A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming of age at the turn of the twentieth century.

From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family's erratic and eccentric behavior - such as her father Johnny's taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy's habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce - no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans' life lacked drama.

By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans' daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty. Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life - from "junk day" on Saturdays, when the children of Francie's neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences - a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.

1. In a particularly revealing chapter, Francie's teacher dismisses her essays about everyday life among the poor as "sordid," and many characters seem to harbor a sense of shame about their poverty. Yet they also display a remarkable self-reliance. How and why have our society's perceptions of poverty changed - for better or worse - during the last one hundred years?

2. Some critics argue that many characters can be dismissed as stereotypes. Is this a fair criticism? Which characters are the most convincing? The least?

3. Francie observes that women seem to hate other women, while men, even if they hate each other, stick together against the world. Is this accurate in the novel?

4. The women in the Nolan/Rommely clan exhibit much of the strength and, whenever possible, control the family's destiny. In what ways does Francie continue this legacy?

5. What might Francie's obsession with order - from reading the library A through Z to trying every flavor ice cream soda - say about her circumstances and her dreams?

6. Although written in the third person, the narrative is largely from Francie's point of view. How would the book differ if told from Neeley's perspective?

7. How can modern readers reconcile the anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments that characters espouse throughout the novel?

8. Could it be argued that the main character is not Francie but Brooklyn itself?