The Coffin Tree (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Wendy Law-Yone
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1960’s through the mid-1970’s
- Setting: Burma, New York City, and Chicago
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Shan, The narrator’s father, The inhabitants of 3 East
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman, Autobiographical fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Memory, Parents and children, Suicide, New York City, Alienation, Brothers and sisters, Chicago, Mental illness, Asia or Asians, Immigration or emigration, Fathers, Death or dying, Guerrillas or guerrilla warfare, Life and death, Hospitals, Southeast Asia
- Locales: New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Burma
The Novel
The Coffin Tree is the story of a young Burmese woman who leaves her country, where civil war is impending, to arrive in New York City in October, 1969, along with her elder brother, Shan. Their father, a revolutionary, had been in hiding in the hills of Burma for three years, but he manages to arrange for the safe departure of his two children. In exile in America, the narrator recounts the story of her childhood in “monsoon country,” the traumatic early years in New York City, the death of her brother, and the time she spends in a psychiatric ward after...
[The entire page is 2671 words long]
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