RESILIENT WOMEN TO OVERCOME ADVERSITIES IN BETTY SMITH’S A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26436/hjuoz.2025.13.2.1517Keywords:
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Feminism, Francie Nolan, Resilience, Resourcefulness and solidarityAbstract
The current article explores vital thematic elements in Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943). The analysis concentrates on the protagonist of the novel who is an eleven-year-old Francie Nolan along with other key female members of her big family; mother, aunts and grandmother. These female characters distinctly reveal sturdy personalities and inner strength as they grapple with financial hardships, limited opportunities, and social difficulties. In the current article, the discussion thoroughly inspects three key aspects in this novel. The first is the sturdy spirit of resilience among the female family members of the protagonist, Francie. Second, the utilization of the varied skills of being resourceful and innovative in managing the daily needs of life for the poor families, Francie’s family being one among those. Third, the firm ties of solidarity among the female members of Francie’s family, the grandmother and the aunts, and among the women of the neighbourhood in order to withstand the diverse challenges. In the current article, the analysis places special focus on the personality of the young protagonist Francie in her relentless efforts to prevail over her adverse circumstances through sharpening her resilient spirit, bolstering her skills of resourcefulness and enhancing ties of solidarity.
Downloads
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
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Helan H. Jangir, Amel A. Mahmoud

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0] that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work, with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online.