Age

You are young and innocent. You have no idea what’s going on in the world right now getting ready for being older. As you enter your young adult years you think that getting older will greatly diminish your mind, body, and spirit. We try to run from an immanent attack. Age, the thing most people fear, is the best thing that can ever come upon our lowly souls in such an insignificant role in this universe.
Francie realizes that she has no control over her life when Johnny, her father dies. She sees he did nothing wrong nor did she, her brother or her mother. As she is faced with all of these trials and tribulations she sees that God has plans for everybody and no two are the same. As a person seeing many of these tragedies unfold she realizes life is not perfect ever for anyone. Knowing this along with her father’s death shoves her into depression.

Her teacher, Miss Gardner, makes it no better saying that her compositions are “…’little sordid stories.’ Sordid... Sordid: Filthy. Filthy? She thought of her father wearing a fresh dicky and collar every day of his life and shining his worn shoes as often as twice a day. Dirty. Papa had his own mug at the barber shop... Gross. Never! Papa was a dancer. He was slender and quick. His body wasn’t gross. And mean and low. She remembered a hundred and one little tendernesses and acts of thoughtfulness on the part of her father. She remembered how everyone had loved him so..." Francie had written stories about her father’s life so when Miss Gardner called her stories sordid Francie broke under the burden of her father’s death that she had been carrying aging her at such an accelerated rate that she was no longer a child at her mere fourteen years but a woman.
Francie was trying to hold onto what was left of her childhood. One that so many of us would find revolting she thought was absolutely beautiful. Although she found her true place in life, she must remember that she has no control over her life which is so insignificant.

Final Response to Tree Grows in Brooklyn

When you are young you look out onto the vast world wondering what will become of you. As you age this longing dwindles and there is nothing left to wonder. You question your existence everyday. You feel as if you've been everywhere and nowhere. The path from innocence to experience is a twisted and complicated one, but for us to do anything significant, with our seemingly insignificant life, we must embrace it.

When anybody gets the initiative to do something no matter the odds they can accomplish it. Like Francie and Neeley with the huge Christmas tree. Francie decided that she wanted that tree and she would do as much as she could to get even if it meant making sacrifices in the form of Neeley's face. That is just about as deep of a symbol as there is, because the face represents you and your soul, so this scene is actually showing that sometimes to get what we want it may mean damaging our self or others irreparably.

Johnny also damages himself by letting his alcoholism get the better of him and it leads to his premature death. That is a terrible fate, for then you are unable to complete your true duty for your short existence on earth. He was a great person, pulling through in the most difficult times, but barely making it through in the good times is not a way to live. It makes you live on edge for your entire life leaving you no time to relax and sort out your priorities. You just fall into an unbreakable cycle of falling into your parents footsteps, then your child or children will fall into yours until the need for that profession is nonexistent leaving them in the street begging. Even if you just get a little bit better and your kids do the same they will have a prosperous life if the correct choices are made.

Betty Smith had a very interesting spin on this book by letting the characters more real. She made most of them have two or more personalities. Everybody had a pure side and one were they would make the worst life possible for themselves. In most books there is a clear definite line. On one side good the other evil. In this book it seems as if everybody is straddling it.

Even though the path to experience is a long and strenuous one. Through it we shape who we are and what we want to accomplish, for better or for worse, but it is only us who shape it making the choices we make even if they aren't the easy ones. Most people in their old age they look back on their life and see what they did wrong and what they want to fix, but they only see those mistakes now after they have spent their whole life learning.

Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Have you ever dreamed of doing something that people will remember with your life? Have you done it? Have you even tried to accomplish it? If you ever want to accomplish anything in your life you need no skill no luck, you need courage because with the courage you have you will obtain all the skill you could want or need to do anything.
The courage that all of us seek and only the fortunate have is one of Francie’s greatest trait. For example the Christmas tree toss, she stood up for herself to try to catch the tree. It gave her all the confidence in the world, yet hiding in the shadows is an important, simple, symbol so cleverly woven into the complex novel almost to subtlety. As she and Neeley catch the tree Betty Smith says “… Blood was coming from scratches on Neeley’s face. He looked more like a baby than ever with his bewildered blue eyes and the fairness of his skin made more noticeable because of the clear red blood. But they were smiling…” It shows us no matter how much we are hurt or how hard we get knocked down we must get back up and fight. With the face as the symbol of one’s personality and soul it shows even if your ideas change subconsciously you are still yourself.
Life shows gives us many challenges, and no matter how hard we try to avoid them they must all be faced at one point or another. It doesn’t matter what choice we make in those challenges. What does matter is that we have the courage stay true to ourselves and do what we think is right. We must see that if we want to ever make a difference.

"The Circuit"

Think back to when you were in school. How you dreaded its coming every Sunday night, yet, others may have wanted for it to come sooner and last forever. The thing some fear, some dread, others want to just disappear entirely, can be the only outlet, the only freedom, a haven in and of itself, for others.
The only outlet for Roberto in this story is school it is his only hope yet he hides from it. He does not want to go, but the one day he finally does appreciate it want to return his father takes that away from him. That really puts a strong meaning on you don’t know what you have until its gone. Like who here now in modern society really appreciates that they have food on their table and a bed to sleep in every night?
Roberto’s dad is such a seemingly innocent evil dictator. He even has some devilish qualities, like the fact that he hid the children from the bus almost as Satin did in the Garden of Eden. He completely rules the family and does what he thinks is best for him on the spur of the moment. Like at the end of the story when Roberto comes home and thinks all of the excitement is because he was missed but it was all for the new thrilling prospect of the unknown.
Isn’t that what we all crave? What we don’t know. What we aren’t aware of. Part of what drives the human race is the quest for knowledge, and Roberto is just about to embark on a journey that will change his life for the better in the classroom, but his father just takes it away so casually, almost as if Roberto's life is that of an ant. Even ants need just a bit of freedom, of recognition, of freedom.
We need this freedom, this outlet, any outlet that lets us accomplish what we want to do, what we need to do, to express our true selves. This is so much our most sheltered and carefree life at the same time. We need to realize that and form our life around that not have it form around our lives. This is our Yin and Yang, our balance. That is what truly matters in life, balance.