themes in a tree grows in brooklyn

“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” a book by Betty Smith is a book about the journey through adolescence into adulthood, mainly in the life of a young girl named Francie Nolan. Three main themes in this book are poverty and social status, education, and mainly, perseverance through hardships. These three ideas make up the vast majority of the novel.
Poverty and social status is key to understanding this entire novel. When the book opens, Francie Nolan is 11 years of age. The narrator, Francie, and many characters in the book give their views on the neighborhood in which the Nolan’s live, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The author, who writes in third person omniscient, gives you and insight of everyone’s perspective to the setting. In all their views, the neighborhood is indeed a poor neighborhood filled with poverty and many immigrants. Poverty and a low social standard do not keep Francie from achieving. Francie and her younger brother Neeley go to the garbage dump once a week, li...