ToMORROw WILLBE BETTER - About the American Dream and a Brooklyn marriage

Sep 29, 2026

A critical editorial introduces Betty Smith’s novel about office work, motherhood, and marriage, centered on Margy, a memorable character in modern fiction. The text links Brooklyn’s distinct individuality to personal and wartime experiences, framing the story’s emotional truthfulness. It explains how the office becomes a route toward the American Dream for a young woman escaping family conflict, while depicting jealousies, affections, ambitions, and families with “ruthless tenderness.”

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

TOMORROw WILL BE BETYTER

AT FINDING THE CHILD SWIFTLYTURNS INTO RAGE

FRANKIE MALONE MEETS MARGY'S PARENTS

# o0k tha-Jsnth eluNEWS Fanryrsrurmn,3D1T0 R otugust1948 TH8 COMING SELECT10N: et nus nsvel,about.Prooklyney BETTY SMITH AUTHOR OF“A Sree Crows in Brookluyn” Copyrigh(1948·Book-of-the-Monch Cluy Inc385 Madisou Avalnie Nev pok 17,N.Y. The reproduction on the front couer is Promenade by CHARLEs BuRCHFTELDCourtesy of A.Conger Goodyeax Su mside of badk cour for descripion BOOK-OF.THE-MONTH CLUB EDITORIAL BoARD Dorothy Canfed Clifton Fadiman John P.Marquand Christopher Morley Honry Sada Canby,chim HIS Is BETTY SMITH,the daughterI of two first-generation Ameri-cans who lived in the Williamsburgsection of Brooklyn.She had to stopschool at the eighth grade.Whileher husband studied law in Michi-gan,she took a special course inplay-writing to pass the time-anddiscovered she could write.In 1939she started A Tree Groes in Brooklyn,writing two pages a day beforebreakfast.In 1942 it was publishedand soon became one of the best-selling books in our national record. The movie version broke box officerecords for months on end.Peoplewondered if she would ever writeanother book as good,or whether,like many other authors whose firstbooks were sensational successes,she would simply live off the hand-some profits of her first work.OnDecember 31,1947,she completedthe manuscriptfor ToMORROW WILLBE BETTER.And our judges,whohave selected it for September,think that in some respects it is evenbetter than A Tree Groes in Brooklyn. ## TOMORROWWHLL BE BETYTER It is about oficejobs,mothers andmarriages-and about Margy,one of the most satisfactorycharacters in modern fiction 入ANY must have wondered what givesVI Brooklyn its strong individuality.Those rows after rows of middling sizedhouses or flats suggest nothing of the kind;and yet it is undeniably there.If in thelast war a soldier talking to,say,ErniePyle,was homesick or boastful,again andagain it proved to be for faraway Texasor dear old Brooklyn.That simple andtouching story,A TREE GRows In BROOK-LYN,owed its success,I am sure,to thisfact.And this equally simple,but deeperand even more touching second novel ofBetty Smith,has the same quality,and isas deeply rooted in Brooklyn. If I may be allowed to borrow frompersonal experience—there are two sub-way trains I take almost daily for uptownNew York.One comes from the bottomof Manhattan Island,the other fromBrooklyn.And long before I read ToMOR-ROW WILLBE BETTER,I noticed and won-dered at a curious difference hard to de-fine between the sets of passengers.Now I MARGY GETS LOST AND HER MOTHER FEARS THE WORST,BUT HER RELIEF ## AT FINDING THE CHILD SWIFTLYTURNS INTO RAGE Flo swooped down on the child who had smilinglyrisen to meet her,holding out the ice cream sand-wich as an enticing overture. "I'll learn you to scare the life out of me!"screamed Flo. She slapped the ice-cream out of the child's hand.It fell into the gutter.She slapped Margy first onone cheek and as the child swayed,on the othercheek to counteract the sway.She kept slappingback and forth and the child rocked from side toside like a last-standing bowling pin that is reluc-tant to fall. understand,for the history of those pas-sengers from Brooklyn,young women andoffice workers most of them,is written inBetty Smith's new book. ToMORROw WILL BE BETTER is aboutoffice jobs,and mothers,and marriages.If you think an office is a dull,mechanicalplace,it is because you have had no BettySmith to take you on the inside to see andfeel the complex of jealousies,affections,ambitions,that make it warm with emo-tion.To the young girl trying to escapefrom a too often quarreling family in a dingy,discouraged fat,the office is thefirst step toward the American Dreamwhich her parents have failed to realize.It is her chance to step up in the world,to be a little independent,to have thechance of a marriage of her own choosing,to begin to be like the people she readsabout in the magazines.And it is anescape from the querulous,possessivemother,or—if it is F

FAQs

What themes does the editorial say the novel focuses on?

It says the novel is about office jobs, mothers, and marriages, using Margy’s life and relationship to explore family dynamics and emotional conflicts.

How does the text describe Margy and her role in the story?

Margy is presented as one of the most satisfying characters in recent fiction—good, unselfish, humorous, yet trapped in an unhappy family—whose choices connect to the American Dream.

What is the editorial’s view of the novel’s realism?

It contrasts Betty Smith’s sympathy-driven realism with fashionable modern realism that burns away sympathy for human nature, emphasizing her pity restrained by love.

Sep 29, 2026

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