A Tree Grows In Brooklyn Essay

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a coming-of-age novel by Betty Smith that tells the story of Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in poverty in Brooklyn during the early 1920s. Throughout the book, Francie and her family experience adversity and prejudice. Through these experiences, the book explores the themes of classism and poverty through the characters of Ms. Gardner, Johnny Nolan, and Katie Nolan.
Ms. Gardner, Francies English teacher, demonstrates the discrimination and classism that many impoverished people of the time faced. Her beliefs came to light when she was reading one of Francies assigned compositions. This composition talked about topics and issues that Francie deals with daily. Ms. Gardner dismissed her writing, saying, "poverty,

Her independent nature and aversion to charity also teach her children the importance of self-reliance. Katie always “hated the word ‘charity’ above any other word in the English language, and she brought up her children to hate it too.” (Smith 320) Her disdain towards charity teaches independence because it instills the values of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Katie’s aversion to charity implies that she believes in earning one's way through hard work rather than relying on handouts. She taught her children these lessons primarily by example, “[working] as a janitress and [cleaning] three tenement houses” to provide for her family. (Smith 10). Katie shows what it means to have pride and grit. She tries to rise above her situation and does not let it define her, even though she may never be able to work out of poverty. She works hard, and though it might not be glamorous, it is something. Ms. Gardner makes the generalization that “people are poor because they are too lazy to work. There is nothing beautiful about laziness”. Francie reacts to Ms. Gardner's comments by thinking indigently, “Imagine Mama lazy!”. (Smith 320). Francie's reaction shows that she learned from her mother that success comes from hard work and perseverance and that people should be judged based on their actions, not their circumstances. Overall, Katie's determination to rise above her circumstances exemplifies the importance of perseverance in achieving