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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Chapter 9
After they are married, Katie and Johnny get a job taking care of a public school. They have fun pretending they are teachers. Katie marries Johnny because he can sing and she likes the way he looks. Once married, she sets out to change other things about him. Katie becomes pregnant and gives birth to Francie in a night of severe pain. In the same week of Francie's birth, Johnny finds out that he is fired from the school job because of neglect. He does not tell Katie the bad news, but is secretly terrified about supporting a family without an income. He asks Sissy about getting a job at the rubber factory in which she works.
Topic Tracking: Economics 5
Topic Tracking: Education 2
Mary speaks with her frightened daughter. Katie is worried about having a baby and looking after Johnny at the same time. "Oh, God, don't send me any more children or I won't be able to look after Johnny and I've got to look after Johnny. He can't look after himself" Chapter 9, pg. 81. She doesn't want her child to go through all the suffering she has and knows she will face in her future. Mary tells her that the baby's life won't be bad as long as she has education and imagination. She tells Katie to make a tin can bank and put five cents in it every day. She also tells Katie to read from Shakespeare and the Protestant Bible every day as well. Sissy gets both books for Katie. She takes one from the public library and the other from a hotel where she is sleeping with a lover.
