A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Pgs 294-388)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Blogpost #4

            After Johnny’s death, the Nolan family was numb with his loss. They forgot about Christmas and Neely’s birthday; ever since the funeral, Francie and Neely haven’t shed a tear. As they were wandering around in the streets, they let their feeling out and return home. When they came home, Katie announced to them that she was going to be both their mother and father. Katie, though she didn’t admit it to anyone, was lonely without Johnny because he would always provide some amount of money or food that would keep the family going. Now that he wasn’t there anymore, Katie had trouble because the job she was doing wasn’t enough. Katie allowed Francie and Neely to work for a bartender that was familiar with Johnny. When they baby was born, she was named Annie Laurie, or Laurie as she was called; she was named after one of the songs Johnny used to sing. Before Laurie was born, Francie was writing a play for her graduation. What she wrote about was what her English teacher called ‘ugliness’ because it was about the truth about man, poverty, hunger, and all the depressing topics. Francie didn’t understand why her writing was ugly and told her to burn them, while chanting ‘I’m burning ugliness’. When Francie did go home, she wrote some more about a rich spoiled girl who asked for fancy desserts. When Francie realized that she had just written about hunger in a twisted way, she burned all of her writing. After Laurie was born, Francie’s and Neely’s graduations were coming up. Since Katie was going to Neely’s, she wasn’t going to Francie so Sissy went instead. Francie, expecting no flowers on her desk for her graduation, was surprised that she found a bundle of roses from her dead father. A year ago, Johnny had told Sissy to remind him to send flowers for Francie’s graduation, in case he had forgotten. Francie broken into tears. After their graduation, Francie and Neely went to work, even though they were underage. They brought home their paychecks and presented it to Katie, who quietly shed tears of happiness for the extra cash. Six months later, Francie was laid off and she went job hunting. She was hired at the Model Press Clipping Bureau, where her job was to file out papers. Later, Francie’s job was to read and mark big time newspapers. When the school year was near, Francie asked her mother if she could continue her education. Katie had decided that Neely, who doesn’t want to, was to go back and Francie would keep working, which caused a disruption between mother and daughter. Even after Francie had apologized, they knew that their relationship wasn’t going back to the way it was before.

           

            “They had no one in all the world but Mama” (Smith 329).

            I chose this quote because what Francie was thinking to herself during this part made me very emotional. Francie was thinking in fragments about what would happen to her and Neely if their mother was gone and after that Francie began to frantically apologize to God. Before, Francie had told Neely that she didn’t believe in God since he took Johnny, who didn’t do anything wrong in her eyes. Now she was praying to God and begging him not to harm or take away Katie since without her, Francie and Neely couldn’t survive in the world. While reading this, I became caught up in her emotions that I even I started became hysterical in a teary way, not a hysterical terror way like Francie.