Heartwarming / A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

• In the movie, on graduation day for both Francie and Neeley, when Francie lets her mother hold the flowers she got for graduation. Made even more meaningful by the fact Johnny paid for them before he died.
• After Johnny dies at the Catholic hospital, the head doctor is ready to record his cause of death as alcoholism and pneumonia. Katie and a priest persuade him to list the cause as pneumonia only, in order to spare Francie and Neeley the shame of knowing that their father died as a drunkard.
• Mr. McShane, in his bumbling but heartfelt way, proposing to Katie, and her accepting.
  • Followed immediately by baby Laurie falling asleep in his arms as he sings to her.
• Neeley and Francie saying goodbye before she leaves for college.
• During World War II, soldiers found comfort in the book and sent many fan letters to Smith
  • Not only that, but many soldiers were delighted to receive their Armed Services Edition (ASE) and not only wrote to Smith, but had lengthy (sometimes years long) correspondence with her, telling her about how the characters reminded them of family and friends and how reading about Brooklyn helped to ease their homesickness.