A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith

Francie was glad for Saturday and hated to end it by going to sleep.

Honestly, same.

She wept when they gave birth to daughters, knowing that to be born a woman meant a life of humble hardship.

Beautiful line

The regimented routine of many children, all doing the same thing at once, gave her a feeling of safety. She felt that she was a definite part of something, part of a community gathered under a leader for the one purpose.

There had to be the dark and muddy waters so that the sun could have something to background its flashing glory.

Remember this: Someone has to lose and it’s just as apt to be you as the other fellow.

Obscenity and profanity had no meaning as such among those people. They were emotional expressions of inarticulate people with small vocabularies; they made a kind of dialect.

Education! That was it! It was education that made the difference! Education would pull them out of the grime and dirt.

When you write of actual things, it takes longer, because you have to live them first.

Amen