A Comparison Of Life In Speak And A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Both novels A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson are stories that depict two surprisingly alike young girls and their struggles in life, but are different in their style of writing and theme. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn takes us through Francie Nolan’s life as she grows up, and we see the effect of childhood poverty during the early 1900s through her perspective. It shows us her families’ struggle, and what they had gone through during the time of WWII. Speak takes us through the perspective of Melinda Sordino, and her struggles with herself after beginning highschool with an unimaginable secret and ruined reputation. It takes place during modern times, and shows highschool through the perspective of a misunderstood

While A Tree Grows in Brooklyn takes place in the early 1900s, Speak gives us the perspective of our modern day world. Despite this, the characters are alike in many ways. Francie Nolan struggles with loneliness and the loss of innocence after many harsh events take place while she is still young. For example, Francie spent most of her days reading by herself for hours on end, and when she had gone to school earlier in the novel she never made any close friends to hang out with. Francie even stated “From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood.” This showed her love for books, but also acknowledged her loneliness. In Speak, Melinda is traumatized from being taken advantage of and raped by an older boy named Andy Evans. She had called the police at the party they were at, and ever since then has been seen as an outcast. We see this in how she had lost her friends, and spent her time out of school alone at her house. Sometimes her time in school was even spent

Speak is written in first person, and we see right through the eyes of Melinda Sordino as if we were her character. The story is in present tense, and the plot is constructed based on the marking periods of the school year and the events are organized to show the reader both Melinda’s story and her growth as a person. On the other hand, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is written from a third person omniscient point of view, and is loosely constructed in the events that take place. The book flows through Francie’s life, even including minor parts of it. The two books are alike in the way that we see inside the minds of each character. We pretty much know what Francie thinks at all times, and this also can apply to Melinda. For example, in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Francie states “The difference between rich and poor", said Francie, "is that the poor do everything with their own hands and the rich hire hands to do things.” showing her thoughts. In Speak, Melinda’s thoughts are given to us in a first person view, differing from Francie’s thoughts. The authors of both of these books include this so that we have a better understanding of the main characters. The main similarity of the two works is the symbolism used. Both authors included a tree as an important symbol. In Speak, the tree was a symbol of Melinda’s growth through her pain. The tree in this book had been a drawing, and it progressed as