A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
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At a glance:
- Author: Betty Smith
- First Published: 1943
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Setting: Brooklyn, New York
- Characters: Francie Nolan, Neeley Nolan, Katie Nolan, Johnny Nolan
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism, Novel
- 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: United States, North America, Brooklyn, New York
The Story:
For their spending money Francie and Neeley Nolan rely on a few pennies they collect from the junk collector every Saturday. Katie, their mother, works as a janitor in a Brooklyn tenement, and the money she and their father earn—he from his Saturday-night jobs as a singing waiter—is barely enough to keep the family alive and clothed.
After their Saturday-morning trips with the rags, metal, and rubber they collect during the week, Francie visits the library. She is methodically going through its contents in alphabetical order by reading a book each day, but...
(The entire page is 2734 words.)
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