A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

You walk down the street a happy person. There's a check in your hand and a spring in your step as you walk into your home. You think of all the things you had to do to get that money; each was a challenge in its own way. Although the work was hard, it was worth it for the check you set on the table, and, though having the money simply handed to you would have been easier, you know that, in a way, knowing that you earned the check yourself is better. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Francie and Neely are proud to bring their first pay home, not because of how much they earned, but because they earned the money by standing up to the challenges at their jobs. Life is full of challenges but that's part of the reason it's so great.

If people stand up to challenges, they'll be rewarded. In the book, when Francie and Neely decide to have the biggest tree thrown at them, the way I saw it was, the tree stood for all the challenges in life that they had to face. The tree smashed into them, crushed them, almost brought Neely to his knees, but Francie and Neely found a way to stay standing through it all, and so, won the tree. The challenges that people have to face in life can do these same things and if people stand up to them, keep themselves from being knocked down, they'll be rewarded almost every time. Francie and Neely were rewarded with the tree, and in "Home", the father's sacrifices and hard work were rewarded with the benefit of being able to keep his house. Francie also had to go through a different kind of challenge at her first job, being accepted by the other workers. Francie had to find out why the others were taunting her, and when Francie did, her job was much easier and she had friends at her job with her.

Sometimes, overcoming a challenge can be more fun than getting the reward. Francie's challenge was earning money for her family so she tried two jobs and found that she liked going to work better than getting paid. At Francie's first job, she had plenty of friends to talk and have fun with while she worked, while at her second job, she was doing what she loved most, reading. In real life, people challenge themselves in a manner of ways, simply because they find it fun. Baseball is a challenge where the goal is either to hit the ball and get to the base, or to strike or tag the runner out, depending on which team the player's on. Baseball is something people do because it's fun. Every game is some kind of challenge, but some challenges are fun to do.

When people overcome life's challenges, they find pride in themselves and others. As Francie and Neely brought home their first pay, they were proud, not only of themselves, but of each other as well. Katie Nolan was proud of her children because they had managed to overcome the challenges presented to them. Once a student passes a test, they're proud of themselves and, sometimes, of their friends because they had over come the challenge of learning the information on the test, and are now smarter than before. Doing things yourself, no matter how hard, can be more satisfying simply because of that feeling of pride when you finish.

Challenges are part of every day life. They make life more enjoyable in a number of ways, from making games more fun to being the source of pride. Without challenges, life wouldn't be interesting, people wouldn't know what it is to be proud, there'd be no need for reward; life would be completely and utterly different in the worst sort of way. Francie's whole life is like the world's biggest challenge but Francie couldn't be very much happier unless Jonny Nolan could come back to life. She embraces challenges because challenges are part of life and defenitly do make life more enjoyable.