Brooklyn” tells the story of an Irish girl who leaves her hometown and relatives and comes alone to Brooklyn, USA in search of a new life. A simple, simple Irish girl from a small town, Alice, travels alone to Brooklyn, New York. On the train, she meets a stylishly dressed woman who grooms Alice and shows her how to get through customs without any problems. Once in Brooklyn, Alice is placed with a host family by a sponsor and works as a saleswoman in a department store.
When she first arrived, she found it difficult to fit into the city. She didn’t know how to sell or communicate with customers. She didn’t have many friends, and she always ate alone and walked alone in the noisy streets. She suffered from homesickness. Thinking about her home and her mother, she would cry alone. Fortunately, this sponsor not only helped her with her work and life confusion, but also helped her apply to attend night school.
And at a dance, she met a young Italian guy, Tony. When Tony asked her if she would like to go to a movie, she said, “I’m willing to see two, and if the first date doesn’t go well, I’ll give you a second chance.” Afterwards, Alice went to Tony’s home for dinner, making her feel at home again. Alice’s dream is to learn bookkeeping first, with the ultimate goal of becoming an accountant, while Tony is currently a plumber with the ideal of opening a construction company. The two drifting young people comfort each other and develop a mutual love for each other.
But then, a tragic news caught her off guard. Her sister Rose suddenly falls ill and dies, and she returns to her home town. At the funeral, she sees many of her former friends and meets Jim again when they go on a trip. Jim tells Alice: I’ve never been anywhere, I’ve never even been to England, I want to see London, Paris, Rome, and New York. The thought that I might never set foot in Ireland in my life made me feel terrible. She knew that Jim was also a rich kid with dreams, not a dude. Whether to stay in her home town or return to Brooklyn, she began to hesitate.
But, in the end, she returned to Brooklyn. Standing in front of the red wall in Brooklyn, said his heart: you will miss home to think of the pain, which can not be helped, can only endure. But you will persist in the past, all this does not break you. One day, the sun will rise, but you may not even notice. Because it is so faint, after that, you will start to care about people and things that have nothing to do with the past. Care about a person who belongs to you only. At that time, you will understand that this heart is at peace with my home.
Yes, this heart is at peace is my hometown. I hope that every foreigner who is wandering around can find his or her own Brooklyn.
There’s a Tree in Brooklyn” is a story about growing up in a difficult situation. Francy, a young girl, was born in a poor immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York, but she never gave up her love for her family and life, and never gave up her efforts to pursue a better life, and finally lived a happy life. Author Betty Smith says, “To live, to struggle, to love our lives, to love all the sorrows and joys that life gifts, that is a realization. The fullness of life is always there and available to all”.
However, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” is still a coming-of-age novel that deserves to be read again and again. In fact, it was first published in the United States in 1943 and became a huge hit, topping the bestseller list, and the movie based on the novel won an Academy Award that year. The novel’s text is full of warmth, and the little things that happen as Francie grows up have the power to move people’s hearts because of this warmth: parents making up stories to distract their children when there is nothing to eat; running to several butcher stores to get better meat, making up lies and putting up with the shopkeeper’s complaints; the residents who are bitter at Christmas; the kind and incompetent father who gives his children a good memory but ends up screwing things up …… Grandma, who misses her hometown and is hopeful for the new land, her strong mother, her nervous aunt, and the little girl sitting on the library steps reading a book, the lives and struggles of generations of immigrant families in difficult times are presented to the reader through Francie’s eyes – we may not experience the same things, but in China, in a period of transition, many people will experience a similar state of mind. Many people will experience a similar state of mind.
I personally feel that the most successful aspect of A Tree in Brooklyn is that it shows growth in difficult times, transcending sorrow and joy, and the author’s narrative attitude is always calm and forgiving. The author’s narrative attitude is always calm and forgiving. The same is true for the growth in difficulties, Gorky’s “Childhood”, “On Earth” and “My University” trilogy, Ru Zhijuan’s “She Came From That Road” and Yu Hua’s “Shouting in the Drizzle”, all of which are strong indictments of life, from which we read more about the evil of society and human nature than the glory of humanity. In a way, the author Betty Smith is closer to Lin Haiyin who wrote “Old Stories from the South of the City”. They have more love in their hearts, and when they depict suffering, there is little anxiety and complaint, but more tolerance and calmness.
Suffering is not worthy of praise. However, in this imperfect world, most people inevitably have their own problems in life. The significance of “There’s a Tree in Brooklyn” lies in the brightness of this state of mind when facing hardships.
