Coming of Age in a Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn presents the problems of a child growing up, the coming of age when one meets challenges and overcomes obstacles. The protagonist, Francie Nolan, undergoes a self-discovery as she strives to mature living in the Brooklyn slum despite its poverty and privation. Thus, Smith's thematic treatment of the struggle of maturity has become for the reader an exploration of loneliness, family relationships, the loss of innocence, and death and disease.

One of the challenges of growing up is loneliness. As a small child living in Brooklyn Francie had no friends her age, the kids in her neighborhood that would have been candidates for friends either found her too quiet or shunned her for being different. "So in the warm summer days the lonesome child sat on her stoop and pretended disdain for the group of children playing on the sidewalk" (pg. 106). Francie played with her imaginary companions and made believe they were better than real children. But all the while her heart beat in rhythm to the poignant sadness of the song the children sang while walking around in a ring with hands joined." As time went by and Francie got older she began to get to know a different kind of loneliness. "Spring came early that year and the sweet warm nights made her restless. She walked up and down the streets and through the park. And wherever she went, she saw a boy and a girl together; walking arm-in-arm, sitting on a park bench with their arms around each other, standing closely and in silence in a vestibule. Everyone in the world but Francie had a sweetheart or a friend she seemed to be the only lonely one in Brooklyn without a friend. (pg. 403)" Loneliness is one of the challenges we must all conquer as part of maturing and it helps us learn to be independent and overcome hardship.

Family relationships are a second problem faced by all in their coming of age. Francie loves her Johnny Nolan, her father, more than anything, she adores the way he talks and the way that he sings. She and him understand each other perfectly and Johnny Nolan is well aware of how to show Francie that he loves her. Francie's relationship with Katie Nolan, her mother, however is very different. Francie says at one time in the book that she does not understand Katie and Katie does not understand her because they are too alike, and on the contrary they can both understand Johnny and Francie's brother, Neely, because they are so different from them. Katie also loves Neely more than she does Francie and this proposes a problem because Francie is well aware of this and tries hard not to be jealous of her brother because of it. Also seen in the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the relationship between two people of the opposite sex and married couples which is different than the love of a child. Francie gets her first taste of romance when she overhears a conversation about how her parents first met. Kate and Johnny Nolan had once loved each other quite passionately, but as they faced hardships together and raised children their romance faded. Although Kate still loved Johnny she also hated him for his alcoholism. Francie's own first experience with male-companionship occurred when she was fourteen and a shy Albie Seedmore asked her to the movies. Although nothing came of that relationship she realized that she was becoming a women and yearned for love. Eventually Francie will meet Lee Rhynor with whom she falls passionately in love with but damages her further relationships and trust in the male sex when he plays a cruel joke on her. Before the end of the book Francie is proposed to by Ben Blake whom she knows will never betray her and is given time to think about their marriage. Francie also learns in growing up that sex is part of love through of her Aunt Sissy as she saw her being criticized for sexual scandals and having many lovers and witnessed several unmarried girls with their babies. The relationships you have as you come of age greatly effect how you feel about society and the world.

A third challenge everyone must face, as they grow older is loss