The American dream was an important motivating factor in the immigrant experience. Immigrants left their homes, families, friends— indeed all that was familiar and comfortable about their old lives—to move to the United States in search of a better life. Both Johnny and Katie Nolan are the children of immigrants, and like most first-generation Americans,…
Tag: Betty Smith
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Setting
The Irish and German Immigration Experiences Francie Nolan is of Irish and Austrian origin. Her parents were first-generation Americans, and as new immigrants they faced many problems in their effort to be successful. The Nolans were Irish, a group that was a huge force in immigration. Between 1820 and 1860, it is estimated that anywhere…
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Literary Devices
Autobiographical Fiction Fiction refers to any story that is created out of the author’s imagination, rather than factual events. Sometimes the characters in a fictional piece are based on real people, but their ultimate form and the way they respond to events are solely the creation of the author. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,…
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Themes
Education At Francie’s birth in chapter 9, Mary Rommely tells her daughter, Katie, that it is important that she read to her children every night, because education is a way to escape poverty. Katie reads a page from the Bible and a page from Shakespeare, and this bedtime reading is the start of the children’s…
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Characters
Ben Blake Ben is the young man Francie meets on her first day at her summer college classes. He is practical and a careful planner, who also helps care for his mother. He helps Francie study for her classes. Ben plans to attend college and law school. He loves Francie and is willing to give…
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Summary
Book 1 Book 1 includes the first six chapters of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and provides background information about the Nolan family and specifically Francie Nolan, the novel’s protagonist. The setting is a poor immigrant area of Brooklyn called Williamsburg. There is a tree growing in the area that survives no matter how poor…