For my Writer’s Seminar, I, along with some of my classmates (C.M, K.M, V.R) had the privilege to present Betty Smith, an author who wrote A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, which was initially published in 1943. The presentation for this Seminar can be found here.
* Note: Emulations from each Seminar can be found in the dropdown menu.*
INTERVIEW:
Welcome to our show! We are here with our special guest, Betty Smith!
*Hello’s, How are you’s*
1) To start off, tell us about your life growing up. Where were you born, and did you have any family?
- Born on December 15th, 1896 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn New York
- I was the daughter of John and Catherine Wehner – who were German immigrants
2) How was school life for you then?
- Good; I attended P.S 23 until I was 14.
- I quit to help support my family, financially.
3) I understand you worked a succession of jobs, following your time at school?
- Yes; from 1910-1915 I worked a few odd jobs.
- My favourite, however, was at a factory making tissue flowers and also my work at a clipping factory where I read about 200 magazines a day!
4) Was it at this time that you decided to go back to school?
- In 1915, I attended Girl’s High School.
- I was editor of the school newspaper.
5) How did you end up at the University of Michigan?
- I fell in love! George Smith and I eloped on June 6, 1919, and we moved to Ann Arbour Michigan.
6) What classes were you most interested in while at university?
- I very much enjoyed playwriting.
- I even started to write my own play including Wives-in-Law and A Day’s Work.
7) I also understand that you won an award at this time as well? Care to specify?
- Ah, yes. I was awarded the Avery Hopwood Award for my play Jonica Starrs – this was in 1930.
8) This may be a sensitive subject, but can you explain your multiple marriages?
- Sadly, George and I legally separated in 1933.
- I then met Bob Finch who was another student at Yale, the second university I attended and gained a drama degree
9) Now let’s start talking about the novel you will read with us today! A Tree Grows in Brooklyn!
- Ah, yes. I started writing this autobiographical novel in the late 1930s, however, it wasn’t published until 1943.
- However, Bob became very jealous of my success and our relationship ended.
- Fortunately, Twentieth Century Fox bought the rights to the novel and created a wonderful film.
8) Adding on to the previous question, we would like to know your personal outlook on life. What is your philosophy?
- I like to think about life in a realistic way; I view things logically and without much embellishment. However, I also enjoy taking real life instances and twisting them to entertain my readers.
9) On that note, what will you be reading us today? Why?
- Ah, yes. I would like to share with you an excerpt from my debut novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This novel holds a very special place in my heart because it is rooted in my own past, which is something that I am proud of. My past shaped who I am today.
10) Great! Let’s get right onto that excerpt. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this little Q&A. Let’s give it up for Betty Smith!
Presentation:
Slide 1: Betty Smith Writer’s Seminar by Victoria, Carmen, Kat, and Aaron
Slide 2: Who died?
Slide 3: Please welcome BETTY SMITH (December 15, 1896 – January 17, 1972)
Slide 4: Works by Betty Smith
- Novels:
– A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943)
– Tomorrow Will Be Better (1947)
– Maggie-Now (1958)
– Joy in the Morning (1963) - Plays:
– 3 Collections Of Non-Royalty One Act Plays (1943, 1945, 1958)
– A Day’s Work (unknown publication date)
– Wives-in-Law (unknown publication date)
Slide 5: Awards
- Avery Hopwood Award
- Berkeley Playmakers Award
- Rockefeller Fellowship
- Rockefeller & Dramatist Guild Award
Slide 6: Typicality of Betty Smith’s Work
- Style:
– Imagery of Setting
– The Use of Simple and Run-On Sentences
– Parallelism - Form
– 1943 Novel
– Consists of five parts, or “books” - Themes
– Innocence
– Influence of Society
– Social Status
– Escape from Poverty
– Education
– Gender and Sex
– Perseverance
– Coming of Age - Genres
– Fiction
– Romance
– Bildungsroman
Slide 7: Excerpts Demonstrating Style (Imagery)
“A block before she got to their house, her eyes were dazzled by the sun glinting off the brass handlebar of a handsome tricycle. It was a kind of vehicle that you don’t see nowadays. It had a wide leather seat, big enough for two little children, with a back to it and an iron steering bar leading to the small front wheel. There were two larger wheels in the back. There was a handlebar of solid brass on top the steering rod. The pedals were in front of the seat and a child sat in it with ease, pedaled it while leaning back in the seat and steered it with the handlebars which lay across the lap (Smith 117).”
Slide 8: Excerpts Demonstrating Style (Parallelism)
“Dear God,” she prayed, “let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry…have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere – be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost (Smith 421).”
Slide 9 + 10: Excerpts Demonstrating Themes
Social Status:
“ After the doctor’s outburst, Francie stood hanging her head. She was a dirty girl. That’s what the doctor meant. He was talking more quietly now asking the nurse how that kind of people could survive; that it would be a better world if they were all sterilized and couldn’t breed anymore (Smith 146).”
“She had been in school but half a day when she knew that she would never be a teacher’s pet. That privilege was reserved for a small group of girls… girls with freshly curled hair, crisp clean pinafores and new silk hair bows (Smith 151).”
Escape from Poverty / Education:
“The secret lies in the reading and the writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read. Then she must read every day, I know this is the secret (Smith 83).”
Slide 11: Betty Smith’s Advice
- Betty lived a simple life and because of this life – she would urge other writers to find inspiration in everything – to look at everything around you with a different lens each time. We believe that Betty would be the type of person who would spend hours and hours just people watching, and through that watching, she would be inspired to write a novel.
- Here is a quote that demonstrates this advice and from what we drew our inferences from:
- “Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first time or the last time.” ~ Betty Smith
Slide 12-14: Emulations
A) Inspired by the very first paragraph of the novel, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Quiet was a word you could put to the town of Ames. Trees fluttered in the wind, with no clunking of old cars put-puttering from the effort of moving. The streets were pristine, for no garbage piled onto themselves in the storm drains. On Baker Avenue, or lovingly called “The Avenue of Adventure”, shops lined the streets with vibrantly painted signs conveying their products. It was the only street made of cobblestone and brick. Visitors of the town congregated on this avenue, becoming the hub of energy for Ames. But once visitors exceeded their time of stay and passed through the town like fleeting seasons, it was rare to see a citizen of Ames in the streets. A ghost town would be the only word for it.
B) Inspired by an excerpt on page 117 of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
A block before I got to their house, my eyes were dazzled by the bright white exterior of the remodeled home. It was the kind of house that stood out from the other cookie-cutter houses on the block. It had a white picket fence surrounding it, with no visible holes of rotting and a pristine lawn with no weeds. A lone tree grew from a circular stone wall. Healthy and green, it complemented the greenery of the yard. Windows of a variety of shapes, from octagons and squares, lined the house in precise spacings, providing ample view for those inside and outside. A linear pathway made of rectangular slabs of cement guides visitors from the sidewalk, past the manicured lawn and flower bed of petunias and sunflowers, up to the front door. Painted rose red, the front door pops beside the stark white of the siding, a peculiar but striking choice.
Slide 15: Significance of Betty Smith
- Why is this writer significant?
– Brings reality to metaphysical themes (such as the idea of poverty and the prejudice faced in society’s past and present)
– Creates the importance of attention to imagery and establishing the setting. - What does this writer inspire in your own reading & writing identity?
– Considering the importance of imagery in own writing.
Slide 16: Impactful Quotes from A Tree Grows In Brooklyn:
- “A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the bootstrap route has two choices. Having risen above his environment, he can forget it; or, he can rise above it and never forget it and keep compassion and understanding in his heart for those he has left behind him in the cruel upclimb (Smith 147).”
- “There had to be the dark and muddy waters so that the sun could have something to background its flashing glory (Smith 165).”
Slide 17: Thanks!
Slide 18: Bibliography of Websites and Images
- Websites
- https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn/betty-smith-biography
- https://web.njit.edu/~cjohnson/tree/bio/bio.htm
- Images
- http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/author-betty-smith-shortly-after-publication-of-first-novel-news-photo/50711511#author-betty-smith-shortly-after-publication-of-first-novel-a-tree-picture-id50711511
- https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn-by-betty-smith/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Smith
- https://www.thecut.com/2017/08/the-duchess-of-carnegie-hall-photographs-by-editta-sherman-new-york-historical-society/slideshow/2017/08/07/_the_duchess_of_carnegiehallphotographsbyedittashermanatthenew-y/Editta-Sherman-09/
- https://www.amazon.ca/Tree-Grows-Brooklyn-Betty-Smith/dp/0060736267
- http://4.bp.blogspot.com/–6wepz6AKoU/UbtFvSmBKTI/AAAAAAAACwY/osQDuMl4vg4/s1600/family+history.betty+smith.sitting+in+armchair.jpg
- https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-133252830141239/union-avenue-williamsburg-1920s-16.jpg
