Francie is introduced as a skinny 11-year-old girl with straight brown hair and a rich imagination growing up in a poor Irish family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She was born with a caul, which is supposed to be a sign of a child “set apart to do great things in the world” (78). She grows up a reader who loves the library, horses, and her father. As Francie gets older, it’s clear that she is a dreamer, although one with a lot of “nerve” (203).

Francie’s dreams include falling in love, becoming a writer, and becoming rich. Though she obtains none of these things over the course of the novel, her compassion for her brother and for less fortunate people like the unwed Joanna, her determination to work harder and learn more than her peers, and her defiance against her mother’s coldness make her a character who represents hope and resilience.

Neeley is Francie’s “amiable” little brother, who was born strong and healthy and is his mother’s favorite. Even as Neeley grows up, he continues to appear to be “all innocence and trust” (202). While he sometimes acts mean, he always does so in an attempt to secure his masculinity and is never genuinely evil.