hope and new life”, written by Jessica Ravitz, tells the story of a 170 year old chestnut tree that gave faith to Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who suffered during the Holocaust. This tree, now having been sick of a fungus for ten years, is dying. Afraid of this historical treasure’s demise, the museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at which the tree lives has begun to plant fallen chestnuts in hopes of growing others trees. The author gives the reader a passage in Anne’s diary dated February 23, 1944, in which the young girl writes that the tree is an uplifter of spirits and, in any situation, will provide hope to all of those around it. The people of the museum are hoping that…
In the exposition of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, the reader is introduced to the Nolan family. The Nolan family consists of four members living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn New York during the 1900s. Katie Nolan, the mother of Neeley and Francie Nolan has an Austrian family background, where Jonny, her husband and also the father of Francie and Neeley, has Irish in him however both parents were born in Brooklyn, making Francie and Neeley second generation Americans. Both Francie and Neeley were born into poverty and hardship, due to their parent’s financial state. However, in the exposition we learn that Francie is an optimistic young innocent girl, who has yet to experience the world around her. “Serene was a word you could…
In the novel a tree grows in Brooklyn, the protagonist, |Francie Nolan displays three virtues, courage, honesty and acceptance. Courage comes in many shapes, sizes and forms; it can be saving an old lady from a burning building or small encounters of courage, like asking out a secret admirer. Francies display’s courage when the doctor makes several comments about poor people being filthy, Francie feels hurt immediately. When the needle went into her, “… Francie never felt it. The wave of hurt started by the doctor's words… drove out all other feelings” unlike at the school yard when a girl with the blackboard erasers spit in Francie faces, she spoke up, Francie got the courage to stand up for herself…
a. Hook: In the Irish American community of Brooklyn in the 1900’s, immigrants faced discrimination and crushing poverty…
Throughout the novel Stand Tall by Joan Bauer, the protagonist, Tree, demonstrates he is perseverant through all of the hardships he faces. For instance, when Tree is left home alone with his disabled grandpa during the flood grandpa says, “‘Call your dad’… No answer ‘Call the neighbors we’ll find somebody’… ‘I’m gonna call the police, Grandpa. Tell them we need a ride’ He punched 911. Circuits busy” (141). Clearly this indicates, that Tree is incredibly tenacious during this hardship. Tree is left home alone with his grandpa, who only has one leg, during a flood not knowing what to do. His grandpa helps guide him but Tree courageously takes over. Therefore, Tree does not easily surrender. He continuously perserveres through the hardship. Even…
Later in the day Jim finds, “in the middle of the dining room table… a baseball glove and a baseball bat,” gifts from his family (42). Earley uses these gifts to represent how willingly Americans spent the wealth found in their full wallets. Another important event on Jim’s birthday occurs when the uncles ask Jim to come and work the field and help plow. When Jim arrives in the field, he instantly grabs the shiny new hoe. Just as quickly Uncle Zeno halts him, instead handing over the old broken hoe. This represents that in the Twenties you still had to work for the finer things in life. Use of the new hoe went to an experienced worker, Abraham. Just like the people building the towering skyscrapers in New York, Jim had to work hard to prove himself on the family farm. He would start at the bottom just like any other worker. Earley shared one additional representation of the…
How would it feel waking up to bombings and screams? imagine a world where you wake up hoping the previous day was just a nightmare and realizing it wasn't. This is how the Taliban is portrayed in the book Under the Persimmon Tree by, Susan Fisher Staples. One of the main characters, Najmah, is greatly impacted by the Taliban. These horrible people have destroyed her family by separating them and even killing some of them. The way the Taliban is portrayed in the book is similar to how it is in real life, the presentations showed that the Taliban is a group of people who are extremists.…
In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Francie and Neeley Nolan are children growing up during the early 1900’s. The brother and sister have to learn how to survive on bread crumbs (literally), and make the most of what they do own. Francie is the main character of the novel, and from the very beginning, the readers can grasp the independence that inhibits Francie from a young age, unlike Neeley who is very dependent on his parents (especially Katie, his mother) to help him get along. When Neeley and Francie are together, Neeley’s dependence brings out Francies individualistic way of thinking, ultimately providing evidence for the end of Francie’s coming-of-age tale.…
One of the main conflicts of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is person (Francie) vs. society. Poverty and judgment runs down the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Francie dives head on into conflicts concerning gender, economic state, and religion. “She put the penny in her dress pocket and turned the rest of the money over to him. Neeley was ten, a year younger than Francie. But he was the boy; he handled the money” (Smith 8). In essence, this shows females were not trusted to hold the money, resulting in Francie to give the money to her younger brother Neeley, even though Francie was probably more responsible due to her age. But because of her gender, she has to give the money to her younger brother, resulting in the conclusion…
However, the mother is only 19 years of age and all alone with a newborn, confused and scared her mother doesn't know what to do with her. She gave birth to her baby in a stairwell of her project home. Shortly, after giving birth she took the baby to a more wealthier apartment building called, "Gerald J. Carey Gardens," and threw her down the trash chute. According to the narrator the word "gardens" is a symbol for a green place where seeds are planted, tended, and nurtured. There had been a case whereas…
“I see IT in the hallway. IT goes to Merryweather. IT is walking with Aubrey Cheerleader. IT is my nightmare and I can’t wake up” (Anderson 45). Meet Melinda Sordino- a freshman at Merryweather High that everyone hates. She has a secret, a big one, that makes her feel alone and depressed, but she hasn’t told anyone. In her art class, the students are each assigned a topic for a year-long project and Melinda gets the topic tree. She struggles throughout the school year to create the perfect one. By the time June rolls around, she figures out how to speak up about being raped by Andy Evans and put feelings into her art. Melinda’s journey parallels the development of her tree project by depicting trees that are almost dead represent how she feels…
Tragedies are unpredictable and inevitable, however the different perceptions towards a hardship can alter an individual’s path. Tragedies can twist the image of reality, but they can also be a source of guidance. The movie Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis and the poem “On a Tree Fallen Across the Road,” by Robert Frost showcase that overcoming obstacles can provide a sense of identity, and impact the potential outcome.…
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is an allegory about unrestricted love. This children’s story begins with a tree and a young boy. The tree provides a place for the boy to play and is happy. However, as he grows, the boy begins to need more and the tree happily provides everything, overtime giving away its leaves, apples, branches, and trunk. In the end, all that is left is a stump which provides a seat for the boy who has now grown into an old man.…
There are three very important meaningful themes in the novel, judgment, relationships, and sexism. All of these things are created into a metaphor that the author uses, which is the pear tree. The tree signifies the main character, Janie’s, life. For example, a new relationship could be a new blossom, which would grow as the marriage would. The blossom could die, once the marriage is divorced. Janie “saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone” (8). When Janie comes back to her hometown after Tea Cake dies, the pear tree would just start growing its leaves again, because her life is just starting.…
Symbolism in the play includes Mama’s plant, the money Travis is given by Walter, and the new house. The plant symbolizes Mama’s family and how she nurtures the plant just as she nurtures the family. But also black people in general at that time and how the plant struggles to survive with limited exposure to sunlight just as blacks of mid-19th Century America struggle to survive with limited opportunities. At the beginning of the play, Travis asks his mother for 50 cents for a school activity. After his mother says she does not have this meager sum, Walter gives Travis a dollar, telling him to spend the extra on himself. The 50 cents represents the legitimate needs money can buy; the dollar represents the desire for material goods beyond these needs. Money is both a blessing and a curse, depending on how people use it (Act I, Scene 1, page 28). And the new house represents courage, hope, and growth—courage, because the family is willing to confront the prejudice it encounters in a white neighborhood; hope, because they believe the house may help provide a better future for them; growth, because—like the garden Mama plans for the yard of the house—they will be able to see their lives with new opportunities to gain respectability and achieve emotional, moral, and economic growth.…