Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A

Ethnic Stereotypes

The tenements of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn's Williamsburg teem with “hyphenated” Americans from around the globe, epitomized by the Nolan family's Austrian–Irish partnership. To some extent, ethnic stereotypes abound; the barber is Italian, garment workers are Jewish, and [Page 2089]the Irish are cops, bartenders, or alcoholics. But in contrast to the prejudices and confrontations explored by director Elia Kazan in Gentlemen's Agreement and Pinky, the bringing together of nationalities, which the Brooklyn melting pot facilitates, is seen as representing hope for the future. Katie's mother, Grandma Rommely (Ferila Beros), who still speaks with a heavy Austrian accent and is herself illiterate, has a strong reverence for books and insists that Francie and her brother Neeley (Ted Donaldson) read every evening, even if the meaning escapes them. She says to Katie in the presence of the children:

This paean to America as a land of opportunity was later captured in Kazan's film America, America (1963), which tells the story of his own uncle's trials in emigrating from a Turkish village to America, and founding the family fortune; but in this instance it is Francie, an aspiring writer, who we feel represents the family's future.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a richly layered film. It explores the poverty that beset the working classes of whatever ethnicity, and it was one of the first Hollywood films to sensitively address the issue of alcoholism. The children are trained to refer not to their father's drunkenness but to his “sickness,” and Katie persuades the doctor (George M. Carleton) to omit chronic alcoholism from Johnny's death certificate. The film also explores feminist issues, even if the characters might have been unfamiliar with the term.

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