The Green Years

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The Green Years is a 1944 novel by A. J. Cronin as well as a 1946 film with Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Dean Stockwell, Hume Cronyn, and Jessica Tandy, based on Cronin's book.

Both the novel and film paint a story of a poverty stricken boy growing up in Central Scotland.

1 Significance of title
2 Structure of the novel
3 Awards and nominations
4 External links

[edit] Significance of title

The title, The Green Years, has several connotations. One on hand, this is a story about a boy's coming of age. However, the central character also has a fascination with the natural world. Also, he is an Irish boy growing up in Scotland. In the novel, he is forced for a time to wear a green suit made for him by his Grandma, and is mercilessly teased because of it.

[edit] Structure of the novel

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The novel consists of three "books." Book One portrays the protagonist's arrival in Scotland as a child, following the death of his parents back in Ireland. Book Two focuses on the character's adolescence and ends on a pair of tragedies: the death of his best friend and his failure to win a scholarship to medical school, due to illness. Book Three begins with the protagonist as an embittered figure, entering the adult working world with no hope for the future. However, the death of his grandfather brings him an inheritence that will allow him to pursue his dreams, after all.