Choose a passage from the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and examine how the language in the passage evokes a sense of time and place.

Answer:

Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: I’ve chosen the following passage to discuss: “It was the day children went around ‘ragamuffin’ or ‘slamming gates,’ wearing costumes topped off by a penny mask.” This passage reveals the cultural traditions of the children in Brooklyn shortly before World War I. It also reveals the time in which the book takes place because one can still buy a mask for a penny.