A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Resources & Further Study

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn For Further Reference

Brockmann, Charles B. "In the Shadow of the Tree." Carolina Quarterly 2 (1950): 41-46. Brockmann elaborates on the symbol of the tree in the novel.

Gelfant, Blanche Housman. The American City Novel Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954. Contains a brief description of the urban experience as depicted in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Prescott, Orville. In My Opinion. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1952. Contains an analysis of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Prescott was probably the most enthusiastic and powerful of the critics examining the novel when it first came out. As many readers have done, Prescott focuses on Francie, the heroine, whose spirit and struggles he admires.

Trilling, Diana. "Fiction in Review: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn." Nation 157 (September 4, 1943): 274. Trilling's is an extremely negative view of Smith's novel. Her criticism of Smith on naturalistic grounds is enlightening, however.