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Why A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

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I. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is a historical fiction novel because the author uses Francie, a fictional protagonist to demonstrate the struggle of families in Brooklyn, in the early 1900’s. Although, the protagonist is fiction, the setting and time period occurred in the past. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is broken down into five books and fifty-six chapters, therefore making A Tree Grows in Brooklyn a historical fiction novel.
II. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is mostly set in Williamsburg, Brooklyn New York. In Williamsburg during the 1900s, society was patriarchal, poor and discriminative. This novel is centered around a Catholic family, which consists of four members, Neely, Francie, Katie and Jonny Nolan. Katie, the mother, …show more content…

At the time, Williamsburg was a patriarchal society, for example, “A women couldn’t vote in those days but the politicians knew the women of Brooklyn had a great influence on their men” (Smith 181). In other words, men were superior to women, although the women may have had an influence on their men’s votes, the man still had the final decision. Therefore, making the society the Nolan’s lived in patriarchal. In addition, the Nolan family fell into the poverty social class like many other families in Williamsburg. To demonstrate their poverty, “Mama explained: “Francie is entitled to one cup each meal like the rest. If it makes her feel better to throw it away rather than to drink, all right. I think it’s good that people like us can waste something once in a while and get the feeling of how it would be to have lots of money and not have to worry about scrounging”” (Smith 14). In other words, the Nolan family does not have enough to waste what they do have, therefore, Evy, Katie’s sister criticizes her for allowing Francie to throw away her coffee. Katie knows her family is not the most privileged, in fact not very privileged at all, so she allows Francie to enjoy her coffee …show more content…

The way society views Sissy differs in the way Francie sees Sissy. In a highly Catholic populated society, Sissy’s scandalous way of life is seen as unacceptable and a disgrace. For instance, “”That’s the end, Katie,” said Evy, “the very end. What Sissy does is her own business until her own business makes a thing like this happen. I’ve got a growing girl, so have you, we mustn’t let Sissy come into our homes again. She’s bad and there's no getting around it”” (Smith 121). In other words, Sissy’s way with men, made her a disgrace to society, which allowed Evy and Katie to construct a plan to get rid of Sissy from their children’s lives, to eliminate Sissy’s bad influence. However, throughout the plot, the reader sees Sissy is far from a bad influence. Under many different circumstances, the reader sees the nurturing, soft and loving side of Sissy. To demonstrate, “Sissy had two great failings. She was a great lover and a great mother. She had so much of tenderness in her, so much of wanting to give of herself to whoever needed what she had, whether it was her money, her time, the clothes off her back, her pity, her understanding, her friendship or her companionship and love…Yes, she listened to everybody’s troubles but no one listened to her. But that was right because Sissy was a giver and never a taker” (Smith 100-101). As the reader can see, Sissy is considerate of other people;

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