"There Is a Tree in Brooklyn" by Betty · Smith
The book we're going to talk about today is called "There's a Tree in Brooklyn."
It's an autobiographical novel that tells the moving story of Francie, a Brooklyn slum girl, who persevers and thrives in the face of hardship. In the book, she firmly believes in the power of knowledge, takes books as friends, constantly breaks through her own limitations, soars towards a broader sky, and finally grows into a strong woman with courage and wisdom.
And in real life, the author of this book, Betty · Smith, is the prototype of Francie. She grew up in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn and has a deep experience and insight into the warmth and well-being of the underclass. She didn't finish high school, but she managed to get into college through self-study, and later won an award for her own drama production. Her fate also changed completely.
"There Is a Tree in Brooklyn" is Betty · Smith's debut novel, which was highly regarded after its release, and was adapted into a film of the same name the following year and won an Academy Award. The novel was also adapted into a musical, which was staged more than two hundred times. All this makes it a classic on the same level as "The Little Prince", which transcends times and borders, and continues to bring people positive and enterprising confidence.
Whether it is the author Betty · Smith or her Francie, their life stories together convey the belief that we can live with dignity, with dreams, and to live abundantly and fully, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.
So, next, let's go into the interpretation of the essence version of this issue.
A lonely, difficult childhood
At the beginning of the 20th century, Francie was born in Brooklyn, United States. At that time, it was a settlement of immigrants, and most of the residents did not have a high income level, and life was very hard.
In comparison, the life of Francie's family is even more difficult. Because in her family, only her mother Katie has a stable job, and her father Jonny is a freelance singer who only goes to work when clients need it, and spends almost all of his free time in bars.
Jonny is handsome and charming, dressed fashionably, and is proficient in singing and dancing. Katie met him when she was seventeen, and the two fell in love at first sight, quickly marrying and having children. So much so that when they had their daughter Francie and son Neely, Katie was not yet twenty years old, and Johnny was in his early twenties.
Jonny likes to live a relaxed life, but he finds it difficult to bear the pressure of his family, so he borrows alcohol to drown his sorrows. When drunk, instead of making a fuss, he becomes silent.
Every time he woke up, he seemed to wake up and was determined to be a good father. He would quit drinking for a while, work hard, and spend all his spare time with his children, intending to teach them all kinds of life experiences.
Unfortunately, this state did not last long, and he would soon fall into decadence again, feel that life was hopeless, and start drinking heavily.
When Katie meets Jonny, she thinks he is elegant, handsome, and full of fun. She believes that they will be able to create a happy and beautiful life. However, when Katie spent the whole night in pain in order to give birth to Francie, Jonny not only did not stay with his wife out of fear, but also forgot his duties and lost his stable job with a good income because he ran to drink.
Since then, Jonny has worked as a singer and waiter, and has never had a relatively regular job again.
Katie gradually realizes that Jonny is not a strong husband, and that he is not mentally mature enough to take on the responsibilities of the family. However, when Francie was three months old, Katie became unexpectedly pregnant, and out of cherishing her life, she gave birth to her son, Neely.
In a life of poverty, the beautiful and gentle Katie breaks the romantic fantasy of her teenage years and takes on the responsibility of supporting her family.
Jonny's frustration lies in the fact that he realizes the hopelessness of his life. He was not well educated, had the burden of a family early, had neither a strong will nor the tenacity to endure hardships, and did not know what he could do to change the status quo, so he chose to accept his fate.
In fact, Katie, who is two years younger than Jonny, is facing the same dilemma, but she has taken a different approach. She is unwilling to accept the arrangement of fate, she gets up from where she falls, and she has a strong desire to survive, which makes her a "warrior".
As Francie grows up, she is intelligent and sensitive, and she sees the differences between her mother and father, as well as the differences between the two families.
The son of Ireland immigrants, his father never had a stable job and died at the age of thirty, leaving behind four young sons. Johnny's mother raised the children alone, and by the time they were twelve, they had all dropped out of school to work.
When the boys of this family grew up, they were all handsome and chic, good at blowing, playing and singing, and good at singing and dancing, and the girls were fascinated by them. They are all singing waiters, who don't make much money, and most of their income is spent on drinking and gambling on horses.
None of Johnny's three older brothers lived past the age of thirty. They are talented but weak, they live recklessly, and their health is ruined by irregular schedules and large amounts of alcohol, and they easily lose their lives. Jonny was the only one of the brothers who lived past the age of thirty, and the only one who married and had children.
Contrary to Jonny's family, Katie's family always raises girls with strong personalities. Katie's mother, wise and strong, endures her husband's incompetence and tyranny, protects her daughters from harm, and teaches her life wisdom.
When her daughters grew up, they were all slender and gentle, but they had great strength and became the backbone of their respective families, not only to guide and take care of their husbands, but also to educate them in any way and try to change their poor fate.
In Francesie, the characteristics of the two families are combined.
She has both her father's strong love for beauty and sentimentality, as well as her mother's simplicity and pragmatism; She inherited her grandmother's mystique, her talent for storytelling, her great faith, and her compassion for the weak, as well as her grandfather's cruel willpower; She inherited all the tenderness of her mother, but she was only half as strong. She is a mixture of these advantages and disadvantages.
In addition to these, there are many other ingredients in her, which are qualities that people from both families do not have: a love of reading, a sense of insight, and a flexible mind, which are unique things in her soul.
Unique Francie, who sometimes looks out of place in the crowd. Francie has no friends and almost always plays alone because she doesn't know how to socialize with other little girls. The other children also avoided her because she spoke strangely.
Once, a child laughed at Francis, who retorted, "You don't know what you're talking about." You're just filled with hustle and bustle and anger that doesn't make any sense. ”
Another time, when she wanted to make friends with a little girl, she said to her, "Wait here, let me go back, get a rope back, and we will jump rope together." The little girl corrected her and said, "You mean, you go back and get your jump rope." ”
Francisie's elegant, written way of speaking was influenced by Shakespeare and the Bible. Her mother, Katie, pinned her hopes on knowledge to change her fate, and since Francie was five years old, Katie took her children to read these two classics every night and continued to do so for many years.
After starting school, France's lonely situation did not improve much. Due to her poverty, she was often looked down upon by her teachers and bullied by children from wealthy families. When she showed a talent for writing, her teacher would praise her, but when she wrote about poverty, hunger, and her drunken father in her essay, the teacher would criticize her, thinking that she was writing "filthy" things, and gave her a low grade.
Growing up in this way, Francie gradually learned to endure loneliness and grit her teeth and persevere. She reads and writes day after day, imagining an adult life full of books at home, and looking for strength to move forward in the hard life.
Suffering and transformation on the road to growth
In the family, Francie can sense that her mother, Katie, prefers her younger brother and is less attentive to herself. When Francie was thirteen years old, her essay was named the best work in the seventh grade and published in the school magazine.
This was the first time Francie had her name printed in lead and was thrilled to go home and immediately told Katie the good news, but Katie didn't seem interested. It's true that Katie is busy with work and doesn't have time, but in reality, her younger brother Neely always has time when she needs his mother.
Accustomed to Katie's preference for her younger brother, Francie does not feel sad, but waits for her father to come home and share the news with him. She knew that her father would be proud of herself.
Later, though, when Francie is in danger, she sees Katie's love. When Francie was fourteen years old, there was a pervert in the local area, he often molested little girls, but he was not arrested for a long time, and even a little girl was killed by him.
This panics the entire community, and his father, Jonny, borrows a gun to protect Francie and puts it under his pillow.
One day, when Francie came home from school, she met this pervert in the hallway. She was so frightened that she couldn't make a sound, and she was about to be taken away, but was discovered by Katie, who was waiting for her to go home. Katie never used a gun, but in order to protect Francy, she bravely stepped forward and shot the pervert.
After this incident, Katie became a hero to the community. Francie is also more aware that there is a powerful force in her mother.
The year is coming to an end, and when Christmas is approaching, Francie's home is deserted and completely devoid of festive atmosphere. In addition to the fact that they still have no money, but also because of one thing: Katie is pregnant again.
After hearing the news, Jonny became abnormal. For more than two weeks, he did not drink, did not go to work, did not talk to his family, and wandered around every day. When he got home, he often lay in bed dressed and his eyes were closed. He grew much older all of a sudden.
Katie's face was pale and silent, with a premonition that tragedy was coming. Her face was emaciated, her cheeks sunken, but her body was plump because she was pregnant. In the week before Christmas, Katie took another part-time job in order to earn money, and her job became even busier.
One night, Katie came home from work and was having dinner with her two children, and Jonny came home as well. He slammed the door as if he were going to smash it open.
Katie opens the door and Jonny bursts into the room. He had always paid attention to grooming and maintained his demeanor at all times, but that day, his dress was dirty, his top hat was deflated, and his hands, which were not gloved, were red from the cold, and he could not stop shaking.
The reason why Jonny is so out of shape is because he finds that he can't sing anymore, and people hire him to make people laugh like a clown. He was furious about this, and was removed from the waiters' union, and was no longer able to get a job recommended by the union.
Feeling that he was finished, Jonny broke down and cried bitterly, despite the presence of the child.
Katie accompanies Jonny into the bedroom, and Francie and Neely stand outside, dumbfounded, and Francie even begins to doubt the existence of God. Because Francie thinks that if God really exists and cares about people's lives, he should see the situation of his family and find a way to change Johnny's state.
Alas, God did not appear. That night, Jonny walked out of the house at some point and disappeared, and his family couldn't find him. On the night of the fourth day, the police found Katie and took her to the hospital. Jonny was lying in a hospital bed, on the verge of death, unconscious. Katie held him until he was no longer breathing.
Katie returns home in the evening and doesn't tell the two children about Jonny's death. The next morning, Katie told them about it.
Francie stood there, not surprised, not sad, as if nothing was true. The mother commanded: "Don't weep for him. He's relieved now, and maybe he's luckier than we are. ”
Jonny died of acute alcoholism and pneumonia, but Katie, in order to maintain his image in the child's mind, only told them that the cause of Jonny's death was pneumonia.
Katie used the insurance money to organize Jonny's funeral, and the family had little money left, making it difficult to maintain daily life. In addition, Katie's belly is gradually getting bigger, and there is less and less work to do. For this reason, Francie plans to drop out of school to work, but Katie disagrees, hoping that Francie will get her diploma and have the opportunity to pursue a high school and college education.
In this desperate moment, Jonny's friend and bar owner McGarriti misses Jonny and offers Francie and Neely a part-time job, which greatly improves their family's financial situation. Francie and Neely were able to continue their studies and graduate.
At the graduation ceremony, Francie unexpectedly receives flowers and a message from Jonny. It was arranged in advance and entrusted to Francie's aunt to deliver it. Francie burst into tears, eventually accepting the fact that her father was gone.
In the abyss of fate, the light of hope blooms
Katie gave birth to a daughter and quickly returned to her normal job. During the summer vacation, Francie went to the factory, and her younger brother Neely went to a stock exchange to do odd jobs.
The work in the factory was easy, and once Francie became familiar with the operation, her mind began to think, "This may be a person's life." Work eight hours a day, earn money to buy food, pay rent, barely make ends meet, and then continue to work. There are people who go from birth to death, but that's just for it. Of course, there are women who marry unions, and the men who marry them live like this. What do they get? Maybe after work, before going to bed, you can have someone to chat with to relieve your boredom. ”
But Francie knew it wouldn't last long. She has seen too many working couples, and after the birth of their children, the bills are getting more and more, and they rarely communicate with each other except for loud quarrels.
These people, she thought, were trapped. But why are they trapped? Francie's mind came up with a phrase that her grandmother had repeated over and over again, and that was, "They are not highly educated." ”
She was scared, maybe she would never be able to go to high school again, she would never be able to get a college education again, maybe she would have to work in a factory for the rest of her life. This made her feel inexplicable fear.
The work in the factory has come to an end, and Francie does not want to continue to find other factories to do temporary work like other female workers. She decided to try different jobs and see what the possibilities were.
She saw in the newspaper that the Model Clippings Bureau was recruiting for readers, requiring them to be at least 16 years old. Francie is not yet old, but she has read a lot over the years and has a good memory. She successfully passed the interview and rose through the ranks of the Model Clipping Bureau, with a higher salary.
Francie became the highest earner in the family and was proud to be able to share her mother's worries. However, she still longs to go back to school and go to high school. Over the years, grandmothers, mothers, and aunts have been praising higher education and hoping that their children will continue to study. She listened completely and made it her dream to go to college.
Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, only one person was able to go to high school this year. Francie is desperate to continue her studies, but her younger brother Neely wants to keep working. Katie eventually announced that Neely would go back to school first, and Francie would go back next year.
This decision made both children very angry. Neely feels that she is being forced to do things she doesn't like, and Francie feels that her mother doesn't love her enough to prioritize Neely in everything.
Her mother explained to Francie that she had done so for a valid reason: Neely did not want to go back to school, and if he gave up this opportunity, he might stop his education altogether; And Francie is eager to go to school, and no matter what, she eventually has a way to go back to school.
Francie no longer argues, she can understand her mother's intentions and understand her difficulties, but she also believes that she has done nothing wrong to fight for what she wants.
In 1917, United States declared its involvement in World War I, and Francie's Model Newspaper Clipping Bureau collapsed. She quickly found her next job, operating a teletypewriter.
Francis works in the afternoons and evenings and has plenty of time to spare during the day. In addition, during her time at the Model Newspaper Clipping Bureau, she read a lot of books and newspapers due to her work needs, and her knowledge reserve became richer.
She decided to use her daytime to continue her education, but instead of high school, she went to college. She quickly found a university that offered summer education, and she successfully enrolled and began her college courses.
Katie finds it unbelievable that Francie was able to go to college without going to high school. What's even more incredible is that Francie was the first person in her parents' family to receive a college education, which is the result of Francie's hard work and the strength accumulated over generations.
After summer school, Francie passed her college entrance exams and was about to leave Brooklyn to study at the University of Michigan. At the same time, she is also trying to fall in love and experience different emotions.
Growing up, Francie has seen the warmth and coldness of human feelings, experienced the taste of success and failure, experienced the challenges of life and death, and opened a new map of life again and again, she is no longer a little girl with a dazed and inferior complex, but gradually becoming an adult who can control her future. She wants to live life to the fullest, so that every part of her life is not wasted.
Growing up, Francie experienced loss and pain, as well as low self-esteem and fear. She gradually realized that true growth is not only the growth of age or the accumulation of knowledge, but also the awakening of the soul and the transcendence of self.
As her heart matures, Francie gradually becomes tenacious, optimistic, and persistent in pursuing her dreams. She learned how to stay awake in a complex society, how to find a balance between loving and being loved, and ultimately growing into an independent, strong, and loving woman.
Like a thriving tree, Francie is deeply rooted in the soil, trying to stay close to the bright sky. Her story is full of power and inspires us that no matter what kind of soil life has given us, we can grow with hope and courage.