A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Betty Smith
- First Published: 1943
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: Early twentieth century
- Setting: Brooklyn, New York
- Principal Characters: Francie Nolan, Neeley Nolan, Katie Nolan, Johnny Nolan
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Girls, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, New York City, Courage, Education or educators, Yards or backyards, Schools or school life, Poverty or poor people, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Substance abuse, Inner cities or inner-city life, Working class, Reading, Ambition, Success or failure, Trees, Seasons
- Locales: Brooklyn, NY
The Story:
For their spending money Francie and Neeley Nolan relied on a few pennies they collected from the junk collector every Saturday. Katie, their mother, worked as a janitor in a Brooklyn tenement, and the money she and their father earned—he from his Saturday night jobs as a singing waiter—was barely enough to keep the family alive and clothed.
After their Saturday morning trips with the rags, metal, and rubber they had collected during the week, Francie would visit the library. She was methodically going through its contents in alphabetical order by reading...
[The entire page is 2572 words long]
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