A Tree Grows In Brooklyn Analysis

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the Industrial Revolution There are many time periods in the history of America that have contributed in molding the nation into what it is today. A big part of American history is the Industrial Revolution, when the nation moved from agricultural to a manufacturing industry. With this huge shift in economy came many changes such as the transition to manufacturing by machine, increased production of goods, and the invention of new machinery, and along with these economic changes came social shifts as children were employed to work in factories and immigrants came to the country in pursuit of the American Dream and a better life and were instead manipulated and used for cheap labor. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, an American novel, the author Betty Smith draws from her personal experience of growing up in the early 1900s to tell of the economic, social, and political hardships many families faced during this …show more content…
began during reconstruction after the Civil War. Americans were rebuilding on the concepts that arose in Britain during their Industrial Revolution in the mid-17th to early 18th centuries (Kelly). These changes created many more job openings in factories and manufacturing companies, producing a labor force comprised of millions of immigrants who were leaving their lives behind to come to Industrial America and start a better life for their families (Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900). Even in the midst of economic prosperity for some, many workers still had trouble finding work, or even if they did have a job, were being paid very little and working in horrible conditions. In response to this, many workers joined labor unions to fight for higher wages and better working conditions. The picture on the right shows workers of all ages protesting unsafe conditions and low wages in hopes to get the attention of corporate companies and