Francie Nolan, is an eleven-year-old girl living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with her ten-year-old brother, Neeley, her mother, Katie, and her father, Johnny. Francie and Neeley bring in additional household income by rag-picking, or collecting trash on the street and in their building, and turning in the materials to Carney’s junk business for cash.
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”