Alison Burgess March 12th 2010 Mr. Waugh ENG4U1 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

EPIC Response Journal 1

E-As A Tree Grows In Brooklyn begins, I am swept up in the ideal childhood of 12 year old Francie Nolan. Her innocence to her world makes me believe, if only for a moment, that she has a normal childhood. She lives in the slums of Brooklyn, with her younger brother Neely, mother Katie and father Johnny. It’s 1912, and Katie works as a janitress in their building and Johnny is a singing waiter. Francie and Neely spend their free time collecting junk (paper, metals, etc) to sell to earn extra pennies. The poverty of the Nolan family, and the other families in the neighborhood is quite vivid in detail, and the everyday life of Francie is a little depressing.

When Francie goes to the library, I identify with her by wanting to escape into a different world. Francie also pays attention to details to things that she does not have. By doing this, she creates her ideal future with objects that she would want in her life. She remarks “ when I get big (…) I will have such a brown bowl and in hot august there will be nasturtiums in it.” (Page 23) I can relate to trying to create my future life with things I see in the present.

I-This novel deals with issues of social and ecomical class. The Nolans’ are near the bottom of class system and even within that class, there is snobbery. When children are dragging their junk to Carney’s, the children coming back from selling their junk taunt the ones who have yet to do so. When the bakery sells their stale bread, there are the children that take it home in paper bags, and the children who carry it without a wrapper, not caring if people see they are poor. This idea that being poor is something to be ashamed of, and to not support others in your own caste, is reflected throughout. There is also intolerance of other people. The Jewish community is singled out as something that can be given a hard time. Neely and his friends encounter a young Jewish boy who they make fun of, yet the Jewish boy goes along with it, as its an established rule.

C – The title of this book, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, references the tree outside Francie's apartment, which most people call the Tree of Heaven. This tree had the special ability in that “No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky.” (6) This tree is symbolic of Francie and her family, and their struggle to make a better life for themselves. This novel shows the growing up of Francie, and the tree in the title could be Francie, starting out as a small naïve sapling, who grows into tall strong tree that can see past the ground.

EPIC Response Journal 2

E- This section of the novel goes back 12 years to when Katie and Johnny met. Katie and her best friend Hildy both worked in the same factory and Hildy was dating Johnny. Katie essentially steals Johnny away from her friend. This action shows how headstrong Katie is, and how she’s willing to do anything to get what she wants. They get married only 6 months after they met, which I was surprised at how fast they were moving, and how young they were, (Katie, 19, Johnny, 21). They work at a school together tending the water pipes at night. However, when Katie has Francie, Johnny loses the job for them. He becomes a singing waiter, temporarily, which becomes permanent. After Neely is born, Johnny’s drinking becomes much worse. Johnny is a hard character to respect, I like his dreams, but he doesn’t pull through in anything he does.

P- The circumstances of how Katie and Johnny got together remind me of the classic set up in most stories, just on the other side of it. The best friend steals her friend’s boyfriend away.

I- What seem to be major themes in this section are overcoming obstacles and the power of education. When Katie’s mother Mary comes to see her after she has had Francie, Mary gives her daughter advice. First she tells her that with each generation of their family, they have achieved a little bit more each time. Mary cannot read or write, but Katie and Johnny can, giving Francie a better life than previous generations. Katie wants to know how she can make a different world for Francie. Her mother tells her that “the secret lies in the reading and the writing.” (83) Mary tells Katie that she must read her children two books, Shakespeare and the Protasant bible, a page each a day. Katie must also tell her children legends and Santa Claus, since a child must have an imagination. The last thing Mary tells Katie is to own a piece of land before she dies. By saving 5 cents a day, she can save up 50 dollars to buy land to pass on to her children.

C- Katie is determined to get out of her situation while Johnny is a dreamer. These two characters act as foils to Francie. She is a mix between the two, and is constantly finding her dreams are met with reality. There is a foreshadowing when Johnny remarks that this home will be his last. It’s like he knows he doesn’t have much time left.

Epic response journal 3

E- I found the school system in Francie's area to be quite frightening. The lack of training and compassion of the teachers, along with the politics of the students, made for a bad school experience. Francie switches to a better school with the help of Johnny and a bit of lying. After realizing make believe doesn’t have the same charm it once did when she was younger, Francie realizes she is growing up. This makes me a little sad, because she has lost her childish innocence, which will never come back.

P- Although I obviously never had the same school experience as Francie, I identify with having great expectations of school, and having those expectations fall flat. Francie thought she would learn how to read and write on the first day, while I thought high school was going to be exactly like the way it is portrayed in the movies.

I- class system – school, vaccinations, Christmas doll Within Francie’s class, the wealthier girls get the front row and the teacher’s affection. The rest of the class gets nothing but harsh treatment. The teachers who lived in the same slums are particularly worse to the students then teachers who didn’t grow up in the same environment. The nurse who vaccinates Francie is also from Brooklyn, but she does not speak up against the claims that the doctor makes about how filthy and poor she is. “A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the bootstrap has two choices. […] He can forget it; or he can rise above it and keep compassion and understanding […] for those he has left behind him. “(147) All the people Francie has encountered that have moved up in life have forgotten about where they have come from. Also, the shame of poverty comes up in this section again. In a Christmas church service, a rich young girl offers an expensive doll to any poor girl also named Mary. Although there was many Mary’s in the church, not one of them wanted to say they were poor.

C- The disgust Francie feels towards the belief that poverty is something to be ashamed about, as well as the actions of the teacher and nurse, foreshadow that if Francie got out of her situation, she would act better than them.

Epic response 4

E- The year Francie turns 14; a child molester appears in her neighborhood. He ends up trying to attack Francie on the stairwell of her apartment building, but Katie sees this and shoots him with the gun Johnny got because of this situation. The entire episode was quite frightening and I was filled with suspense. Francie is traumatized by this incident, but with time, she slowly forgets about it. Johnny is drinking more than ever, but stops when Katie tells him she’s pregnant. Yet, it’s too late and Johnny dies of pneumonia caused by alcoholism. Katie has the baby and names her Laurie. Francie and Neely both graduate from grade school, and Francie receives a bouquet of flowers from Johnny, that he had arranged to give her a year prior to her graduation. This final gusture from Johnny made me feel very sad for him, because although he didn’t have the strength to live in his world, he still had the heart.

P- When Francie’s neighbourhood first learns of the child molester, and the little girl who was killed, they are sent into a state of panic, trying to protect their children. This reminds me of when the one girl was murdered in Toronto a few years ago. Parents everywhere tried to protect their children coming home from school and playing outside. After Johnny dies, several important events happen, Laurie is born and Francie and Neely graduate. These landmark events happen without having their father to see them. With friends who have single parent families, I can only imagine that they feel the same loss as Francie does.

I- Shame of poverty- Francie’s teacher doesn’t like her subject choice for the graduation play, she thinks poverty is an ugly subject and although “we all admit these things exist. But one doesn’t write about them” (321). The teacher tells Francie to write about ‘beauty’, essentially things that have no meaning.

C- The event of Johnny’s death is symbolic as he couldn’t face the reality of his life. The death of Johnny also meant the death of dreams for Francie. Her stories turn from pure fancy, to the harsh reality of life.

Epic response journal 5

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