A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Tree Grow in Brooklyn.
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Betty Smith
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Harper & Brothers
release_date = 1943
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 443 p.
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"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 City. 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 hardy Tree of Heaven, of Asian origin, now considered invasive, and commonplace in the back lots of New York City.

Plot summary

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 Cornelius ("Neeley" for short), the four of them live in a poor apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City.

The novel begins with Francie and Neeley visiting a junk dealer on a Saturday, selling the scrap metal and other materials they have salvaged from the building's trash. They receive pennies for this task from the dealer, 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. The neighborhood children all follow the same weekend routine as the Nolans. 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 and has a strained relationship with her mother, Katie, who privately acknowledges that she loves Neeley more than Francie. When Johnny is drunk, he is quiet, which leads people to think he's sober; when sober, he's happy and singing, making people think he's drunk. It is Saturday, and Francie is allowed to sleep in the front room on Saturdays. Besides going to the library and having her cup of coffee, sleeping in front is the joy of her Saturday. 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. The reader comes to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; Aunt Evy and her always down-on-his-luck husband, her grandmother, and various other people that come into their lives. The story also tells how Katie and Johnny met, and details the series of events that have led up to the family's current apartment.

Francie and Neeley both attend a dismal public school and Francie often contrives to get herself assigned to a better school in a nicer location. She starts writing short stories to entertain herself. The family takes piano lessons from an old spinster that lives in their apartment building. Johnny gets kicked out of the union because of his drinking. Aunt Sissy adopts a baby girl, and has a surviving biological child of her own, after giving birth to ten stillborn babies. She also finally settles down with her husband Steve, and gives up her promiscuous ways. Katie becomes pregnant for the third time, and Johnny gets fired from his job as a waiter/singer. Soon after, Johnny dies of pneumonia, never seeing his third child, Laurie. Katie tells the doctor to put pneumonia on Johnny's death certificate instead of acute alcoholism. Meanwhile, Francie and Neeley both take on part time jobs. Soon after Francie has to work full time to help make ends meet with her new baby sister. Despite being more academically inclined than Neeley, Francine will have to leave school, and it upsets her. World War I has started, and Francie meets a soldier named Lee whom she falls in love with. The soldier tells Francie that he is engaged, but only by obligation, and is not in love with his fiancée. He asks Francie to pretend to be his best girl until he leaves Brooklyn. They go on dates, kiss, and profess their love for each other. However, when Lee goes home, Francie writes him a letter only to receive a letter from Lee's brand-new wife, apologizing for Lee "pretending to be in love" with Francie. Though heartbroken, time heals and she meets a young ambitious man, Ben. Katie marries a retired police officer, Sergeant McShane, who runs for a government office position, ensuring a better life for her family. The day before their wedding and the last Saturday living in the tenements as a janitor's daughter, Francie says goodbye to the things she loved about her life in Brooklyn.

Adaptations

*The book was adapted into a 1945 film directed by Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner, 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 Abbott produced and directed the story as a Broadway musical, collaborating with the author on the book, and with music by Arthur Schwartz and choreography by Herbert Ross. The show starred Shirley Booth, Marcia van Dyke, and twelve year old Nomi Mitty played Francie. It ran for 267 performances. The story of this musical is told for the first time in "Love Is The Reason For It All...The Shirley Booth Story" by Jim Manago, with radio research by Donna Manago, and foreword by Ted Key. BearManor Media, ISBN 978-1-5939-3146-9

*There was also a short-lived 1974 television series, starring Cliff Robertson and Pamelyn Ferdin and based on the film's screenplay.

External links

* [http://www.hackwriters.com/Brooklyn.htm In depth review of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn]
* [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/brooklyn/ Spark Notes Guide to A Tree Grows In Brooklyn]
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