A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty SmithIn a nutshell, this book was about strength of character and overcoming adversity. I think it was the strength of the characterization that carries the book. By the time I was finished, I felt like I knew Francie and Neeley, Johnny and Katie, Sissy and Evy. . .
There are so many things I could chat about in this book. I appreciated the perseverance, particularly of the women, which made me examine the male characters. Why were the Rommely women "slender, frail creatures with wondering eyes and soft fluttery voices. . .but made out of thin invisible steel" (69) while their men were visionary dreamers who resorted to drink and even running away? "Katie exchanged her tenderness for capability. She gave up her dreams and took over hard realities in their place. Katie had a fierce desire for survival which made her a fighter. Johnny had a hankering after immortality which made him a useless dreamer" (97).
I loved the imagery of the tree which "struggled to reach the sky. . .liked poor people(6). . .gets no sun, and water only when it rains, growing out of a sour earth. . is strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong" (95) as it illustrated the life of the Rommely family. It was so interesting that Francie and Neeley looked at the "mighty easy life" their little sister was going to have, observing that she would never have the hard times or the fun they had, and then pityingly concluded "Poor Laurie" (472). I have to ponder the way some people thrive and grow strong in adversity while others wither away.
The theme of poverty of course ran throughout the book with the escape route of education running right alongside it. I adored Francie's love for reading: "But Francie was a reader. She read everything she could find: trash, classics, time tables and the grocer's price list" (22). I think I would have liked her. :) I chuckled at her willingness to read beloved books over and over again, and her determination to buy all the books she wanted when she grew up. I admired the family's quest for education, although I disagreed with them that schooling=education, or is the only way to become educated. Yet isn't it true how education can open our eyes--it "showed her that there were other worlds beside the world she had been born into and that these other worlds were not unattainable" (176). I can't imagine the level of poverty that they lived, the starvation, the scrambling just to survive. I can't imagine, as a mother, accepting my children's paychecks from their work when what I desperately wanted was for them to be in school. I can't imagine the humiliation of listening to how wonderful a little girl was who gave up one of her many dolls to "a poor girl" with her own name. "Why can't they just give the doll away without saying I am poor and she is rich? Why couldn't they just give it away with all the talking about it?" (213).
Yet even in all the themes of poverty, there is a spirit of resilience and hope that I don't hear as much today. In the book, there is no allusion to systemic poverty or systemic racism and all the other. . .excuses?. . .we hear today. The only time I caught a whiff of it was in Francie's reflection "This could be a whole life. You work eight hours a day covering wires to earn money to buy food and to pay for a place to sleep so that you can keep living just to come to this. . .These people are caught because they haven't got enough education" (364).
I have to admit I was also intrigued by the portrayal of love and of its resulting intimacy throughout the book. From Sissy's "healthy hunger" to a neighbor's desperation to "rigidly enduring the brutal act" (232) after years of marriage and children. . .I wonder where the author was going with these contrasts.
There were so many other thoughts worthy of discussion in this book, but I'll end with another theme I appreciated in the book--that of *living* and living well. "Let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry. . .have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere-be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute" (421).
It has been several years since I read that book. After reading your thoughts, I may have to pick it back up again because although I know it influenced me, I had forgotten many of the details you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAt the time I read it, we were foster parents to a sibling group that came from extreme poverty. The kids had never slept in beds...that sort of thing. I say that because it really gave me a glimpse into a life that happens around me but I am so unfamiliar with that I can't really process it. It is something not discussed and not usually written about so I had never really even experienced it that way.
The part of the story that has always stayed with me is how the mom let the kids pour out the coffee. She explained that everyone needed the chance to be able to waste something. That the kids needed the choice to pour it out. I have thought about that in way I treat the choices I let my kids make especially my kiddos who previously had little. I also think of that when I serve or see others serving in ministry. Sometimes we create so many "rules" to the stuff we give people when really, we are just asked to give it and no dictate exactly what they do with it. AHHHH....yes, I need to reread it. Thanks for sharing!
You have a good memory to remember that scene! Yes, I thought that was an interesting concept as well.
DeleteI love the quote you share here at the end. Absolutely love it.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed thoughts in my head about this book. I haven't read it (yet) because it seems to evoke such strong emotions of some sort or another in readers. Either people who have talked about this book seem to love it, hate it, or completely dismiss it and I've never really known what sort of attitude to have towards it. Perhaps that's an indication that I should read it for myself? :D
It's an interesting book, that's for sure. Nothing much HAPPENS--it's not a plot-driven story, but a character-driven story. I'll be interested to read your review. .. someday! (It might be a good book for a certain plane ride you'll be taking soon!)
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