Introduction

1. The Methodological Approach

In this article, and in order to thoroughly analyze the key thematic aspects in Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the feminist approach is thoroughly utilized. The reason behind selecting this approach is owing to the fact that the discussion in this article aims at inspecting varied thematic components in this novel. Among them is the sturdy spirit of endurance demonstrated by the female characters in this novel including Francie. Moreover, another significant thematic aspect is pertinent to the innovative tactics and strategies the female characters, in this text, cultivate in order to ease the hardship they encounter. Another dynamic thematic aspect, the analysis in this article explores, is the role of solidarity among the females in winning over many of the obstacles they grapple with. These core thematic aspects can best be investigated through the lens of the feminist approach since it deftly permits a wide inspection of the role of women in the society. Further such an approach adroitly and thoroughly examines the strategies the female characters, in this novel, skilfully employ in overcoming the financial and social constrains they often battle with.

There are numerous definitions of the movement of feminism. However, among the straightforward definitions is the one that defines it as a cultural, political, and philosophical movement which aims at opposing the unjust treatment and discrimination that women fiercely confronted with throughout history (Hébert, 2022). Feminism as a movement is divided into three waves. Each is distinct in its characteristics and the goals it aims at achieving. The first wave of feminism focuses on women's suffrage, it strives for the rights in areas of education, property ownership, and employment. Key activists are Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Lucretia Mott. The second wave of feminism is regarded as continuation of the first wave as it lays an intensive focus on women’s rights to have opportunities to work in all types of carriers as equal as men, it also highlights the problems of domestic violence, the objectification of women's bodies, sexual harassment, and home abuse. Key figures are Betty Friedan, Kate Millett, Gloria Steinem, and Germaine Greer (Selden et al., 2005). Additionally, the third wave of feminism strives to emphasize the voices and experiences of marginalized groups, including women of colour, working-class women, LGBTQ+, and those with disabilities. The influential figures are bell hooks (this critic chose to write her name in small letters), Judith Butler, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Roxane Gay (Aikau et al., 2007).

Moreover, bell hooks’ notions of poverty and solidarity are employed to thoroughly examine the lives of the protagonist Francie as well as those who are close to her, the women in the family. hooks discuss the notion of poverty in her influential book Where We Stand: Class Matters (2000). The critic adroitly discusses the impact of poverty on the lives of women, and she illustrates that poverty has a destructive impact on women since they often bear the burdens of household management and many of them provide the basic needs of their families with limited resources. She emphasizes that poverty limits women’s access to education and healthcare. In her book entitled Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984), hooks advocates women to come together and support each other. She argues that women were erroneously taught to compete with one another instead of supporting one another. Therefore, solidarity among women is one of the key aspects that ensures the emancipation of women from the shackles of the patriarchal society.

2. Surviving Life of Indignation through Endurance, Resourcefulness and Solidarity

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is categorized as a coming-of-age novel, which can be considered as a “novel of growth” that details the personal maturity, youth, adulthood, and the educational development of the protagonist Francie. (Childs & Fowler, 2006, p. 18). The novel traces the life details of the eleven-year-old girl growing up in an impoverished family in Brooklyn, New York in early 20th century.

The novel is narrated via the use of the third-person limited omniscient narrator. It is “limited” as it constantly focuses on one character who is Francie, the protagonist. According to Baldick (2001), the third-person limited omniscient narrator might “confine our knowledge of events to whatever is observed by a single character or a small group of characters.” (p. 198) By maintaining this restricted viewpoint in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the narrative account is solely centred on Francie's individual experiences and the varying phases of growth, while the inner lives of other characters, thoughts and feelings remain unexpressed.

In regard to the title of the novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, it conveys a profound reference to the sturdy personality of the protagonist, Francie. This is an emphatic symbol of resilience and strength as “no matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky” (Smith, 1943, p. 6). Thus, resilience is an essential theme in the novel, which is represented in the title with the image of the tree. This theme has a profound relevance to the personal traits of the protagonist Francie and to the women in her family. The word resilience entangles other connotations that are pertinent to inner strength and a unique capacity to endure. Wu et al. (2013) define “resilience” as “the ability to adapt successfully in the face of stress and adversity” (p. 1). Francie frequently demonstrates an extraordinary capacity to adjust and cope with economic, social and physical challenges. Hence, the title which has an apparent reference to a tree that breaks the concrete ground and flourishes becomes an exquisite symbol for Francie’s inner strength and relentless determination (Yousaf & Kharal, 2024).

Adroitly, Betty Smith depicts the personal characteristics of Francie as having inherited a blend of traits from the Rommely, her mother’s family, and from the Nolan, father’s family. Smith narrates that “the Rommelys ran to women of strong personalities. The Nolans ran to weak and talented men” (Smith, 1943, p. 70). Therefore, it is evident that Francie has inherited from her grandmother, Mary Rommely, resilient will and a passion for storytelling as well as “the reading, the observing . . . It was something that had been born into her and her only” (Smith, 1943, p. 73). Francie also “had Johnny’s sentimentality without his good looks” (Smith, 1943, p. 72). This combination of features; sturdiness and sentimentality form a distinct personality of Francie. Probably, among the well-defined feature of this young protagonist is her sharp observative skills which enable her to deftly interpret the incidents around her. In Girlhood and Engendered Alienation in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Dolese (2022) claims that Francie “observes the neighbourhood whenever she can, taking in a variety of local characters and collecting nuggets of knowledge” (p. 10). Francie inspects her surroundings in her neighbourhood, such as her neighbours, family, and friends. She discovers different societal norms, behaviours, and lifestyles which helps the young girl to build a better understanding of the small world around her.

In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the father Johnny, a singing waiter, is addicted to alcohol. He is a heavy drinker who is often dismissed from his job for showing up drunk. Hence, he scarcely maintains a steady-paid job. Due to these extreme impoverished conditions of the family, the mother Katie has to be the bread-winner working as a janitress in the same building they live. Each night and as the mother descends to the basement of the building to collect the garbage, Francie and her brother Neeley collect iron tins, rags papers, and bottles to sell them to the garbage collector. The arduous labour of these two children as they work at night amid heaps of garbage testify to the fact that their childhood is far from being pleasant or enjoyable. In his pivotal book, Children and Violence: The World of the Defenceless, Helander (2008) states that “for a child to grow up in a poor family that lacks almost everything is harrowing” (p. 225). Helander’s explanation demonstrates the challenges a child faces when growing up in a poor household where means of a comfortable childhood are scares. Therefore, resilience is necessity trait for a child to navigate a world which provides limited support. Thus, early in her childhood, Francie is committed to work for her family and learns how to economize, as they “got only a penny for ten pounds. Rags brought two cents, a pound and iron, four” (Smith, 1943, p. 7). Despite the low pay, Francie does this job out of necessity. Francie confronts the challenges of growing up and the burden of her family’s poverty is upon her “shoulders” which forces her “into a level of maturity” beyond her years” (Dolese, 2022, p. 43). This responsibility forces her to take on an adult role at a young age, a thing that unveils her determination and stamina.

Among the important factors that genuinely assist Francie to prevail over the cruel conditions of penury and need are the discerning advices of the grandmother, Mary Rommely. The wise old lady constantly provides practical advices concerning ensuring a better future for the children. Often, she is seen instructing her daughter Katie on small yet accomplishable tactics to save some pennies:

You must take an empty condensed-milk can and wash it well…cut off the top neatly . . . Each day put five cents in it. In three years . . . fifty dollars. Take the money and buy a lot in the country . . . Thus, you become a landowner. (Smith, 1943, pp. 85,86)

The grandmother describes a simple, yet workable way to save little amounts of money through using a milk can as a safe. She instructs Katie to place five cents daily in this can, or as the family calls it “bank”. Within three years, this very little sum of money turns into fifty dollars. An amount sufficient to purchase a residential land in order to secure the future. This evidently elucidates that the impoverished individuals constantly live with a sense of instability, feeling that their position is not secure with threats like illness or job loss, therefore, they have to find means to secure their future. In “Excluded Middles: Social Inequality in American Literature,” Jones (2011) claims that individuals who live in poverty are “gripped by status anxiety and the fear of falling” (p. 94). This constant state of apprehension and the need to plan for the future is caught in the attitude of the grandmother who experiences poverty and hardship, hence, she urges her daughter to save even the smallest amounts she can manage. With time, the small sum can be a good way to purchase a residential land. In Irish American Fiction from World War II to JFK: Anxiety, Assimilation, and Activism, Anish (2021) asserts that “Mary Rommely exists as a fully fleshed-out character, with memories of the “old country” and wisdom for how to get by in this new one” (p. 41). Having an immigrant background, Mary competently remembers her life in her home country, the old country, and employs that wisdom and knowledge to help her daughter Katie, to adapt and survive the adverse life in America. Although, five cents may appear a very small amount of money, even in the forties of the twentieth century, where the events in this novel take place, the mother complains “five cents a day…seems a little. But where is it to come from? We haven’t enough now” (Smith, 1943, p. 86). Katie’s statement clearly reflects the severe financial conditions they are struggling with. The wise grandmother offers small solutions:

You must do it thus: You go to the green grocer’s and ask how much are carrots the bunch. The man will say three cents. Then look about until you see another bunch, not so fresh, not so large. You will say: May I have this damaged bunch for two cents? Speak strongly and it shall be yours for two cents. That is a saved penny that you put in the star bank. It is winter, say. You bought a bushel of coal for twenty-five cents. It is cold. You would start a fire in the stove. But wait! . . .That hour will save you three cents’ worth of coal. (Smith, 1943, p. 86)

These clever tactics the grandmother instructs her daughter to follow involve sacrifices, eating damaged food and sitting in the cold. Still, they are necessary skills to survive poverty and to save for the future. In his book Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail, Polar (2008) states that “strategies provide important tools for poverty alleviation” (p. 196). Polar’s statement illustrates that strategies are necessary for the poor to effectively alleviate some of the financial burdens and improve the living conditions. With keen observation skills, Francie watches her mother making use of crumps of bread to bake them into a delicious pudding. She states that “Mama made a very fine bread pudding from slices of stale bread, sugar, cinnamon and a penny apple sliced thin. When this was baked brown, sugar was melted and poured over the top” (Smith, 1943, p. 44). Katie ensures that nothing is wasted and makes the most of what is available in her house, which illustrates how limited sources can inspire creativity. Similarly, Katie makes a huge pot of coffee every morning then reheats it repeatedly throughout the day, a thing that demonstrates her resourcefulness. Singh & Bhambri (2024) in an article entitled “Resilience Amongst Working and Non-Working Women” claim that resilience also “involves resourcefulness” (p. 1). It suggests that resilience isn’t solely about withstanding against hardship, but it is also about being resourceful and making the most of limited resources. This is explicitly illustrated in the novel when Katie turns old crumps of bread into a delicious pudding or when she reheats the same coffee throughout the whole day.

Finding small innovative ways to endure a constant hunger is a smart strategy followed by the young girl Francie. In various scenes in the novel, potatoes are prepared as the main meal for the impoverished family of the protagonist. Having potatoes every day makes the Francie weary and lacking in appetite Hence, the quick-witted girl invents ways to deal with this through having only pickles for a whole day. Although, it is a simple pickle, Francie sees it a “big pickle time . . . The pickle lasted all day. Francie sucked and nibbled on it. She didn’t exactly eat it. She just had it (Smith, 1943, p. 45). The pickle is a cheap treat that becomes a way to deter her hunger, simultaneously, it reinvigorates her appetite. After spending a day nibbling the pickle, Francie would notice that “the bread and potatoes tasted good again” (Smith, 1943, p. 45).

Childhood of sever deprivation is the kind of cruel experience the young girl suffers from that even having a candy is a wish which is hard to be fulfilled. The narrator adroitly depicts Francie sucking “her sugar bun slowly, reluctant to have done with its sweet taste” (Smith, 1943, p. 15). She sucks her sugar pun slowly hoping it may last longer. In the same manner, the young girl eats her banana and states that “I think I’ll slice my banana on top of my oatmeal. I’ll slice it very thin so that there’s a whole lot of it” (Smith, 1943, p. 277). Francie slices her banana very thin in order to last long and enjoy it little more.

Being extremely poor, the family cannot afford to send their children to the doctor when they are ill. The mother keenly seeks home remedies and herbs when one child falls sick. When the news spread, in Francie’s school, that some girls have lice in their hair, the mother resorts to traditional methods. She, in a fit of panic, scrubs Francie’s hair with a “strong yellow scrubwoman’s soap . . . The next morning, she dipped the hair brush into a bowl of kerosene oil, brushed Francie’s hair vigorously” (Smith, 1943, p. 161). During winter days and as flue spreads, Katie’s uses home remedies to protect her children from flue, hence, “they never so much as came down with a cold” (Smith, 2943, p. 162). Through these actions, Katie succeeds in protecting her children from diseases that might lead to severe illness. In an article entitled “Intertwined Lives of Women and Nature: An Ecofeminist Analysis of the A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Smith,” (2024), she states that Katie as the mother figure provides care for her children and “stands tall in the face of economical struggles . . . With more love and fewer resources, Katie never gives up trying to give a better life to her children (p. 1120, 1121). The image of the mother lucidly demonstrates significant features, such as perseverance, tenacity and determination. In spite of facing constant economic hardships, she persists unwaveringly in her commitment to provide a decent life for her children. On commenting on women and poverty, the prominent feminist critic bell hooks (2000) claims that “the poor live with and among the poor confined in gated communities without adequate shelter, food, or health care . . . Women of all races . . . are fast filling up the ranks of the poor” (pp. 2, 8). Through the metaphor of the “gated communities”, hooks emphasizes that poverty functions as a class difference, a close gates for the impoverished community to have access to basic needs such as nutrient food, decent homes, and healthcare.

Furthermore, even opportunities for self-development are firmly seized and used by the talented mother. As Katie works as a cleaner in the building where she lives, she extends to Miss Lizzie Tynmore, a piano teacher, a bargain of “one hour’s cleaning work for the Tynmores in exchange for a lesson each week” (Smith, 1943, p.139). Katie’s capability to arrange this exchange emphasizes her quick-witted abilities of making the most of what is available. It also evidently demonstrates her belief in the value of personal development to ensure that her children have better opportunities in learning various skills. In an article titled “Resilience Amongst Working and Non-Working Women,” Singh & Bhambri (2024) assert that “women frequently juggle multiple roles and responsibilities” (p. 2). Women, according to Singh and Bhambri, take on several burdens and responsibilities in order to ensure their children’s educational progress and well-being. Katie exemplified these traits in her firm will and inner strength to handle the various tasks of providing for the family and raising her children as a single mother. When Johnny, the husband, dies, Katie tells her children “from now on . . . I am your mother and your father,” (Smith, 1943, p. 299). Working as a janitor, Katie can afford to pay the rent “the rent was paid as long as she could keep those three tenements clean” (Smith, 1943, p. 301). Despite the stifling financial conditions, the mother seems to succeed in keeping a house and providing for her children.

Being resourceful, finding small innovative ways to save for the future and seeking home remedies are valuable methods for survival for the indignant families. However, there is still the urgent need for solidarity among the women of the one family or of the one neighbourhood in order to support one another through varied ordeals. Francie, keenly observes the spirit of solidarity that is intense among the women in her big family. This is caught in the scene when Katie is about to give birth to her third child. As she has no money to pay for the mid-wife, Sissy, Katie’s sister, takes the role of the mid-wife and delivers the baby safely. Sissy joyfully declares “I bore ten—no—eleven children. You [Evy] had three and Katie had two. Among us, we had sixteen children. We ought to know enough to bring a baby” (Smith, 1943, p. 339). Sissy asserts the abilities of the women in their family to successfully handle even the most sensitive health case, delivering a baby without a nurse or even mid-wife. In this novel, the key idea about women stand by one another while facing different hardships is elucidated by Farid et al. (2023) who claim that “women's bonding becomes indispensable throughout their struggle against oppressive forces” (p. 24). Women commonly share similar struggles, which creates a powerful sense of understanding among them, providing them with solidarity and support. Women can increase efforts to defy adversities by coming together due to the fact that collective actions prove to be more potent than individual attempts when facing hostile circumstances. However, bell hooks (1984) claims that “women are enriched when we bond with one another” (p. 45). The firm bondage among women, as seen in the conducts of the Rommely’s family, culminates in a remarkable resilience against their varying challenges as they come together to defy challenges.

This prominent spirit of solidarity is demonstrated by Francie who witnesses a confrontation between her neighbour Joanna, an unmarried mother with an illegitimate child, and the neighbourhood women. These women harass and throw stones at Joanna for having an illegitimate child. Hesitant to stand with Joanna, Francie stands and watches the scene. When the baby is hit by one of the stones the women throw at Joanna, Francie feels the urge to implement an action. She sacrifices her only copy of a published story which she is so proud about:

She was so proud of it; so eager to show Papa and Aunt Evy and Sissy. She wanted to keep it always to look at and to get that nice warm feeling when she looked at it. If she gave it away, there was no means by which she could get another copy. She slipped the magazine under the baby’s pillow. She left it open at the page of her story. (Smith, 1943, p. 234)

Francie decides to leave her published story under the pillow of Joanna's child as an act of atonement. Francie never “walks around treating other women in such overtly cruel ways” (Dolese, 2022, p. 26). Francie doesn’t cope with her struggles by keeping cruelty. Instead, she constantly shows empathy towards women in her neighbourhood. Her experience of poverty and social marginalization shape her to be compassionate and understanding, rather than judgmental or harsh. Thus, her decision to sacrifice the only copy of her published story becomes a powerful act of solidarity, which demonstrates the strength of female connections in the face of societal judgment.

Impoverished people tend to avoid acknowledging their struggles and conceal their poverty, which creates an environment where solidarity is scarce amongst them. This is seen in the scene when a Protestant Christmas celebration is held at a church attended by Francie and Sissy, her aunt. During the celebration, a beautiful doll is donated to any poor girl with the name of Mary:

There were at least a hundred Marys in that audience. It was that adjective “poor” that struck them dumb. No Mary would stand up, no matter how much she wanted the doll, and be a symbol of all the poor little girls in the audience. (Smith, 1943, p. 212)

Little girls with the name of Mary decline from raising their hands to get the doll because of the feeling of embarrassment associated with poverty. In that moment “Francie stood up and held her hand high in the air” (Smith, 1943, p. 212). Her desperation drives her to adopt a false identity and claims that her name is Mary Frances Nolan in order to get the gift. Francie is the only girl to declare herself as Mary in spite of the fact that there are many. It testifies to the fact that the fear of being identified as poor creates a barrier between the person and the community. Therefore, there is no solidarity among the poor girls in that scene. As Francie encounters such situations, Anish (2021) claims that it becomes apparent to her that “poverty is something to hide because it is shameful” (p. 50). This incident reveals to Francie that poverty is something to hide, as poor people would rather hide their struggles than risk judgment. It showcases the shame many poor people feel about their economic conditions, which prevents them from admitting their struggles openly or seeking solidarity with those facing similar struggles. However, Anish (2021) also asserts that “Francie refuses to give in and give up who she is” (p. 50). Francie is determined to maintain her identity despite the struggles of poverty and lack of solidarity. She refuses to let the society which often seeks to define people by their economic status define her worth. Hence, she proudly claims that her name is Mary, declaring her poverty to get the gift.

Another scene that adroitly portrays Francie’s courage to stand against embarrassment and hypocrisy of her society is caught in her visit to the hospital for a vaccination. Before school starts, the children need to be vaccinated for school registration. As she is given the vaccination injection, Francie overhears the doctor and nurse mock her for having filthy fingers. She hears the doctor telling the nurse “filth, filth, filth, from morning to night. I know they’re poor but they could wash. Water is free and soap is cheap. Just look at that arm, nurse” (Smith, 1943, p. 146). The doctor’s statement reflects a lack of sympathy for the impoverished conditions of the poor. This insulting comment of the doctor arouses feeling of anger within Francie. She understands that the doctor, from a higher class, is more likely to cruelly judge the impoverished people. But she is annoyed by the nurse who though from a humble class, aligns herself with the doctor. The nurse tells the doctor that “I know. Isn’t it terrible? I sympathize with you, Doctor. There is no excuse for these people living in filth” (Smith, 1943, pp. 146-147). The nurse’s decision to side with the upper class reveals that Francie’s community is harsh in their judgment on the poor that even those who might have come from such class tend to distant themselves from their roots feeling ashamed of poverty and need. In “Toward a Discourse Ethic of Solidarity,” Fraser (1986) claims that solidarity amongst women isn't merely about personal relationships, such as care and love, rather, it is about “collective solidarities as expressed in shared . . . social practices” (p. 428). The solidarity amongst women needs to extend beyond personal relationships to include a collective understanding of shared struggles. In the two previous scenes, Francie is offended by the sharp glances of the little girls in the church celebration and by the insulting comments of the nurse. These situations bear more pressure on her as she seems to stand alone with no support from the surrounding, her own poor class. A thing that clearly highlights the need for a high sense of solidarity in defiance of adverse social and financial circumstances.

Conclusion

Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, forms a compelling narrative that depicts resilient women in defiance of financial adversity and social hurdles. As a coming-of-age novel, the narrative follows Francie’s daily experiences as she and her family members relentlessly struggle with financial hardships. Through these grilling conditions, Francie develops certain personal traits that enable her to withstand harsh financial and social circumstances. Endurance and tolerance are among the first features that the young protagonist learns as a basic tool to survive harsh conditions of poverty. Being resourceful is a fundamental feature to cultivate in ones’ personality in order to grapple with life of little resources. Often the young girl observes her grandmother and her mother coming up with brilliant ideas and solutions to manage the daily needs of the impoverished family such as food and medical needs. Furthermore, valuable lessons are gained, by the young protagonist, about the need for solidarity among the female members of the family to negotiate the difficulties they often pass through while she grows up into adulthood. Women need to stand by one another during challenging times is another valuable experience Francie learns while discerning the little stories of women in her neighbourhood, the overt and the covert stories. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn draws the attention on the inner strength of the female characters in this novel. Still, the text places special attention on the personality of the young protagonist, her endurance and stamina as she endeavours to cope with hostile conditions. Francie is quite akin to the tree that keeps blooming in the inner yard of the building where Francie’s family lives. In spite of the cement ground and the scarcity of the sunshine, the tree survives. So is Francie, who finds brilliant ways to overcome the hurdles she often encounters. The discussion, in the present article, testifies that these grilling circumstances Francie constantly battles with and wins over shape a unique, praiseworthy and resilient personality for this young protagonist.

REFERENCES

Aikau, H. K., Erickson, K. A., & Pierce, J. L. (Eds.). (2007). Feminist waves, feminist generations: Life stories from the academy. University of Minnesota Press.

Anish, B. O. (2021). Irish American fiction from World War II to JFK: Anxiety, assimilation, and activism. Palgrave Macmillan.

Baldick, C. (2001). The concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Childs, P., & Fowler, R. (Eds.). (2006). The Routledge dictionary of literary terms. Routledge.

Dolese, L. C. (2022). Girlhood and engendered alienation in the heart is a lonely hunter and a tree grows in Brooklyn [Master's thesis, University of New Orleans]. University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3043

Farid, A., Tufail, R., & Ahmad, S. (2023). Resilience, alienation and female friendship: Resilient women in Toni Morrison's paradise and Khaled Hosseini's a thousand splendid suns. Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, 4(1), 23-28. https://doi.org/10.52223/JSSA23-040106-61

Fraser, N. (1986). Toward a discourse ethic of solidarity. Praxis International, 5(4), 426-429. https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/seminars/2008/HSS08_Fraser.pdf

Hébert, L. (2022). Introduction to literary analysis: A complete methodology. Routledge.

Helander, E. A. (2008). Children and violence: The world of the defenceless. Palgrave Macmillan.

hooks, B. (1984). Feminist theory: From margin to center. South End Press.https://funceji.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/08/bell_hooks_feminist_theory_from_margin_to_centebookzz-org_.pdf

hooks, B. (2000). Where we stand: Class matters. Taylor and Francis Group. http://carbonfarm.us/amap/hooks_class.pdf

Jones, G. (2011). Excluded middles: Social inequality in American literature. In C. F. Levander & R. S. Levine (Eds.), A companion to American literary studies (pp. 93-107). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444343809.ch6

Polar, P. (2008). Out of poverty: What works when traditional approaches fail. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. https://archive.org/details/Out_of_Poverty_9781576755488

Selden, R., Widdowson, P., & Brooker, P. (2005). A reader's guide to contemporary literary theory (5th ed.). Pearson Education.https://www.uv.es/fores/contemporary-literary-theory-5th-edition.pdf

Singh, M., & Bhambri, S. (2024). Resilience amongst working and non-working women. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, 6(2), 1-12. https://www.ijfmr.com/papers/2024/2/18423.pdf

Smith, B. (1943). A tree grows in Brooklyn. Harper & Brothers.

Williams, R. (1958). Culture and society, 1780-1950. Anchor Books.https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/4608772/mod_resource/content/1/CULTURE%20AND%20SOCIETY%20-%20R.%20WILLIAMS.pdf

Wu, G., Feder, A., Cohen, H., Kim, J. J., Calderon, S., Charney, D. S., & Mathé, A. A. (2013). Understanding resilience. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 7, 1-15.https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00010

Yousaf, S., & Kharal, Q. A. (2024). Intertwined lives of women and nature: An ecofeminist analysis of the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Journal of Arts and Linguistics Studies, 2(2), 1105–1125. https://jals.miard.org/index.php/jals/article/view/147/115

* Corresponding Author.

This is an open access under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)