The Learning Tree (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Gordon Parks
- First Published: 1963
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The mid-1920’s
- Setting: Cherokee Flats, a small town in Kansas
- Principal Characters: Newton Buchanan Winger, Sarah Winger, Jack Winger, Arcella Jefferson, Jefferson Cavanaugh, Marcus Savage
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: African Americans, Discrimination, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Suicide, Murder or homicide, Friendship, Midwest, 1920’s, Death or dying, Revenge, Small-town life, Kansas, Tornadoes
- Locales: Kansas
The Novel
The Learning Tree relates two crucial years in the life of Newt Winger. It opens with a terrible tornado that causes death and destruction in the small Kansas town of Cherokee Flats and leads to Newt’s sexual awakening as he is comforted during the storm by Big Mabel. The novel concludes with the deaths of Newt’s mother, Sarah, and of Marcus Savage, whose last act before his own death is his attempt to murder Newt in revenge for Newt’s testimony against Marcus’ father.
Although death plays an ever-present role, The Learning Tree is also...
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