While there have been several books in our book club that I haven’t been thrilled about reading, I admit I was pretty excited to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It’s not a book I’d read before, but I am a sucker for a good coming of age novel. I’ve always been intrigued by the early 1900s so I was interested in delving more deeply into that era with a good piece of fiction.
As I read about Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) I was frequently reminded of one of my other favorite literary young ladies – Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird (1960). I found Scout and Francie to be similar and a true joy to get to know. When Francie was reading on her balcony looking out onto the street, I was right there with her sweating in the summer heat. And when Scout was poking around Boo Radley’s yard, I could not help but worry that Boo would catch me as well. But more than that, I found them both extremely sensitive to their environments and having strong sense of justice and humanism. They took the moral high ground not out of obligation, but out of practicality – it’s what made most sense to them.
Both books take place at a time of tumult in American society. Brooklyn takes place in a poor community in the later stages of the Industrial Revolution on the eve World War 1 during a time when many people were unable to find a job and a living wage. Mockingbird is set in Alabama just after the Great Depression and illustrates the deep roots of racism and intolerance in a small town. No child is oblivious to the tension in either case, but Scout and Francie are especially perceptive to what is going on around them even through the purview of a child. They go from thinking about playing outside and school work to looking deeply into the heart of poverty, intolerance and other complex societal norms.
