Betty Smith, in the first novel of her career, presents a picture of Brooklyn that she knew well. Like her main character, Francie Nolan, Smith lived in the slums of Williamsburg. In a show of courage and hope, however, both Smith and Francie managed to rise above their surroundings to achieve the dream that originally drew foreigners toward the shores of America.
Brooklyn, New York. In 1898 the New York state legislature expanded the boundaries of New York City, nearly doubling its population overnight. The new area, Greater New York, was divided into five sections known as boroughs. These included Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond, and the Bronx. To some elderly New Yorkers, the new territories seemed so uncharted that they might as well have belonged to a foreign country.
Lying between the East River and the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island, Brooklyn stretched across an expanse of land three times larger than that of Manhattan Island. Its population, at 2.5 million residents, likewise surpassed the area formerly considered New York City proper. Within its streets, one could travel between merchant wharves and warehouses, skyscrapers, apartment buildings, suburban homes, and slums.
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