A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Literary Elements

Coming of Age Story, Historical Fiction

Brooklyn, New York, in the WIlliamsburg Section, 1900-1918

Anonymous Third Person (Omniscient)

The tone and mood are both insightful and accepting. Francie is an introspective girls who observes the world around her, and many of the characters offer her honest and thoughtful advice. Furthermore, while the author realistically details the hardships and negatives that occur in Francie's childhood, there were also happy and beautiful events in her life.

Francie Nolan is the protagonist, and the story follows her as she grows up in the tenements of Brooklyn. The main antagonist is poverty, which almost everyone in the story is trying to overcome.

From the minute that Francie is born, her mother Kate is determined that Francie will have a better life and a brighter future than what Kate had. After talking with her own mother, they decide the only way that any child can improve their situation is through education. However, this is not easy to accomplish, since the Nolans live in a poor area, under life-threatening poverty, and Francie's father has a serious drinking problem.

After Johnny dies, Kate is left alone to raise Francie and Neely. Francie is forced to grow up quickly and is not allowed to enter high school since she must enter the workforce and help the family. When Kate marries Sergeant McShane, the Nolans are finally able to move out of the tenement and Francie can go to college.

Even though Kate's mother was never able to read and write, Kate did learn, showing that each generation can improve their station above the previous one. This foreshadows Francie's own success in being accepted to college and leaving poverty.

When a teacher is berating Francie for writing about poverty, she tries to show she understands poverty by stating "I do not come from a wealthy family. My father was a minister with a very small salary...And the only help my mother had was a succession of untrained maids, mostly girls from the country." This is a huge understatement about what poverty is, and the difficulties Francie has had to go through.

There are a number of references to Irish folk songs, like Molly Malone, literary references, like Shakespeare, and Biblical and Catholic references, like The First Communion. As a singer, Johnny knows many songs, but he has a special connection to Irish songs, because they represent his heritage. In addition, being raised Irish Catholic, Francie not only prays regularly and talks to God, but she also finds spirituality and beauty in her faith and the rituals of the church. Finally, the many references to authors and literary works reinforces how important education is to Kate and Francie; in fact, Kate reads a page of Shakespeare to the children every night until they are old enough to read for themselves.

One of the images we see in this novel is Kate's hands. in the beginning, she has lovely hands. In fact the author states that they are "beautifully shaped with lovely, curved, oval nails." As they descend into poverty, however, Kate is forced to sacrifice her hands through strenuous washing and scrubbing, and they become “rough and red and cut into with cleansing fluids."

The paradox in the book is centered in the relationship between Francie and Kate. When Francie is young, she tries everything to get her mother's love and approval. The more she tries, the less Kate gives her. But, when Francie starts giving her hardness instead of love, it matches Kate's own hardness and ends up drawing them closer together.

The books begins with a description of a tree that grows in Brooklyn called the Tree of Heaven. Even though it receives no care whatsoever, the tree is able to grow and thrive is the very worst of conditions. It is so tough that it has been known to grow through concrete. The protagonist, Francie, parallels this tree. She also grows up in the worst of conditions, and yet is able to grow and flourish despite the situation.

One example of synecdoche being used throughout the novel is the concept of being "American". An example is when Francie says, "Of course, I didn't ask to be born Catholic, no more than I asked to be born American. But I'm glad it turned out that I'm both these things." In this case, American is a patriotic term, and means residents of the United States of America, and not those from the rest of North OR South America.

When Francie is starting to learn math, she invents a family that consists of numbers 0 through 9. Each number has its own personality and story, and each answer to an equation made a little story. This personification of the numbers made her feel warm, and helped her to enjoy arithmetic.

Another example of personification is when Francie learns to read, and the "books became her friends." Francie was a lonely child, and in books she found places to go, adventures to have, and people to meet. They were her companions, despite the fact that they were only books.