A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Francie loves Christmas in Brooklyn, especially the window displays of sleds, dolls, and roller skates. The Christmas Eve when Francie is 10, Francie and Neeley join the neighborhood kids at an annual event where unsold Christmas trees are thrown at willing participants hoping to win the weaponized trees by not being knocked down by them. Francie decides to go for the biggest tree there, a joke to those around her. The arbiter allows Neeley to join her in her effort since he doesn’t believe she is capable of remaining upright when a 10-foot tree is thrown at her. They end up bloodied, but they win both the tree and the applause of the spectators, leaving them both quite satisfied. They then drag the tree home, impeded by snow and small children who want to climb on.

When they arrive, Johnny is as excited as Francie was hoping he would be. Katie watches her family shove the tree up the steps to their flat and thinks about how pathetic her family has become. She wants more for Francie and Neeley than a dirty, used Christmas tree, and at that moment she determines she must ensure the kids get an education. She perceives Johnny as “worthless” in this pursuit and decides to plan around him, believing that “we’ll not have Johnny with us long” (208). Despite Katie’s disparaging thoughts about Johnny, the Nolans celebrate a nice Christmas. Katie seems more excited about Neeley’s gift than about Francie’s, which leaves Francie feeling a bit sour.

Later that week, Francie and Neeley are invited to a non-denominational holiday celebration, where a rich child named Mary offers to give a doll away to another less fortunate Mary in the audience. All of the Marys in the audience are too ashamed to be considered less fortunate, so Francie lies and says she is Mary so she can get the doll. She is instantly mocked for it and fills with guilt, but in the end, Francie finds out from her mother that her first name is actually Mary, a revelation that calms some of her inner turmoil.

At the age of 11, Francie starts to change. She loses interest in the games she once loved, starts to see her parents as humans rather than heroes, and starts to see flaws in objects and people she once admired. She approaches her father about this change, and he says that she is “growing up.” She develops a crush on Harold Clarence, the leading man in one of the local theater companies. She follows him around, picking up his trash and saving it for a keepsake. Even though she finds Harold to be handsome, she finds the theater itself a bore. She can no longer suspend her disbelief and thus begins writing her own plays at home. 

Johnny worries his children lack exposure to the sea, and so he takes them on a fishing trip one day, despite having no boating or fishing experience. He also invites a young neighbor girl, Little Tilly, whom he believes has a weak constitution that the sea can improve. After Johnny secures permission to bring the neighbor, they all ride the trolley to a wharf, where Johnny makes friends with the owner of the boat rental business. Johnny and the owner have a drink before Johnny and the kids set out on the water. The trip starts off rocky when Johnny can’t seem to get in the boat, but with concerted effort they get out on the water and attempt to fish. After catching nothing but a sunburn, Johnny struggles to get them back, bringing the boat ashore near, but not at, their target. He then leaves them in the boat while he goes in search of lunch.

Johnny returns drunk but with a bunch of delicious items for the kids to enjoy. He then rows them back out on the water, sloppily singing and congratulating himself on “getting away from it all” (225). Unable to properly steer them, he rows them in circles, causing them all to feel seasick. When they get back to the dock, Little Tilly falls in the water, ruining her dress. Johnny then leads them all to the trolley, where they get sick all over the trolley floor. When they arrive at Little Tilly’s house, Little Tilly’s mother is horrified at the sight of her vomit-covered daughter and lashes out at Johnny verbally, a fate that repeats itself when Johnny gets home to Katie. Katie sends the sunburned, sick children to bed while Johnny sits by the window trying to figure out what went wrong with his plan.

At 13, Francie tries desperately to see the writer and the woman inside her. The writer aspect becomes a little clearer when the school selects her essay for print in an annual anthology. Once she is armed with the anthology, she bounds up to Katie, full of excitement, ready to show off her first publication. Katie, however, is busy and shoos away Francie, who, unrattled, carries the anthology down into the street, hoping to show it off there. While outside, she catches a glimpse of her neighbor, Joanna, walking her newborn in its carriage. Joanna is an outcast because she has had a baby out of wedlock; the baby’s father was prepared to marry her, but his mother talked him out of it. Francie can’t see anything wrong with her. She thinks about how Katie told her to take a “lesson” from Joanna, and about how her father felt bad for Joanna, saying she was beautiful even if the other women considered her to be “bad.”

As Francie watches Joanna with her child, she thinks about what a caring mother Joanna seems to be, and she bristles at the way the women on the street are so obviously gossiping about her. Eventually, the women attack Joanna directly, asking her why she isn’t more “ashamed.” Joanna stands up for herself, saying the women are just jealous because they are unattractive. This causes the women to start stoning Joanna, and they continue to do so until Joanna’s baby is struck and starts bleeding. The women then disperse, and Joanna carries her crying son inside. This scene makes Francie regret not being nicer to Joanna. She puts her copy of the school’s anthology into the baby’s carriage, hoping Joanna will appreciate the gift.

After witnessing this cruelty, Francie decides to “never trust any woman again” (238). Francie then tries to discuss the guilt she feels with Katie, but Katie misinterprets her and thinks Francie has gotten her period. Despite the miscommunication, Francie leaves the talk feeling “respect” towards her mother, since her mother keeps bringing up Joanna, and Francie can’t figure out how her mother knows Joanna is tied to this feeling.