A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Pgs 3-97)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Blogpost #1

            A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is about a girl named Francie Nolan, who is part Austria and part Irish, and her poor life living in the slums of Brooklyn, New York. The time is during the early 1900s and Francie is the eldest child of her parents, a pretty woman named Katie Rommelys and a singer named Johnny Nolan. She has a brother nicknamed Neely, who’s real name is Cornelius, and a year younger than Francie. She talks about her Saturday and what the routine is for the members of her household. Every Saturday morning Francie and Neely collect metal they found in dumps and trade it in for a few cents, half in which they save for themselves and the other half stored in a saving can.

Francie is a unique girl and no one wanted to be friends with her because she speaks differently. Every night, she and Neely would read a page from the Bible and a page from one of Shakespeare’s works in a small book, thus increasing their diction even though they don’t know what the meaning is. She also reads a book once a day and is very observant for a child her age. She notices objects such as a vase and she would say that once she grows up, she would have this and that in her house. She would read until dinnertime, the time when she had to buy groceries for dinner; stale bread, condensed milk, coffee, onions, and potatoes were the foods they mostly lived off of. Book One would end with the end of that Saturday and Book Two starts the history of how Francie’s parents met.

            Katie Rommelys came from a family of strong women with personality while Johnny Nolan came from a family of weak and talented men. While her family married the wrong men, his family died out quickly; since none of them had child, their bloodline never continued, except for Johnny. Katie was seventeen and Johnny was nineteen when they met. Katie’s friend Hildy had Johnny as a dance date but Johnny soon left her for Katie; within 4 months, they married. A year later, Katie was pregnant and during the labor, Johnny drank since he didn’t know what to do and forgot about his occupation, losing it in the same night. The couple was still young and life had just started for them, only for it to be ended at the beginning. Francie was a baby that was born skinny and had a blue look, making people believe that she wouldn’t make it; her mother compared her to the strong tree that survives in harsh conditions, which some people called The Tree of Heaven. Neely was born a year after Francie and was healthier than her, making Katie feel closer to him and she swore to herself that she would love him more than Francie but not let her know. As the years went by, Katie lost her tenderness for them and became hard and capable. Johnny became hopeless and jobless, making him a drunk since he knows that he has to keep a family alive. Though they had loved each other at first, the major difference between them was that she faced the harsh reality they were living in while he stayed stuck in his dreams.

“Johnny looked like a handsome, devil-may-care Irish boy instead of the husband of a scrub-woman and the father of two children who were always hungry” (Smith 38).

            I chose this quote because this describes Johnny, who was a young careless man instead of a father. Johnny did come from a family full of good- looking men but most of his brothers died before having children. Johnny was an acceptation but having children when he himself was just a childish and foolish adult drove him to drink. This led to him becoming a hopeless man that can’t even provide for his family of four and led to him drink even more because he knows of this. He knows that he has a wife that’s mostly providing the income since he can’t find work and two children who are undernourished. While other people may see him as a handsome young man, they don’t know about his life, his family, and most importantly, his emotions.