In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, there are many key elements which in my opinion makes for a good classic. It has an unusual time period, touching and unforgettable characters, an exemplary and easy-to-follow plot, and the ever-present universal themes. This book is no doubt a true, undeniable classic.

This book takes place in Brooklyn, New York, in a town called Williamsburg. Williamsburg is a kind of town that is present today: a town full of crime, broken-up families, and poverty. Yet, I think the Nolans are very unique for a family who lives in the slums of Brooklyn; they are good people, just a young family of four. Katie, a young, hardworking mother with several jobs; Johnny, a drunken bum with an on-and-off job as a performer; their daughter, Francie, a hardworking and smart scholar who always strives to do her best; and her brother, Neely, bouncing off the walls with energy. Even though the Nolans are like the other families in their town, they are unique. They have

The fact that you can tell that Betsy Smith put a lot of time into perfecting her book, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, is just one thing in the list of the many elements that make this book an undeniable classic. This novel

hope that life will get better, and that rich people or authorities won't be so harsh to them because of their class and where they live.

In my opinion, this book is very touching. Some things that I read in this book make me want to laugh out loud, and others make me want to cry. Other times, I find myself really relating to Francie, or another character in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn because I know exactly what he or she is going through, and it makes it seem like I am not the only one with that problem. Just today, I found myself reading a paragraph in this book of hatred and discrimination. I am not oblivious that this kind of thing happens in this world, especially the way it happened in this book, but I have never heard of such a thing to such an extent, in the setting of the early 1900s where I thought everyone was proper and polite. I guess I was wrong. One thing that lives on today besides discrimination is name-calling. Everyone has been called an offensive name one time or another in the period of their lifetime.

'Ten cents worth of round steak please.'

The Nolan family might not have much, but one thing that they do have and probably always will is hope. That is a major theme in the book. Often, Francie hopes that the kids at her school will stop teasing her, and that the people will stop teasing her neighbor, Joanna. She hopes that her father will stop drinking and that he will get a steady job. She hopes that her mother will not leave her father because of that. Another thing that she hopes for is that she wants to become rich someday, and get out of living in the slums of Brooklyn. But one thinking that I know, is that if she does that, she will never ever make fun of the people who are poor, because she knows that she was once there herself.

The Nolans don't have a lot of money, and boy do they know it. Their house is always cold, and their stomachs always grumbling with hunger. They are always tired, because they work from dusk till dawn. But yet they are happy. They have more strength and endurance of anyone in that town. They have a will to be better, to always strive for a better life.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2545
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)