A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Page to Screen: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Film Study”

In this activity, students will analyze the 1945 award-winning film version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and evaluate how the film adapts the novel for the screen.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was adapted into a film in 1945, two years after the novel’s publication. The film was acclaimed filmmaker Elia Kazan’s directorial debut and won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor and the Academy Juvenile Award for the portrayals of Johnny Nolan and Francie Nolan, respectively. The film was accepted into the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

• Read “From Pages to Premiers: The Case for Book to Movie Adaptations” by Vicky Chong. Discuss as a class and consider the purpose of film adaptations of books.
• Analyze how the unit themes appear in the film.
• Evaluate the ways the filmmakers chose to adapt the novel for the screen. Consider how the director, writers, actors, cinematographers, costume designers, lighting designers, and others came together to represent the meaning of the novel in the film.
• Reflect on how the film supplements or adds to the novel, as well as the ways the film might detract from the novel.
• Collaborate with a small group to present your information to the class. This presentation may take the form of a slideshow, a poster, original artwork, an activity that engages the class, or another appropriate method.

This activity will culminate in a seminar-style discussion in which you and your peers process the various thematic interpretations presented to the class. Keep in mind that the point of a seminar is to collaboratively uncover meaning in a text(s) and walk away with not only a deeper understanding but more questions. To this end, consider drafting comments and questions in advance that may help propel a conversation.

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to pause the film two or three times during viewing to allow students to gather their thoughts and process with their peers.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who need support with organizing their thoughts, consider providing a graphic organizer for note taking while watching the film. It may be helpful to note the themes of this unit on the graphic organizer and provide space for students to take notes when they recognize these themes in the movie.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. As the title suggests, trees have an important symbolic meaning in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

• What do trees represent in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the symbolism of trees and explore how trees connect to Francie’s own coming-of-age. Cite at least three different examples of trees from various parts of the novel to support your thoughts.
• In your concluding sentences, connect your analysis to one of the text’s main themes.

2. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, education is presented as an important force for self-improvement and social mobility.

• How does Francie view education, and what does it mean to her? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the ways that education is a vehicle for exploring the theme of The Correlation of Class and Shame or The Limitations of Being a Woman in Turn-of-the-20th-Century America. Cite at least three examples from the novel to support your points.
• In your concluding sentences, evaluate the different ways education exists in the novel, and how Francie navigates this complexity.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the characters of Francie, Katie, and Sissy. How do these characters support and develop the theme of The Limitations of Being a Woman in Turn-of-the-20th-Century America? As you compose your essay, analyze how each character provides a unique way of looking at womanhood using direct evidence from the text. Consider the characters individually but also collectively—how do Francie, Katie, and Sissy interact with each other to offer a multi-faceted view of what it means to be a woman in 1910s Brooklyn?

2. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the setting plays a major part in creating the atmosphere of the novel. Francie describes Brooklyn as a “mysterious” and “magic” city. Analyze the significance of the setting in the novel. How does Brooklyn expand into a kind of character of its own? What is Francie’s relationship to her home city? Consider how Brooklyn shapes her identity and experiences, and evaluate how Francie’s perception of Brooklyn evolves as she grows up. Cite at least three distinct places in the text to support your thoughts.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What is Johnny’s nickname for Francie?

A) Bookworm

B) Princess Pea

C) Sweetheart

D) Prima Donna

2. At the end of Chapter 6, what best describes the tone of the scene when Francie is watching the streets below in the middle of the night?

A) Chaotic

B) Alarming

C) Comforting

D) Dull

3. To whom is Katie referring when she says, “Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating?”

A) Johnny

B) Francie

C) Neely

D) Sissy

4. What is the “only bright spot” about the house on Grand Street?

A) The roof-top view

B) The schoolyard next door

C) The tree growing in the yard

D) The visitors to the front stoop

5. How does Francie feel after the incident with the girl and the blackboard erasers in Chapter 15?

A) Confident

B) Fulfilled

C) Disillusioned

D) Confused

6. What literary device is used in the following passage from Chapter 21? “These two visiting teachers were the gold and silver sun-splash in the great muddy river of school days.”

A) Personification

B) Simile

C) Imagery

D) Hyperbole

7. What is the tone of Francie’s response to Johnny’s declaration that as long as one has money, one can be free?

A) Agreeable

B) Relieved

C) Frustrated

D) Skeptical

8. How does Johnny feel after taking the children on a fishing expedition?

A) Dejected

B) Nostalgic

C) Jealous

D) Anxious

9. Why does Katie choose not to tell the children that their father had died until the following morning?

A) To keep the secret for herself

B) To allow them to sleep peacefully

C) Because she was overwhelmed with grief

D) Because of the confusion surrounding his death

10. What does Francie most likely mean when she says that “[m]ama never fumbles”?

A) That Katie is hardworking

B) That Katie is compassionate

C) That Katie understands her family

D) That Katie is steady and dependable

11. Which of the following best connects to the theme of The Correlation of Class and Shame?

A) Miss Garnder calling Francie’s stories “sordid”

B) Katie being unable to afford a midwife

C) Francie’s fears that Katie will die in childbirth

D) Katie’s favoritism toward Neeley

12. What Christmas gift does Francie show off to Katie?

A) A large amount of cash

B) A pair of spats

C) A black lace underwear set

D) A bottle of brandy

13. Which of the following best describes Francie’s response to failing the college entrance exams?

A) Discouraged

B) Determined

C) Apathetic

D) Bewildered

14. Which of the following best describes the last message Francie types before leaving her job for college in Michigan?

A) It is a birth announcement, not a death notification

B) It is a message that focuses on the city of Brooklyn

C) It’s about a man who reminds her of Johnny

D) It reconnects her with a former teacher

15. Which of the following does not speak to the significance of Francie referring to Florry Wendy as herself when she says goodbye at the end of the novel?

A) She is saying goodbye to her younger self.

B) She is reflecting on the significance of her home.

C) She recognizes herself in her young neighbor.

D) She realizes she will never again live in Brooklyn.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. In what ways is Francie disillusioned by her first day of school, and what does this show about the education system and socioeconomic class?

2. Why does Francie agree to marry Lee after such a short time? What does this show about Francie’s aspirations and desires?