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Publisher s Acknowledgments Editorial Project Editor: Tere Stouffer Acquisitions Editor: Greg Tubach Composition Proofreader: Laura L. Bowman Wiley Publishing, Inc. Composition Services CliffsNotes On Smith s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Published by: Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright 2009 Wiley, Hoboken, NJ eisbn: 978-0-470-41472-9 Note: If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at http://wiley.com/go/permissions. The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, CliffsNotes, the CliffsNotes logo, Cliffs, cliffsnotes.com, and all related trademarks, logos, and trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, please visit our web site at www.wiley.com. is a trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc.
SWIFT CLIFF
2 CliffsNotes On Smith s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn WRITTEN BY: Betty Smith FIRST PUBLISHED: 1943 TYPE OF WORK: autobiographical novel GENRE: coming-of-age novel SETTING FOR STORY: Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York MAIN CHARACTERS: Francie Nolan; Katie Nolan; Johnny Nolan; Neeley Nolan; Aunt Sissy; Aunt Evy; Mary Rommely POINT OF VIEW: third person, omniscient narrator, which allows the reader to know the inner thoughts of the characters MAJOR THEMES: the importance of education; Francie s need for love; the American dream; the loss of innocence; the importance of imagination MOTIFS: survival; the strength of women and frailty of men; the crushing weight of poverty; Brooklyn, religion SYMBOLS: Tree of Heaven; tin can bank; library; pearl studs
LIFE AND BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR
4 CliffsNotes On Smith s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Elizabeth Lillian Wehner is born December 15, 1896, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, and christened at Holy Trinity Church. She is the daughter of John and Catherine Wehner, German immigrants, who married February 16, 1896. Her parents call her Lizzie or Littie, and her friends refer to her as Elizabeth or Beth. She begins calling herself Betty in 1938. Completes eighth grade at P.S. 23 in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1910 and leaves school at age 14 to work. Works at a succession of jobs from 1910 to 1915, including at a factory making tissue flowers and at a clipping bureau, where she reads 200 newspapers a day. Attends Girl s High School, 1915 to 1917. She is editor of the school newspaper. Elizabeth s mother marries Michael Keogh in 1918. Elizabeth takes her mother s new husband s last name, becoming Elizabeth Keogh. Elopes with George Smith, June 6, 1919, moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan. From 1927 to 1930, Elizabeth enrolls at the University of Michigan. She also takes playwriting classes and begins writing plays, including Wives-in-Law and A Day s Work. In 1930, Elizabeth is awarded the Avery Hopwood Award, for her play Jonica Starrs. Attends Yale University Drama School from 1931 to 1934. Elizabeth has two one-act plays produced, Mannequin s Maid and Blind Alley in 1932. In 1933, Elizabeth and George Smith legally separate. She falls in love with Bob Finch, a fellow playwriting student at Yale. In 1937, Elizabeth wins a Berkeley Playmakers award for her play So Gracious in the Time. She wins the same award in 1938 for Three Comments on a Martyr. Elizabeth and George divorce in 1938, and she begins calling herself Betty Smith.
Life and Background of the Author 5 In 1939, Betty receives a $1,200 Rockefeller Fellowship. In 1940, she receives a $1,000 Rockefeller & Dramatist Guild Award. Betty begins writing an autobiographical novel in the late 1930s, which will eventually become A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, published in 1943. Twentieth Century Fox purchases the film rights, with half the money going to the publisher, Harper & Brothers. Finch drinks to excess and is jealous of Betty s success. Their relationship ends, and he leaves Chapel Hill. In 1943, Betty begins writing to Joe Jones, a columnist for the Chapel Hill Weekly. They marry on August 7, 1943. The film version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn opens in 1945. By the end of 1945, Betty has earned nearly $110,000 from the sale of more than 3 million copies of the book. Betty s second novel, Tomorrow Will Be Better, is published in August 1948. In 1951, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn opens as a musical comedy at the Alvin Theater on Broadway. Betty and Joe separate, and she is again seeing Bob Finch, although he is married to someone else. Betty divorces Joe after the musical s successful opening. Betty and Bob Finch marry in 1957, after his wife agrees to a divorce. Betty s third book, Maggie-Now, is published in 1958. Betty s last novel, Joy in the Morning, is published in 1963. Betty Smith dies January 17, 1972, in Shelton, Connecticut, of pneumonia. She is buried in Chapel Hill at the Legion Street Cemetery, next to Bob Finch.