A tree Grows in Brooklyn response 2- responsibility

You sit on the couch watching your favorite TV show when your mother comes in to ask you to take the garbage out. Instead of taking out the revolting trash you sit back down on the couch and continue to watch TV and hope that your mother will do your chore instead. What you should have done was take the trash out and then come back to your show. You can not depend on others to do your work through life because one day you will be on your own, and by learning at an early age you become very mature.

During the time this book was written the responsibility kids were given were much grater then what is given to today’s children. In the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the duties Francie is given teaches her maturity. She must run to the store to by food for the family, and her brother, Neely, and her must look for scraps of metal to sell for pennies. Francie does not depend on her family, her family depends on her for many things. Her responsibilities in this book are much greater than her younger brother's. When they take the scraps of metal to the junk yard she is the one whose cheek gets pinched in order to get the extra penny. Also when her mother decides that Nelly and Francie are to old to share a room Neely is the one who gets his own room while Francie and her mother, Katie, get to share a room. When Johnny died Katie had to buy new black clothes for the kids. Neely gets a nice black suit while Francie gets black shoes and is forced to where her green winter jacket. When her family was in need of money she would have been the one who had to drop out of school to get her working papers not Neely.

Francie is given all these responsibilities, and is the one making all the compromises, yet in return she is not receiving anything. She does not struggle with this or complain, because she understands that she must do this for her family. Francie comes to understand, that you must do what you are asked, and not depend on others.