ATGiBconnections

//The Glass Castle// by Jeannette Walls Francie of //A Tree Grows in Brooklyn// has many similarities to Jeannette from this book. She knows how to live on next to nothing, has an often immature mother, and an alcoholic father. What is more, both characters have a passion for writing and learning. Each brings a unique perspective on life and adds color to an otherwise bleak setting. A childhood dependent on it formed the two girls as fiercely independent from the beginning. Although they are clever and charming individuals, neither are very adept at making friends due to their unique views of everyday life.

The Great Depression Although this book takes place decades before the Great Depression, it portrays a very poor area of America. Residents here know how to survive on little and are very resourceful with what they do have. They must be very "street smart" if they hope to get by.

Teasing in School This is something that everybody can relate to, although Francie has a particularly difficult time in elementary school. While most kids have not been spat at like Francie, they have been picked on at one point. There are always plenty of hurtful words to be found that teachers seem to be completely unaware of.

The Civil Rights Movement There are many examples of prejudice in this novel. Christians are supposedly superior to Jews, Catholics to Protestants, rich to poor, and more. Francie is always very indignant about these instances when they occur.

H1N1 Flu Virus Much like people panicking about how contagious the H1N1 virus was last year, Katie along with the others mothers at school were worried about their children getting lice or the flu. Both were epidemics that were very contagious and could be traced within schools and other public areas.

Religious Practices In the book Mary Rommely instills a large sense of Irish Catholic religion into her family's life and she starts the children with reading the bible and teaching them to confess. It is very common in the Hispanic group of Catholics to practice blessings and prayers just like Mary Rommely says the Irish do when someone moves into a new house.

//Bridge to Terabithia// by Katherine Paterson Jess and Francie are connected by their love for particular teachers. They both adore their music teachers, this class being the absolute highlight of their week. (Francie also has an art teachers that she loves.) They also share other similarities. They are both able to transform their seemingly normal, even depressing, environments into a magical world of imagination. Jess, along with his friend Leslie, let their minds run wild with a simple treehouse. France is also fascinated and inspired by the tree in her yard, feeling as if she may live in it by simply reading on her fire escape.

Betty Smith and J.K. Rowling It is interesting how authors choose to reflect themselves in their characters. //A Tree Grows in Brooklyn// was originally a memoir about the author's own life, but her publisher asked her to change it to fiction. Francie is obviously very similar to her imaginer. On the other hand, Harry Potter is clearly not meant to be a close representation of J.K. Rowling. Still, they share the same birthday, and many characters' traits come from Rowling's own characteristics.

Women and Politics Johnny says, "Women don't know anything about politics" (Smith 187). This attitude still happens throughout the world, especially in the Middle East. Recently, in Yemen, their leader undermined women being a part of politics and did not want any of them to protest, which shows that they are still treated like second-class citizens there.

Francie's Questioning Francie reminds me of my cousin, Chriselle. Chriselle, always asks questions about anything, whether that be about life or the computer. It is as if she needs to know everything, and is not fully satisfied with the answer. For example, France continues to asks questions, even if Katie gave her an answer. So, I try to end my conversations with Chriselle is: "because I said so." -Kathleen

Girls' cattiness towards each other The scene with Joanna and the women throwing rocks at her is a twist, on the modern school bullies. For some reason, girl bullies try to destroy someone's confidence and ruin them emotionally. In the movie, //Mean Girls,// the Queen Bees attack their former friend and consider her an outsider. They turned on her, because popularity was not what she wanted. In a sense, the women knew who Joanna was, but they attacked her because she had a baby before marriage.

//Such a Pretty Girl// by Laura Weiss Both Meredith and Francie dealt with encounters with sexual offenders. Meredith's was with her father and Francie's was with the prowler. Throughout both books the characters develop hopeless tones except for when they're with the people they care about the most. Johnny was Francie's salvation while Andy was Meredith's. And in the end of the encounters, both offenders were physically stopped before things went too far and they were both sent to jail. Meredith's story ended well but so far the same cannot be said for Francie.

Jon and Kate Plus 8 Katie cannot be blamed for asking her husband to be responsible. It is not her fault if he cannot live up to this; it is his duty as a husband and a father. This is similar to Jon and Kate Gosselin, whose divorce was widely publicized. People said that she was much too demanding for him to be responsible, so he left.

A child's imagination When I was thrust into the world of reading and writing I had no desire to leave. My imagination was opened wide just like Francie's when she started to understand words and develop mental images. Her imagination was at full speed as a child and that can be said for a lot or children. They are not yet thrust into harsh realities (like Francie at a young age) and are open to dream and imagine greater and more beautiful things. Every child has an imagination and Francie's was at top speed.

New Environments When Francie moved schools and was thrust into a new environment she found solace in a nice teacher who gave her the right to have an imagination and a janitor who was a father and grandfather to all children. Despite how difficult the first day of school was for Francie, she adjusted easily to the new school simply because people welcomed her with comfort, care, and sympathy. They understood the situation Francie was in but that didn't change the affection they showed her. When I first moved here it only took two new friends to make me comfortable and welcomed in a new environment.

//The House on Mango Street// by Sandra Cisneros The ideas and characters in these two books are very similar. Both Esperanza and Francie grew up in poor homes with responsibilities. They also both long for a better future; Francie longed for wealth, education, and getting out of the life she lived as a child, while Esperanza longed for a beautiful house to live in and call her own. Both books were also written to document different events, people, and milestones in the main character's life. In both books years were skipped to focus on different events and ideas. Also both Francie and Esperanza had active imaginations and they loved to put them down on paper.

//Glee// and the Baby In the show //Glee// one of the main characters Quinn found out she was pregnant. While another main character's (Will) wife found out she had a false pregnancy brought on by stress. In the end, the wife was so desperate to keep their marriage together that she faked the pregnancy. In order to do this she had to find a baby to have at the end of her "pregnancy." She obtained this baby by proposing to Quinn that she was too young to have the baby so she should give it to her instead. This is similar to the situation that Sissy was in. She found a young girl that didn't want her baby and took the baby off her friends for her. For a lot of the pregnancy both women made sure the teens were taken care of with food and good health. The only difference is that Sissy got away with it while Will's wife did not.

//The Fighter// The relationship that Katie has with Francie and Neely is different and very noticeable. Neely is the talented child that needs to be nurtured and taken care of and is the child that Katie feels closer to because she spoils him and forgives him for him becoming his own person and possibly wasting his success. Francie on the other hand is the child that is put aside while Neely is given attention but still is the child that supports the family and doesn't necessarily need them because she has learned to be independent and yet still care for her family. In the movie The Fighter, the relationship of the two main characters who are brothers, Micky and Dicky Ward, with their mother Alice Ward is much like Francie and Neely's where Dicky is the gifted boxer who is enthusiastic and cared for by his mother and Micky takes Francie's position where he is the only one that is working and bringing all his earnings to his family and growing into his own person with no support needed.

//The Glass Menagerie// by Tennessee Williams Both books are set in the early-mid 1900's. The families are both struggling with one another to get the best for the family as a whole bust as time passes their is separation between parents and their children. The family set up is also the same towards the last half of //A Tree Grows in Brooklyn// where Katie is both the mother and the father because Johnny dies and Amanda is taking on both roles as well because her husband left her. The financial status is about the same where both are trying to spread their money throughout all their necessities. The family custom are similar where there is not much talk about moving away to another part of town/ city or even out of the house and the lives of the families are supposed to be focused on the neighborhood that they were raised in.

Last Day of Francie’s Job This sounds similar to the last day of elementary school. The office was all cleared out, and Francie wasn’t doing any real work. Her whole last week was for nothing: no pay. Similarly, it feels like the last few days in elementary school only exist so that the schools continue to get funding.

Prices and the Future Katie worries about skyrocketing prices of food and everything and how she is going to send Francie to high school. Parents today are facing similar struggles with prices going up and worrying how they are going to send their kids to school.

Yearbook Signing Everybody seems like friends when the yearbooks are passed around. People that scarcely knew each other exchange books and write kind things, and Francie experiences the same thing.

Francie and the Women at the Factory People often want nothing more than to belong, but often you wonder, “How could I ever fit into that group?” Francie experienced this and found that all that the group wanted was for her to laugh. Most of the time it only takes one simple icebreaker for this to happen; the trouble is discovering what this one thing is.

Francie and Education Then, as long as you managed to get an education period, you could be somebody. Now, there’s pressure to constantly stand out and do more.

War Declaration 9/11 Francie was trying to cement the moment of the war declaration headline in her mind. 9/11 is similar in that mostly everybody knows where they were and what they were doing on that day. It was incredibly impacting on the country.

//Bless Me, Ultima// by Rudolfo Anaya Francie is experiencing the loss of her innocence and her innocent perception of her surroundings. This is what the burning of her "A" compositions symbolized. These were the writing pieces about flowers, sunsets, etc. She only kept her stories about her father, about alcoholism and poverty, that her teacher did not like. Antonio from //Bless Me, Ultima// also experienced a similar change in perspective.

//The Truth About Forever,// by Sarah Dessen During her first summer of college classes, Francie meets a handsome and determined young man named Ben. Ben has his entire future planned out and as the summer goes on and their relationship grows, he bluntly tells Francie that his near future doesn't involve a relationship. He hears Francie's declaration of love and quickly makes sure to tell her that his career plan can't be wavered due to a relationship, but sometime in the future he will make sure to involve her in his life. This is a lot like the relationship that Macy and Jason have in //The Truth About Forever.// Macy and Jason had been dating for almost half of their high school careers, but when Jason leaves for a camp over the summer they grow apart. Jason has always been more focused on his future career than Macy. And when Macy tells him she loves him, he bluntly breaks up with her in an email. He does this by saying that right now their growing proximity is distracting him from his plans for the future and that they should evaluate their relationship when he gets back. Both Ben and Jason are entirely too focused on their education and careers to have a relationship.

//Keeping Faith// by Jodi Picoult When Sissy again has a baby, it comes out as stillborn like the ten other babies she gave birth to. However, this time Sissy had a doctor there and was in a hospital. As she questioned God's actions, the doctor was able to give oxygen to the baby and the baby lived. Sissy was entirely disbelieveing at first, but when she saw her baby breathing and moving she saw it as nothing short of a miracle. A similar resurrection occured in //Keeping Faith// when Faith, the child with the powers of an angel, resurrects her grandmother with just one touch. Her mother doesn't believe that it was Faith's doing, but she saw it as a miracle that her mother was raised from the dead.

Extended Education Francie moves forward with her education, despite her lack of a high shcool diploma. She decides to take college classes during the summer instead of going to high school. That way she has an education and a head start on her college credits. A lot of students today do this in the form of Pima courses taken during the summer and during high school. They do this in order to get a jum start on their college education and to receive credits that can be carried over when they start college. Francie also decided to take the regents' exam in order to skip her high school education and automatically begin college courses. Today that exam is used when a student doesn't finish high school but wants credit for the high school education they have. They take the exam and receive their GED instead of a high school diploma. They are almost the same thing except a GED is given when the test is taken.

//From a Table Away// by Sunny Sweeney Francie is introduced to another guy by her friend at work and she automatically hit it off with him. His name was Lee and he was getting ready to be deployed in France and was engaged to another girl back home. However, he made false promises of love and marriage to Francie for when he returned. This moment with Lee is similar to the one that occurred in the song //From a Table Away// by Sunny Sweeney. In the song she sees her boyfriend totally in love with his wife even though he would tell her that it was bad at home and that he didn’t love his wife and loved her instead. Lee described his engagement as something that just happened in a small town, that it meant nothing, and that he loved her and wasn’t going to marry his fiancé. A lying man scorned the women and she was forced to endure the heartbreak up close by seeing him and his wife. While Francie learned what heartbreak was by receiving a letter from Lee’s wife. Both Francie and the women were hurt by lying, cheating men who only wanted to “have a night together.”

Meeting in College Francie and Ben met in college, where he helped out Francie. He showed her what to do, and helped mark her papers. The same thing happened with my grandparents. My grandpa met my grandma in high school and would help her out by helping her with homework, and giving her rides home. Then, just like Ben and Francie, they ended up together afterwards.

Discrimination When Sissy decides that she wants a Jewish doctor to deliver her baby, everyone is somewhat shocked by it. Discrimination was a big deal back then, and it still is today. People can be so quick to judge someone based on race or religion, and it just isn't fair. My aunt complained that she wanted a female doctor when she had a baby, so that she would be understood.

Tricky Boys When Lee and Francie meet, he tells her that he is not going to marry his fiance back home, and that he loves her, and he then asks her to spend the night with him. He wants it to be a secretive romance, and just sleep with her and leave. Fortunately, Francie does not do it. Boys have not changed much since then, meaning they try to convince girls to do things they don't want to do, by telling them sweet things that just aren't true.

Product Rip-Offs Francie discovers that the prize board at Cheap Charlie's is a fake, and pays him to put a doll up in the prize board so that someone will win. Many products of today are designed just to make money, and rip people off.

Beautiful, Despite Circumstances IN the book, the Nolans come from a world of poverty and making ends meet. Although they're surroundings have an ugly exterior, their neighborhood is full of beauty. Katie, who is a strong woman who works hard to support her family. Neely, a spitting image of Johnny. Francie, a wonderful writer and dreamer. Surprisingly, a perfume reminded me of this. The Brown Sugar perfume from Sephora reminded me very much of a beautiful interior. The perfume packaging is simply hideous, and the perfume is colored brown. But despite the ugly looks, the scent is amazing.

//Love is a Fallacy// by Max Shulman Ben Blake has his future perfectly planned out. He aspires to be a lawyer, just like the main character in this story. Ben views Francie as a fine wife for a lawyer, and it seems like that is what he wants and needs her for. In //Love is a Fallacy//, the main character only wants Polly because she would make a fine asset to a lawyer.