History Literature / ATreeGrowsInBrooklyn

* FirstWorldProblems: When Francie's English teacher talks to her about her newer compositions about not being as lovely as they were before [[spoiler: Johnny's death]], said teacher talks about how [[{{SarcasmMode}} hard her life has been]] [[InformedPoverty as a poor minister's daughter,]] including being so poor her mother could only afford "untrained" country girls as maids and only being able to attend a community college instead of a state university. Naturally, Francie, having grown up in ''real'' poverty, isn't impressed and thinks of [[DeadpanSnarker snarky remarks in her head]]

* MirrorCharacter: Katie and Johnny are both the youngest of four single gender siblings from Catholic families. However, Katie and her siblings survive and have families, and some end up fairly well off. Johnny and his siblings all remain impoverished and die young due to disease and alcoholism.

* TurnOutLikeHisFather: Played half straight -- Katie loves Neeley for the ways in which he's like Johnny, but hopes and prays he won't inherit the bad as well as the good, and tries to raise him to be the man Johnny should have been.

* UnwinnableByDesign: Cheap Charlie's prize/candy draw game. You pay a penny, draw a number from 1 to 50 at random, then take either that prize from the display board or a penny's worth of candy. There are a couple of decent prizes, like a doll or a pair of roller skates, but Francie starts to suspect early on that Charlie has rigged the drawing to give out only the junk items. Her suspicions are confirmed near the end of the book when she tries to pay 50 cents and take all the prizes on the board, but Charlie defends himself by saying that he always gives full value to any kid who turns down the prize they drew.

* LiceEpisode: Because the kids at Francie's first grade school are so prone to catching head lice, she and all the other girls have to have their heads inspected every week. The minute Katie hears of this, she starts washing Francie's hair once a week with the same soap she uses to scrub floors, and also brushes it with ''kerosene'' every day. Francie stinks up the whole classroom and can't sit near any lit gas jets for fear of igniting her hair, but she never once gets lice.

* LiceEpisode: Francie and all the other girls attending her school have their heads inspected for lice every week. The minute Katie hears of this, she starts washing Francie's hair once a week with the same soap she uses to scrub floors, and also brushes it with ''kerosene'' every day. Francie stinks up the whole classroom and can't sit near any lit gas jets for fear of igniting her hair, but she never once gets lice.

* LiceEpisode: When Katie learns Francie was sitting next to a girl with headlice in school, she washes Francie's hair with ''kerosine oil'' on the off-chance she got it.

** At one point, Katie tells Johnny, "Please don't come home...[drunk]" but trails off before the last word. This is the last thing Katie says to Johnny. And a few weeks later, [[spoiler: Johnny doesn't come home and the next time he is in the house is in his coffin.]].

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: The war is breaking out at the end of the book, when Francie is a teenager.

* FashionableAsymmetry: Floss Gladis's costumes. She always wears one glove to cover a burn on her arm, but [[RuleOfSymbolism everyone thinks it must symbolize something]] and that it looks cool.

* DarkReprise: The last verse of "Molly Malone." Johnny sings "Molly Malone" when he comes home late at night, and someone always tries to get the apartment door open before he can reach this verse. One night, he sings the last verse for the first time. It's the last time she ever hears him sing.

* DarkReprise: The last verse of "Molly Malone." Johnny sings it when he comes home late at night, and Francie always tries to get the apartment door open before he can reach this verse. One night, he sings the last verse for the first time. It's the last time she ever hears him sing.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Neeley's real name is Cornelius, after a character from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' but everyone calls him Neeley. In fact, everyone except perhaps Mary is known by a nickname Francie (Mary Frances), Katie (Katherine), Johnny (John), Evy (Eva), and probably Sissy, though we never learn what her full name is.

* YouHaveToHaveJews: Although none of the major characters are Jewish (which is something of an aversion of this trope), Jews do appear as minor characters on quite a few occasions. Several of them regard Gentiles with scorn, either openly or behind their backs.
** Not all of them - the (Jewish) doctor who delivers [[spoiler: Sissy's]] baby at the end is a notable exception. The baby is given the doctor's first name as his middle name. When the women in the family object to the idea of a Jewish doctor and a hospital instead of a home birth, this is the awesome reply:
--> "Because Jewish doctors are more sympathetic than Christian ones at a time like that."[[note]]A popular notion of the time based on a view of Jews as practical and centered on the here-and-now and the importance of physical health.[[/note]] "I’ve nothing against the Jews,” began Katie, "but…" "Look! Just because Dr. Aaronstein's people look at a star when they pray and our people look at a cross has nothing to do with whether he’s a good doctor or not."

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Neeley's real name is Cornelius, after a character from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' but everyone calls him Neeley. In fact, everyone except perhaps Mary is known by a nickname Francie (Frances), Katie (Katherine), Johnny (John), Evy (Eva), and probably Sissy, though we never learn what her full name is.

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: In contrast, Mary's eldest daughters, especially her eldest Sissy, have children very young. See TeenPregnancy below.

* AbusiveParents: Thomas Rommely (who "never forgave" any of his children for marrying and greeted them with "''Gott verdammte!''" [basically the German equivalent of "God damn you!"]); Johnny's mother (possessive, yet not affectionate) and whose reaction to the birth of her grandchild is to wail "Now she's got you good. You'll never come back to me." Katie kind of counts too for her favoritism of Neeley, which Francie picks up on, though Katie does realize how wrong it is and does her best to hide it.

* AllMenArePerverts: When Francie gets sexually harassed on the subway, Sissy claims it's just because she's getting a nice figure and men can't help themselves.
* AttemptedRape: When Francie is a preteen, a serial rapist tries to assault her. [[spoiler: Katie rescues her by shooting the attacker.]]

* DeadGuyJunior: Neeley, who looks exactly like Johnny and has all of his good traits without his bad ones.

** At one point, Katie tells Johnny, "Please don't come home...[drunk]" but trails off before the last word. And a few weeks later, [[spoiler: Johnny doesn't come home and the next time he is in the house is in his coffin.]].

* FourthDateMarriage: Johnny and Katie only dated for four months before marrying. [[spoiler: After Johhny detoxes, Sissy tells Katie she believes they married so fast was so she could sleep with him and not feel guilty. Katie doesn't wholly disagree.]]

* GoodBadGirl: Sissy is described in the page quote. One of her lovers even tells her, [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold "You got a heart of gold."]] One chapter also tells of a neighborhood girl named Joanna, who was always nice and friendly, but Joanna is ostracized and abused after she has a baby out of wedlock.

* InsatiableNewlyweds: Katie and Johnny were this before Francie was born. Somewhat justified since they're both Catholic.

** Evy is implied to also have married young though her exact age is undertain

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_218.jpeg]]

Notable adaptations: the 1945 FilmOfTheBook directed by Creator/EliaKazan with Oscar-winning performances by James Dunn as Johnny and Peggy Ann Garner as Francie; and a 1951 Broadway musical, which Betty Smith helped George Abbott adapt from her book, unsuccessful despite very good songs by Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields and Shirley Booth's show-stealing portrayal of Cissy (as Sissy's name was spelled in this version).

* ImmigrantParents: Or grandparents, to be accurate. Francie stands out in that she's the only student in her class whose parents were actually born in America.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Neeley's real name is Cornelius, after a character from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''. He doesn't hate it so much as it's simply the custom of Brooklyn kids giving each other nicknames, and he's immediately called Neeley.

* InsatiableNewlyweds: Katie and Johnny were this before [[RealityEnsues Francie was born]]. Somewhat justified since they're both Catholic.

A 1943 American novel by Betty Smith about Francie Nolan, a girl growing up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the 1900s and '10s. It draws significantly on Smith's own experiences, dealing with poverty, vice, and issues of class, education and immigrant status.

* AbusiveParents: Thomas Rommely (who "never forgave" any of his children for marrying and greeted them with "''Gott verdammte!''" [basically the German equivalent of "God damn you!"]); Johnny's mother (possessive, yet not affectionate) and whose reaction to the birth of her grandchild is to wail "Now she's got you good. You'll never come back to me." Katie kind of counts too, for her favoritism of Neeley, which Francie picks up on, though Katie does realize how wrong it is, and does her best to hide it.

* AdaptationDistillation: The 1945 movie only goes as far as Francie's graduation from eighth grade, and Katie agreeing to marry Mr. [=McShane=], and cuts some other stuff as well.

** Played with though: While Johnny's drinking is destructive and ultimately kills him, he's always portrayed as a quiet, introspective drunk, instead of a belligerent, abusive one. On the other hand, when he's sober, he tends to act as if he's drunk, being very impulsive and uninhibited.

* CoolLoser: Francie is a loner, and doesn't have any girl-friends. She's shocked when the other girls in her grade write fond things in her yearbook and ask her to come to the same high school as them on graduation day.

* FashionableAsymmetry: Floss Gladis' costumes. She always wears one glove to cover a burn on her arm, but [[RuleOfSymbolism everyone thinks it must symbolize something]] and that it looks cool.

** At one point, Katie tells Johnny, "Please don't come home...[drunk]" but trails off before the last word. And a few weeks later, [[spoiler:Johnny doesn't come home and the next time he is in the house is in his coffin.]].

* GoodBadGirl: Sissy is described in the page quote. One of her lovers even tells her, [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold "You got a heart of gold."]] One chapter also tells of a neighborhood girl named Joanna, who was always nice and friendly, but is ostracized and abused after she has a baby out of wedlock.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Sissy wants nothing more than to be a mother, but she has one stillbirth after another. Finally she gives up and adopts the illegitimate baby of an Italian girl, [[ImplausibleDeniability insisting to everyone that she was pregnant and gave birth naturally]]. Soon afterwards, she has a healthy child of her own.

* LukeIAmYourFather: Sissy tells Katie that the illegitimate baby she adopted (see above) actually looks remarkably like her husband. Katie insists that's just her imagination, but then asks her if she ever did find out who the baby's father was. Sissy admits that she didn't, but recalls that her husband was the one who told her about the pregnant girl in the first place. Then she muses that her husband always did say he'd never be willing to adopt another man's child....

* ParentWithNewParamour: [[spoiler: Katie]] marries Sergeant [=McShane=] after [[spoiler: Johnny]] dies, once Francie and Neeley are more or less grown up.
* ParentalAbandonment: Willy Flittman, Evy's husband. In the final chapter, he abandons his wife and three kids to travel as a one-man band. When Katie gets $1000 from Mr. [=McShane=] as a wedding present, she gives Evy $200, what his life insurance was worth.

* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Francie and Neely's younger sister Laurie is born shortly before they graduate primary school (when they are 14 and 13 respectively). [[spoiler: Francie recognizes this near the end of the novel after Officer [=McShane=] proposes to Katie, when Laurie identifies [=McShane=] as her father, rather than Johnny.]]

-->'''Miss Gardner''': But poverty, starvation and drunkenness are ugly subjects to choose. We all admit these things exist. But one doesn't write about them.

** The most notable teachers are Francie's first-grade teacher (who refused to let her use the bathroom, but treated her better after Aunt Sissy got involved) and Miss Gardner, Francie's eighth grade English teacher who dismisses Francie's stories and play as "sordid" because they weren't PurpleProse, and (probably unintentionally) insults Francie's background.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Katie is pregnant with Laurie when Johnny dies. It's implied that learning there was another baby on the way contributed to his death, since he realized he'd have to earn more to support another child, and began taking any job available to the detriment of his limited strength. In the film he stood in line for hours on a winter day to apply for work sandhogging a tunnel.

* SadistTeacher: Nearly all of them, including the principal who apparently [[ATasteOfTheLash likes to whip little boys.]] There are a few {{Cool Teacher}}s though, and they have a big impact on Francie.
** To the point that she transfers to a different school several blocks away in order to have a chance at some better teachers.

* ParentalAbandonment: Willy Flittman, Evy's husband. He abandons his wife and three kids to travel as a one-man band. When Katie gets $1000 from Mr. [=McShane=] as a wedding present, she gives Evy $200, what his life insurance was worth.

* BrainyBrunette: Francie. Arguably, Katie as well, in a more common sense kind of way.

* BrainyBrunette: Francie.

* [[StockUnderwear Black Bra And Panties]]: Francie buys a set of black lace underwear, hoping her mother will disapprove. [[OpenMindedParent She doesn't.]]

* FirstWorldProblems: When Francie's English teacher talks to her about her newer compositions about not being as lovely as they were before [[spoiler: Johnny's death]], said teacher talks about how [[{{SarcasmMode}} hard her life has been as a poor minister's daughter,]] including being so poor her mother could only afford country girls as maids and only being able to attend a community college instead of a state university. Naturally, Francie, having grown up in ''real'' poverty, isn't impressed and thinks of [[DeadpanSnarker snarky remarks in her head]]