A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a story about the life of Francie Nolan, a girl living in Williamsburg in the early 1900s. Although the novel focuses on Francie, it may also be a story about Brooklyn itself. Francie, though her experiences, describes the life of all the people in this city, and is a representative of Brooklyn life herself. Towards the end of the novel, a young girl Florry is sitting on the fire escape, watching Francie get ready for her date with Ben just as she watched people getting ready for dates when she was a girl. In the same paragraph, Francie sees “[a] new tree had grown from the [old tree’s] stump” (Betty 493). One cannot help but wonder if maybe Francie’s life in Brooklyn would be reincarnated through this little girl,
…show more content…
She was the image of her ancestors, with “the violent weaknesses and passion for beauty of the … Nolans … [s]he was a mosaic of her grandmother… had all of Katie’s soft ways and only half [of her] invisible steel … she was all of these things and something more” (Smith 72-3). Francie had lived quite an interesting life, with her parents moving several times when she was a child, her changing schools (not very legally), the loss of her childhood and the beginning of her adult life, her beloved father’s death, her getting her first real job, and her falling in love. Nevertheless, everyone can agree that these are parts of every one of our lives. It is inevitable to experience all of these things in one’s lifetime. Thus, Francie may not just represent Brooklyn, but everyone in the world as a …show more content…
Yes, they are American in the way that they live in America and have documents to prove this, but they all find their roots in different countries. Even those who have families who came right off the the Mayflower, their families haven’t been in America for as long as their ancestors back in England were. Francie’s mother’s side of the family happened to be from Austria and were devout Catholics, while her father’s side was from Ireland. The residents of Brooklyn also came from different countries and ethnic backgrounds, such as Jews, Poles, Chinese people, Germans, etc. The nurse who had talked about Francie’s uncleanliness while Francie was getting a vaccine was “a Williamsburg girl … the child of poor Polish immigrants” (Smith 146). In this way, Francie’s family is also symbolic of Brooklyn, and even
She was the image of her ancestors, with “the violent weaknesses and passion for beauty of the … Nolans … [s]he was a mosaic of her grandmother… had all of Katie’s soft ways and only half [of her] invisible steel … she was all of these things and something more” (Smith 72-3). Francie had lived quite an interesting life, with her parents moving several times when she was a child, her changing schools (not very legally), the loss of her childhood and the beginning of her adult life, her beloved father’s death, her getting her first real job, and her falling in love. Nevertheless, everyone can agree that these are parts of every one of our lives. It is inevitable to experience all of these things in one’s lifetime. Thus, Francie may not just represent Brooklyn, but everyone in the world as a …show more content…
Yes, they are American in the way that they live in America and have documents to prove this, but they all find their roots in different countries. Even those who have families who came right off the the Mayflower, their families haven’t been in America for as long as their ancestors back in England were. Francie’s mother’s side of the family happened to be from Austria and were devout Catholics, while her father’s side was from Ireland. The residents of Brooklyn also came from different countries and ethnic backgrounds, such as Jews, Poles, Chinese people, Germans, etc. The nurse who had talked about Francie’s uncleanliness while Francie was getting a vaccine was “a Williamsburg girl … the child of poor Polish immigrants” (Smith 146). In this way, Francie’s family is also symbolic of Brooklyn, and even