A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Pgs 388-493)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Blogpost #5

            It was Christmas again and a year had passed since Johnny’s death. Since they had a bit more money, they went to buy Christmas presents for each other. After that, the Nolan family went to church and prayed for the repose of Johnny’s soul. Soon after, it was the beginning of 1917 and on the roof with Neely, Francie had some thoughts. She said that even though she loved her family, she had wanted somebody to love her in a different way. In the New Year, the Nolans became accustom to their new routine after Johnny’s death. While talking with Katie, Francie stated that she had disapproved with Neely’s shows in the saloons, which included playing the piano. A few months after, people were scared of the upcoming war and Francie, reading newspapers as her job, was asked by her mother if the war had started yet. Then on April 6^th, 1917, Francie read the title of a newspaper. The war had started and Francie, gathering certain objects, placed them in an envelope as a remembrance of that day. Since Francie’s boss fired everyone except her, he, his wife, and Francie tried to run the business alone. Soon, Francie was put off work and she went searching for a new job. Since Francie lost her job and the new school year was coming up, Katie began to worry about how she’ll send her two children to school. Francie took up a new job and became a typist; she thought that it was amazing that she could type something and people thousands of miles away would receive it. Francie’s job was during the night and Katie thought of a plan. Francie could still work at night and go to school during the day, but Francie refused. Even though she had fought for her education last year, now she reused to go to high school. Then Francie thought of something; she thought that if she could do that for college instead of high school, it would be possible. She went to a summer college and took classes. There, she met a guy named Ben, who was a honorable student and had his life planned out already. They befriended each other and Francie soon fell in love with him. Ben was 4 years older than Francie and Ben confessed that he liked her. When the summer education ended, Ben left but he promised that if she wrote that she needed him, he would be there. Then time pasted and by the beginning of 1918, Francie thought of her father, who she had not remembered in a long time. In the spring, Francie met a solider named Lee Rhynor and Francie soon fell madly in love with the man. The way she had felt about Ben was ‘like’ and the way she felt about Lee was ‘love’. Lee had to go back to his home before his unit leaves and before they separated, Francie had promised to devote herself to him. When she received a letter a few days later from his mother, Francie discovered that she was used and played by Lee, and that Lee had married someone else. Francie was saddened by this and thought that wants somebody to need her, not the other way around since her heart was broken. The next day, Officer McShane came over for dinner. He was an officer and long ago when Francie was little, he had asked her if Katie was her mother. Throughout the novel, he would show up and think to himself that he would marry Katie. He came over and proposed to Katie, who accepted not only because he was rich, but that she needed a man at night. At the end of Book 4, Neely and Francie talked about how they pity Laurie because she would grow up with money and that she couldn’t experience the fun times they did when they were growing up. Francie was soon leaving her job secretly and next week, she would be going to a college in Michigan, thanks to Ben’s tutoring. Ben had proposed to Francie but said that in four years he would receive her answer since she was still young. On Francie’s last Saturday, she visited all the old places that she had went to when she was younger. As Francie was packing for college, she went through all of the stuff she was going to pack. Then, when Neely asked Francie to iron a shirt, Francie saw how alike he was to Johnny. Then, the novel concludes with Francie saying bye to her younger self as she is about to leave her home.

“How do I look, Prima Donna?” (Smith 490).

I chose this quote as my last quote for this novel because while reading this part, I became emotional. In the beginning when Johnny was still alive, I remember reading about Francie, a thin little girl, ironing her father’s shirt before he left to do his job. While reading this scene with Neely and Francie, I saw also saw how similar Neely was to Johnny. In this scene, Francie, who is much older now, is doing the same action as she was doing for her father long ago, but now for Neely. When Neely asked Francie that question above, I remembered about the scene with Johnny and Francie long ago and how now this must have been very nostalgic to her. Also, Johnny would call Francie ‘Prima Donna’ as a nickname and here Neely is doing the same.