A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Final Response

Some things in life take the form of pure innocence, like a newborn child. Their curiosity and joy for existence make them complete. Betty Smith shows us how to grow up with acceptance. The more children grow, the harder it is for them to keep it, especially during hard times and pain. People who learn to look at life with an open mind, and an open heart, become the wisest of many when their time of innocence is over.

In the early 1900’s, Brooklyn was a vastly different place then it is today. Little Francie grew up in a tough, painful, and inappropriate neighborhood, but she was almost blind to these things. Growing up is partly sheltered by innocence. Francie, like every other child, saw only the best in things. That didn’t stop as she grew older, thus changing from her peers. The music on the street, the man roasting chestnuts, and the bowl of flowers are symbols that appear throughout the novel. This just reminds us that Francie adores, and admires Brooklyn, and everything in it, despite the amount of cruel things that lurk in the city.

No one can argue that a little bit of everything has happened to Francie, both the good and the bad, but one can argue if any good has come out of it. At the end of the novel, Francie says goodbye to all innocence at age 16, and heads into the grueling world. If even one if the events of this book did not happen, or did not happen until later, Francie would not be the women she was at 16. At one point in the book, Francie and Neely look upon the young Laurie and pity her, because even though she will not have a hard life like them, it will not be any fun. That shows that Francie does not regret her tough life, and feels it was worth it.

One can only imagine what would have happened to Francie’s childhood if her attitude replicated the ones of other children her age. Her family could be torn apart by her mother’s feelings toward Neely, compared to her feelings toward Francie, leaving all of them in despair. Luck plays an important role in Francie’s life also, if her family had more luck Johnny and Katie could be much richer, thus causing the children to be spoiled and not leaving their innocence until much later in life. That would leave Francie to be as good as the children on the playground.

Everyone looks at the world in different ways, and that effects how their game of innocence to experience plays out. To some people, acceptance seems like an easy thing to do, but not everyone can master it, especially when life seems to have different ideas. One does not know the true meaning of hard until they read this novel. Although the things that happen to Francie are too many to count, one thing that always stays the same is Francie’s outlook on life, which is very bright indeed.