IN PERSON: Betty Smith’s classic "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1943) has unexpected North Carolina roots: Smith began writing the novel while living in Chapel Hill and working with the PlayMakers Repertory Company. Drawing on her childhood experiences in New York, she created a young protagonist who navigates poverty, family, and aspiration in the immigrant neighborhood of Williamsburg. Without losing its narrative immediacy, the novel set at the turn of the 20th century conveys the urban immigrant experience, the transformative power of literacy, the constraints of gender, and the promises and pitfalls of the American Dream—issues that remain strikingly relevant today. In spite of its enduring popularity and designation by the Library of Congress as a book that shaped America, “Tree” has received scant critical attention. In class we will consider the novel's historical elements, study its character and plot construction, and hypothesize about why the work remains outside the traditional canon. | Facilitated discussion.
Max enrollment: 11.
Location: Judea Reform Congregation, 1933 W. Cornwallis Rd, Durham NC 27705
