The light in the dim life

"There Is a Tree in Brooklyn" by Betty · Smith

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In the previous section, we mentioned that in Francie's family, strong-willed women took on the responsibility of providing for their families with great strength. Even in difficult living conditions, her mother, Katie, insisted on reading to her children and helped them develop the habit of reading.

So, in this section, let's take a look at what other joys and hopes the Francies family has created in their difficult lives.

Learn piano

In addition to reading every night, the spiritual life of the Francie family is to learn to play the piano.

When the previous tenant of the apartment moved, he could not afford the high cost of moving, so he had to leave the piano for the time being. Katie promised to take care of the piano for them and move it when they had the money, but unfortunately, they never sent anyone over, and the piano was left there for a long time.

In fact, when the Francie family went to see the house for the first time, they were attracted to the piano. Francie even wanted to hug it, but because the piano was too large, she had to hug the satin stool. Mother Katie looked at the piano with her eyes lit up.

His father, Jonny, had never learned to play the piano, but he knew some chords, so he sat on the bench and played them casually, and sang folk songs along with the music. Francie thought everything was beautiful and was moved to tears. Even Katie, who is usually a little indifferent to Jonny, softly asks where it is a folk song.

This piano brought joy and hope to Francie's family. And in that apartment, Miss Lizzie happens to be a piano lesson teacher, and there is an admissions advertisement plastered on her window, and Katie decides to pay a visit.

Miss Lizzie teaches piano and charges two cents and a half cents per lesson. Katie proposes an au pair, in which she does an hour's cleaning of the other person's home in exchange for a weekly piano lesson.

Miss Lizzie disagrees at first, believing that her time is worth more than Katie's. But Katie believes that her time is just as valuable and doesn't back down. Coupled with the fact that Miss Lizzie was already difficult to enroll, they finally reached an agreement according to Katie's idea.

When Miss Lizzie went to Francie's house to teach, she was dressed in a formal suit, and her face was covered with a tight veil of spots. In a solemn manner, Katie asked the children to sit side by side on the piano and herself to be present throughout the lesson.

Once the lesson begins, Francie and her brother Neely soon fall asleep, and only Katie is serious about her studies. Katie didn't dare to wake up the children, for fear that Miss Lizzie would see through her mind and think she was earning a lesson to teach three students.

At the end of the class, Katie was excited and said, "Even if I never have the opportunity to attend classes in the future, what you taught me today will never be forgotten by me." You are a good teacher. ”

Miss Lizzie was delighted by Katie's flattery, but she said to Katie anyway, "I won't charge extra for the kids." But I want you to know that you can't fool me. ”

Katie's face flushed with embarrassment, and Miss Lizzie could see that she was the one who was the one who was the main piano student. Katie feared that Miss Lizzie would increase her pay or even refuse to attend classes because she felt that she was at a loss, but Miss Lizzie continued, "I allow the children to stay in the house and listen to the lessons. ”

Since then, Katie has continued to study with her two children in every class, and she learns quickly and well, and after class, she teaches the children what she has learned, allowing them to practice for half an hour every day. Eventually, all three learned to play the piano.

And, to thank Miss Lizzie, Katie would prepare a coffee, bread and sausage sandwich for her after each class.

Suffer humiliation

Francie is looking forward to going to school, she wants to play with her classmates, and she also wants to have school supplies such as pencils and notebooks, and see many different things.

Next door to the apartment is a school, and Francie often looks at the school with longing through the barbed wire. One afternoon, Francie saw a girl come out of the classroom, slapping two blackboards to clean up the chalk dust.

Francie put her face close to the barbed wire fence and observed the girl, feeling that she was doing the most glamorous errand in the world. Francie had heard her mother say that this kind of thing would only be left to students that the teacher liked. She thought that when she went to school, she would also try her best to be the darling of the teacher, so that she would have a chance to slap the blackboard eraser.

The girl, realizing that Francie was envious of her, took the blackboard eraser and asked Francie, "Would you like to come closer?" ”

Francie nodded shyly, and the girl reached a blackboard eraser to the barbed wire, and Francie stretched out a finger and tried to poke the colored felt hair, but before she could touch it, the girl suddenly withdrew her hand and spat in Francie's face.

Francie wanted to cry, but she closed her eyes tightly and didn't let the tears flow. The girl stood there and sneered, "Why don't you cry, stupid? Want me to spit in your face again? ”

Francie went into the basement alone and sat in the dark for a long time until she no longer felt pain. It was the first time she had experienced disillusionment with her dreams. But such frustration and humiliation, she will encounter a lot of ...... in the future

For example, shortly after this, Francie felt humiliated again.

At that time, the government stipulated that children must be vaccinated before entering school, which caused great panic because it was incomprehensible for the poor and illiterate to inject bacteria into the healthy bodies of children. Some parents of immigrants refuse to vaccinate their children, preventing their children from attending school, and the law holds parents accountable.

Francis's parents probably knew how the vaccine worked and were willing to let the children get vaccinated, but neither of them was at home during the day and couldn't go with them, so Katie arranged for the two children to get vaccinated themselves.

On a Saturday in August, before leaving for work, Katie told Francie and Neely to get up and wash their bodies and go to the public health center to get vaccinated.

Some of the older boys deliberately scared Neely, and when they arrived at the health center, they would cut off the children's arms, and Neely was so frightened that Francie took him to the yard to play in the mud in order to comfort his brother. They forgot everything their mother had told them, they didn't wash their bodies, and their hands and arms were covered in mud.

Later, after being reminded by a neighbor, Francie and Neely remembered the task of getting vaccinated. Frightened, they walked slowly to the public health center.

Francie walked into the inoculation room first, the nurse rolled up her sleeve and wiped a clean spot on her left arm, and the doctor in a white lab coat walked over with a needle. Francie closed her eyes and shivered, but she didn't feel the pain of the pinpricks. She opened her eyes to find the doctor staring at her arm in disgust.

Francie also turned her head to look, and found that her arm was dirty, only the place that had been disinfected by the nurse was white.

The doctor complained to the nurse that the children were so dirty that he could not understand that the water was free and the soap was cheap, and that even if they were poor, they would not be dirty like this. He also deliberately lowered his voice and said that if they were all sterilized, the world would be a better place.

Francie was dejected, she thought that even if the pampered doctor could not understand the nature of a child and the difficulty of not being able to accompany and care for her parents, the nurse from Brooklyn would always speak for her, but the nurse said, "I know, it's terrible!" I understand you perfectly. Doctor, these people really shouldn't have made themselves dirty. ”

The words of the doctors and nurses made Francie feel pain, and when she got the injection, she didn't even feel pain. As she was about to leave the room, Francie said in a clear, choked voice, "Next is my brother, and his arm is as dirty as mine, so don't be surprised, and don't tell him." Just tell me. ”

The precocious Francie understood from the attitude of the doctors and nurses that in their eyes, the poor families of Brooklyn should not exist at all. They have no way of knowing how hard these people have tried to survive.

Francie's school life

Francie finally started school. On her first day at school, instead of new friends, she gained a bloody nose. She went to the school tap to drink water when an older kid pushed her nose down and hit the edge of the sink.

Francie also realizes that she will never be the darling of the teacher, because only those children who are wealthy and well-dressed will be treated favorably by the teacher. Most dirty children, all they get is a roar.

The teacher's individualized attitude hurt Francie deeply. She knew that the teachers hated her, and they hated her kind, just because they came from a poor family.

At school, Francie also had a serious problem: she couldn't go to the bathroom. The toilets in the school are very small, and during breaks, some older children will occupy the toilets first, and others will have to pay a penny to go to the toilet, and most of the children cannot afford to pay this money and are afraid to tell the teacher because they will be beaten by the older children. During school hours, the teacher thinks that going to the toilet is an excuse for the children to escape from the classroom, so they are not allowed to go casually.

But Francie found that the darlings who sat in the front row were able to leave the classroom at any time to go to the toilet, while the others could only hold back, and if they couldn't hold back, they could only pee their pants.

When Aunt Sissi found out about this, she immediately went to Francie's school and lied to the teacher, saying that Francie had a kidney problem and that if she didn't go to the toilet in time, she would probably fall to the ground and die because of the heavy burden on her kidneys.

The teacher didn't quite believe Francie's condition, but she didn't dare to risk killing Francie and wouldn't let her go. That way, Francie doesn't have to pee her pants anymore.

At school, Francie doesn't make any friends and spends most of her time alone, but she's used to walking alone. She still loves school because she can learn so many new things.

One Saturday afternoon, while out wandering, Francie discovers an unfamiliar neighborhood with a rich history, flowers and trees, and a small school.

The school houses are quaint, with garnet-red bricks glistening in the sun, grass growing on the ground, and an open field across the campus. Francie felt that it was the school of her dreams.

But she couldn't go to that school because the law only allowed children to attend school in the school district where they lived, and the family couldn't move because Francie wanted to transfer.

But Francie didn't give up, and the next afternoon, she took her father Johnny to see the school, and Johnny liked it too, so he was so excited that he chose a high-end house in that neighborhood, wrote down the house number, and then wrote to Francie's principal, saying that she was going to move to that house, so she applied for a transfer.

The principal approved Francie's transfer and handed her the transcript. Francie went to meet the new principal with the materials and entered the new school without incident.

The students in the new school were more civilized, and the teachers treated the students equally and did not teach them in a rough way. Francie keeps an eye on everything and strives to be a good student. She was happy at her new school, even if she had to walk longer to school every day.

The transfer of schools had a great impact on Francie. She understands that there are other worlds beyond the world that her family of origin has touched, and that other worlds are not out of reach.