officer who has become a wealthy businessman and politician.
As Book Five begins in the fall of this same year, Francie 17 - quits her teletype job. She is about to start classes at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, having passed the entrance exams with Ben's help, and is considering the possibility of a future relationship with him. The Nolans prepare for Katie's wedding and the move from their Brooklyn apartment to McShane's home, and Francie pays one last visit to some of her favorite childhood places and reflects on all the people who have come and gone in her life. She is struck by how much of Johnny's character lives on in Neeley, who has become a talented jazz/ragtime piano player. Before she leaves the apartment, she notices the Tree of Heaven that has grown and re-sprouted in the building's yard despite all efforts to destroy it, seeing in it a metaphor for her family's ability to overcome adversity and thrive.
Character List
Mary Frances "Francie" Nolan is the protagonist. The novel begins when Francie is 11 years old. The rest of the novel tells of Francie's life until she goes to college at 17. Francie grows up in Brooklyn in the early twentieth century; her family is in constant poverty throughout most of the novel. Francie shares a great admiration for her drunken father, Johnny Nolan, and wishes for an improved relationship with her mother, hardworking Katie Nolan. Francie's is a "portrait of the American artist as a young girl" and more universally represents the hopes of immigrants in the early twentieth century to rise above poverty. Francie is symbolized by the "Tree of Heaven" that flourishes under the most unlikely urban circumstances and that is also identified with her stepfather Michael McShane's pipe tobacco, the vice the book concludes may be a healthier alternative to alcohol for an Irishman earning a living and raising a family in Brooklyn.Katie Rommely Nolan is Francie's mother and the youngest of her parents' four daughters. She is a second-generation immigrant with an evil father and an angelic mother who emigrated from Austria. She married Johnny Nolan when she was only 17 years old. Katie is a hardworking, practical woman whose youthful romanticism has been replaced by a frigid realism that often prevents her from sympathizing with those who love her most. She runs her home in such a way that her children are able to enjoy their childhood despite their extreme poverty. Because Johnny is an alcoholic and can rarely hold down a job, Katie becomes the family breadwinner by cleaning apartment buildings. Johnny, however, is more attuned to Francie's hopes of graduating from high school and becoming a writer. As Francie matures and develops an inclination toward academia, Katie realizes she is more devoted to Neeley than to Francie. Katie becomes pregnant just before Johnny dies and survives on her own until she agrees to marry Sergeant Michael McShane, a pipe-smoking local policeman-turned-politician.
Sissy Rommely is Katie's oldest sister and one of Francie's two aunts. Because of her parents' immigration and lack of knowledge in their new environment, Sissy never goes to school and is therefore illiterate. Sissy is kind, compassionate and beautiful, and many men fall in love with her. She is first married at 14, but after being unable to have any live children with her husband Sissy leaves him. She marries two more times without ever getting a divorce. In between marriages Sissy has a number of lovers. She calls each of her husbands and lovers by the name "John" until her final husband, Steve, insists that she get divorced and call him Steve. Sissy has ten stillborn children, and eventually adopts one daughter and finally successfully gives birth to a son.
Johnny Nolan is Francie's father. He is a second generation immigrant from Ireland. He has a protective mother and had three brothers, all of whom died young. Johnny marries Katie Rommely at nineteen. He is charismatic and a loving husband and father. He is, however, also an alcoholic, loved dearly by his family but especially by Francie. When he does have a job, Johnny works as a singing waiter. He has a beautiful voice, a talent that is greatly admired but that is largely wasted because of his reputation as an alcoholic. After Katie tells him that she is pregnant with their third child, he stops drinking and immediately falls into a deep depression that ends with his death from alcoholism-induced pneumonia. He is a dreamer, in sharp contrast to Katie's realistic view of the world.
Cornelius "Neeley" Nolan is Francie's little brother. He is a year younger than Francie and is favored by his mother, Katie. Neeley is a normal child who is more widely accepted by the neighborhood children than Francie. He shows more emotion when his father dies than Francie, who reacts to the loss by becoming even more determined to get an education and rise above her mother's limited vision. Neeley refuses to follow the tradition of Nolan men and determines to never become an alcoholic. He, too, admits with Francie that despite their poverty, the Nolan children's childhood was pleasant.
Eva "Evy" Rommely Flittman is Katie's youngest sister and Francie's other aunt. Considered throughout most of the novel to be in less dire circumstances than Katie. Evy has more of a minor role than Sissy, and deals with the struggles with her lazy husband. At the end of the novel, Evy's husband, Willie, leaves her to travel as a one man band and like Katie, Evy carries on without him. When McShane gives Katie $1,000 upon their marriage, $200 is passed on to Evy - the value of Willie's life insurance policy. Eva has not had several marriages and is not assumed to be promiscuous, as her sister, Sissy, is. She has 3 children, a girl(Blossom),and 2 boys(Paul Jones and Willie Jr.)
Thomas and Mary Rommely are the parents of Katie, Evy, and Sissy; they emigrate to America from Austria just before Sissy is born. While Thomas hates America, enjoys tormenting Mary, and forbids the speaking of English at home, Mary patiently endures her hardships and serves as a moral/practical guide for her daughters. She cannot read or write English, but she encourages Katie to ensure that her children learn the language--also to begin saving money so she can buy land someday. (The Rommelys' other daughter, Eliza, their second oldest, is mentioned only briefly; she became a nun and joined a convent.)
Flossie Gaddis is one of the Nolans' neighbors, a single woman who scares men away as she constantly looks for new relationships. She keeps her right arm covered at all times to hide scars from a childhood accident with a tub of scalding water. She has a brother, Henny, who is dying of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Lee Rhynor is Francie's first love; a soldier on leave who tries to manipulate Francie into sleeping with him after he won over her heart. When Francie refuses, he goes back to his fiancee.
Ben Blake is a boy Francie befriends during her first summer of college classes. Ben is driven and determined. While he is the object of Francie's affection at first, she feels differently after falling in love with Lee. However, at the end of the novel Francie goes to college with a promise ring from Ben and hope of a future with him.
Themes
Although the book addresses many different issues--poverty, alcoholism, lying, etc.--its main theme is the need for tenacity: the determination to rise above difficult circumstances. Although there are naturalisticNaturalism (literature)
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...
elements in the book, it is not naturalistic. The Nolans are financially restricted by poverty but yet find ways to enjoy life and satisfy their needs and wants. For example, Francie can become intoxicated just by looking at flowers. Like the Tree of Heaven, Brooklyn's inhabitants fight for the sun and air necessary to their survival.
Truth and falsehood are weighed and found equally necessary to survival in Brooklyn. Johnny lies about his family's address in order to enable Francie to attend a better school, presenting Francie with opportunities that might not have been available to her otherwise. Sissy helps Johnny recover from alcoholic withdrawals by appealing to his libido, helping Katie and Johnny to stay together despite Johnny's disease. Katie also explains to Francie about love and sexuality from two somewhat clashing points of view: as a mother and as a woman. This book revises traditional notions of right and wrong and suggests pointedly that extreme poverty changes the criteria on which such notions, and those who embrace them, should be judged.
Gender roles are more fluid in A Tree than in previous novels about young people. As the book takes place before women's suffrage in the United States is achieved, some aspects of this theme are of historical rather than practical interest, yet others remain pertinent. Francie doesn't fully begin to realize her femininity until she can prove useful to her mother in childbirth. Katie's hands grow rough while she performs physical labor while Johnny's hands remain smooth and he wears expensive clothing. As Francie discovers her desire for companionship, she begins to understand the injustices women were often forced to endure when pregnant out-of-wedlock.
Other issues the book addresses include:
- Man vs. his environment
- Education
- Coming-of-age/loss of innocence
- Family
- Exploitation
Adaptations
- The book was adapted into a 1945 filmA Tree Grows In Brooklyn (film)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1945 film, the first film directed by Greek-American director Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn , Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner .The film is based on an American novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith first published in 1943...
directed by Elia KazanElia KazanElia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
, starring James DunnJames Dunn (actor)James Howard Dunn was an American film actor.-Biography:Born in New York City of Irish descent, Dunn was the son of a Wall Street stockbroker who, according to Dunn, "either had a million or nothing." He joined his father in his business for three years...
, Dorothy McGuireDorothy McGuireDorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress.-Career:Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse...
, Joan BlondellJoan BlondellRose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, and Peggy Ann GarnerPeggy Ann GarnerPeggy Ann Garner was an American actress.A successful child actor, Garner played her first film role in 1938 and won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...
, who won a Special Academy Award for Outstanding Child Actress of 1945. James Dunn also won an Academy Award for the film, for Best Supporting Actor. - In 1951, George AbbottGeorge AbbottGeorge Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades.-Early years:...
produced and directed the story as a Broadway musical, collaborating with the author on the book, and with music by Arthur SchwartzArthur SchwartzArthur Schwartz was an American composer and film producer.Schwartz supported his legal studies at New York University and postgraduate studies at Columbia University by playing piano before concentrating his talents on vaudeville, Broadway theatre and Hollywood.Among his Broadway musicals are The...
and choreography by Herbert RossHerbert RossHerbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...
. The show starred Shirley BoothShirley BoothShirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
, Marcia van Dyke, and twelve year old Nomi Mitty played Francie. It ran for 267 performances. - Yet another adaptation was a 1974 "made for television" movie starring Cliff RobertsonCliff RobertsonClifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
and Pamelyn FerdinPamelyn FerdinPamelyn Ferdin is a former American television and film child actor, active both in live action and as a voice actress in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and has since appeared in several voice acting roles as late as 2009...
, which was based on the film's screenplayScreenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
. This TV movie was a pilot for a weekly series drama which was never produced.
Pop Culture References
The title of the 1947 Bugs BunnyBugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
cartoon A Hare Grows in Manhattan
A Hare Grows In Manhattan
A Hare Grows In Manhattan is a 1947 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Bugs Bunny and a pack a of bulldogs...
is based on the title of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. At the end of the cartoon, Bugs shows the book to a pack of menacing dogs and they turn away from him and run to Brooklyn, presumably to make use of the tree.
The third episode in season 4 of Daria
Daria
Daria is an American animated television series produced by Paramount Television, and created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn for MTV. The series focuses on Daria Morgendorffer, a smart, acerbic, and somewhat misanthropic teenage girl who observes the world around her...
is named "A Tree Grows In Lawndale".
Season 1 episode 22 of Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
is named "A Tree Grows in Guadalajara".
The book also makes an appearance in the HBO series Band of Brothers in episode 9.
A Super Grover segment in Sesame Street #4224 takes place "where two trees grow in Brooklyn."
This is the favorite book of the character Katerina in the short story Lermontov, by Amanda Michalopoulou
In the track "Some How, Some Way," from Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
's The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse
-See also:*List of number-one albums of 2002 *List of number-one R&B albums of 2002 - External links :* at Discogs...
, he raps, "... take hold of my hand. Look, man! A tree grows in Brooklyn."
The opening lines of "Interlude" on Jay-Z's following album, "The Black Album"
The Black Album (Jay-Z album)
The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released November 14, 2003, on Roc-A-Fella Records. It was promoted as his final studio album, which serves as a recurring theme, although Jay-Z returned to solo recording with Kingdom Come in 2006.The album debuted at number one...
, refer to "...a tree that grows in Brooklyn."
The Lifetime album "Jersey's Best Dancers
Jersey's Best Dancers
Jersey's Best Dancers is the third full-length album by the New Jersey band Lifetime. It was released on June 10, 1997 and was the band's second LP release on Jade Tree Records.-Track listing:# "Turnpike Gates" – 2:20# "Young, Loud, and Scotty" – 1:59...
" includes a song entitled "Francie Nolan".
Rapper Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
refers to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in Blackstar's track Respiration.
In an episode of I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, Lucy schemes to get her husband, Ricky, into a play she wrote called "A Tree Grows in Havana", referring to his Cuban homeland.
In the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers is a 2001 ten-part, 11-hour television World War II miniseries based on the book of the same title written by historian and biographer Stephen E. Ambrose. The executive producers were Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who had collaborated on the World War II film Saving Private Ryan...
Frank Perconte
Frank Perconte
-External links:*...
reads the book while on guard duty
See also
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (film)A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (film)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1945 film, the first film directed by Greek-American director Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn , Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner .The film is based on an American novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith first published in 1943...
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (musical)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (musical)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Betty Smith, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Arthur Schwartz....