Johnny was wearing a St. Anthony medal when he was found unconscious and taken to the hospital. Within the Catholic church, Anthony is the patron saint for the recovery of lost things. Johnny had lost himself in a depression over the upcoming birth of a third child, but a cop found him in time for Katie to say goodbye, even though he was in a coma.
Neeley may have dodged the bullet on World War I, but if he or Francie have children, they'll be roughly old enough to fight in World War II.
Johnny's death is kind of ambiguous in that it seems like he just caught pneumonia while he was passed out in a gutter, but it's equally plausible that even though he had stopped drinking he still acted as though he were drunk (having been drinking for so long) and no one believed that he hadn't, so he decided to anyway. In the movie, he turns out to have been out looking for work, and Officer McShane specifically tells Katie he hadn't been drinking, but just got sick.
Definitely the most horrifying thing in the book: If Katie hadn't stopped the pedophile who attacked Francie, she would have been both raped and murdered, based on what he did to another girl.
Lee tried to manipulate Francie into losing her virginity to him by pretending to be romantically interested in her despite being engaged, and she seriously considered it. If he had, it would have arguably been rape by deception. And by modern standards, she would also be underage.
Among the Nolans' neighbours are a couple where the husband forces his wife to have sex with him and she cries while doing it. This would now be considered marital rape, but that wasn't illegal at the time.
The airshaft in the Nolans' building which Francie is justifiably terrified of since it's full of bloody rags, rusted old razors and other detritus that it's better not to think about the origin of. Shudder.
Katie gives birth at home, which was common at the time and not necessarily a bad thing in modern times, since it's easy to go to a hospital or have a doctor or midwife present in case something goes wrong. At the time though, it's shown that the only care that women got was from their own families and it would have been extremely painful without anesthetics. Likewise, Sissy gives birth to her last child in a hospital and he's saved due to the quick intervention of the doctor. If she had done so for her other ten children, some of them might have lived, but it didn't occur to anyone at the time.
Sissy got married for the first time when she was 14 years old. Nowadays this would be statutory rape (the age of consent for marriage in New York is 18, or 17 with parental permission) even if Sissy wanted to marry and was physically and emotionally ready for it. Even an emancipated minor cannot marry in New York.
If Katie hadn't married Sergeant Mc Shane, Francie might have ended up like the women in her family, in an abusive marriage, poor, widowed or abandoned at a young age with several children she can't afford to care for, etc. Not to say that couldn't happen if she had money (see Lee).
cannot marry in New York.