47 pages • 1 hour read
Lisa GraffThe Great Treehouse War
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Winnifred “Winnie” Malladi-Maraj
Winnie is the protagonist of the novel. The story is mostly told from her perspective, although she is framed as a simultaneous omniscient and first-person narrator. Winnie’s primary goal throughout the narrative is to stand up to her parents and quell their conflict-focused behavior so that she has time to finish her local history report; however, on a deeper level, she wants her parents to listen and consider her and her needs. She feels unheard in her relationship with her parents, is distressed by their conflict, and has difficulty communicating her emotions about it. Over the course of the novel, Winnie learns to advocate for herself, reinforcing the themes of Self-Advocacy and Standing Up for One’s Needs, and Navigating Parental Divorce and Complex Family Dynamics.
Readers are first introduced to Winnie via the illustrations/prefatory material. In a letter addressed to Mr. Benetto, she establishes the collaborative memoir framing of the novel and states that she “tried to write it like a normal book, even though a lot of it was about me” (1). This indirectly characterizes Winnie as a leader of her friendship group who considers others’ perspectives equally, establishing her role in the Treehouse Ten, which helps to emphasize the Importance of Friendship and Other Bonds of Support. Winnie’s support of her friends allows that support to be reciprocated, empowering her in hard times.
Graff’s characterization of Winnie as a leader complements Winnie’s other significant qualities. Winnie is also observant, empathetic, creative, and artistic. Her abilities with art grant her unique insight into people, which she dubs Artist Vision. Her creative abilities enable her to think outside the box and make connections between people and ideas. Winnie’s artistic and creative personality enables her to resolve conflicts in the novel both with the Treehouse Ten and with her own parents.
Winnie struggles to vocalize her feelings to her parents, often feeling ignored or dismissed. Often, her emotions are transmitted via her cat, Buttons. In moments of conflict or tension, Winnie cuddles Buttons, and Winnie describes his reactions to provide reflections of her own, such as when he “lets out an angry mew!” (88) upon hearing the news that Winnie will spend her entire summer in the field with her dad. Winnie is afraid to confront her parents directly and relay her concerns about how their behavior impacts her, which informs the primary direction of her character arc—learning the art of Self-Advocacy and Standing Up for One’s Needs. Initially, Winnie resigns herself to the fact that her parents will never hear her. Her move into the treehouse for the stand-off is a significant moment in her development, marking the first time that she stands up for herself.
Until the end of the novel, Winnie avoids conflict. Just as she struggles with vocalizing her needs to her parents, she feels that “she [can’t tell] her friends what she thought if [she] wanted to—there [is] no way for them to hear her” when she’s caught in the middle of the Treehouse Ten’s internal conflict in Chapter 11 (194). This situation mirrors Winnie’s feelings about her family dynamics, revealing the helplessness she feels in her parents’ conflict. Winnie feels a frequent stomach-churning sensation “like a washing machine that had gone off-balance” (194) that signals to the reader the intense distress she feels as a result of the conflicts she’s experiencing in her life, even if she isn’t able to explicitly articulate it (or can only indicate it via her projections onto Buttons). Winnie eventually learns how to directly confront conflicts through taking stock of others’ needs and responding accordingly. This ability to distinguish need from want is crucial in resolving her internal conflicts and the situation with her parents.
The climax of Winnie’s character arc coincides with the narrative’s climax in Chapter 17. As she stands up to her parents and communicates “I want” and “I need” (260) over and over again until they hear her, Winnie demonstrates that she has learned to advocate for herself. Her arc communicates the importance of Self-Advocacy and Standing Up for One’s Needs in Navigating Parental Divorce and Complex Family Dynamics, reinforcing the narrative’s overall themes. The novel ends in Chapter 18 on a positive note for Winnie: She plans to open the treehouse for all kids to enjoy, demonstrating that she has moved through her conflicts and grown. Now, she is ready to return it to those still struggling and make a difference for other kids navigating difficult family situations, demonstrating her transformation.
The Treehouse Ten (Squizzy, Lyle, Aayush, Tabitha, Logan, Brogan, Greta, Joey, and Jolee)
The members of the Treehouse Ten are comprised of Winnie’s classmates and friends. This friend group has been together from a young age and shares a very close bond: “Since Tulip Street Elementary [is] so small, each grade [has] only a handful of students so Winnie [has] moved from class to class with the exact same kids since kindergarten. And lucky for all of them, the Tulip Street Ten generally [get] along pretty well” (72). Each character in the group has distinct characteristics, interests, and motivations. The sticky note commentary establishes their induvial voices and characteristics; through their commentary, the reader is afforded a glimpse of their individual personalities, even before they are directly introduced. Visually, the distinct “handwriting” fonts that Graff uses for each character suggest their distinct personalities. Winnie’s friends are a source of motivation, encouragement, and support for her throughout the novel, foiling Winnie’s situation with her parents. Collectively, the members of the Treehouse Ten reinforce The Importance of Friendship.
Squizzy and Lyle are Winnie’s best friends and are the closest to her out of the Treehouse Ten. Throughout the narrative, both characters’ influence suggests The Importance of Friendship and Other Bonds of Support and motivates Winnie to take action in her own conflicts. Squizzy is a minor character in the novel but a complex one: In her sticky note asides, the reader gets the sense that Squizzy is “bossy,” as she often directly responds to other characters and berates them for silly or offensive comments. This characterization is reinforced by her role in the Treehouse Ten: she is a kind of leader, emphasizing her confidence, capability, and take-charge nature. She is also very studious, curious, and a responsible student, even offering to help Winnie with her local history report in Chapter 3.
Lyle, Winnie’s other best friend, is often good-humored and goofy, yet also attentive to Winnie and her emotions—far more than any of her other friends. In Chapter 3, Lyle notices Winnie’s emotions even when others don’t, suggesting the closeness the two characters’ bond, and the importance of their friendship in giving Winnie a space where she is considered and supported. Lyle is also instrumental toward the end of the novel in helping Winnie facilitate the climactic confrontation with her parents.
Squizzy, Lyle, and the other members of the Treehouse Ten parallel Winnie’s situation with her parents. As significant figures with whom Winnie shares a close bond, the rupture of the Treehouse Ten in Chapter 11 causes an intense crisis for Winnie. Resolving their conflict helps her find the tools she needs to confront her parents at the end of the novel. Collectively, the Treehouse Ten emphasize the importance of friendship in motivating growth and promoting resilience in tough situations.
Dr. Alexis Maraj and Dr. Varun Malladi (Winnie’s Parents)
Winnie’s parents’ behavior in the midst of their divorce provides the primary source of conflict in the novel. Winnie’s mom and dad are both motivated by competition with the other, losing sight of Winnie’s wants and needs along the way. The author uses humor and exaggerated behavior to characterize Winnie’s parents. They’re obsessed with keeping things even between them; ironically, both parents are characterized equally: Both behave the same way and create the same kinds of conflict for Winnie. The plot centers Winnie’s relationship with her parents in its thematic exploration of Navigating Parental Divorce and Complex Family Dynamics.
Winnie’s parents foil each other, evincing a parallel characterization that suggests the equal role they play in Winnie’s internal conflict. Both parents are academics; Winnie’s mom is a mathematician, while Winnie’s dad is researcher. Winnie’s parents are locked in a never-ending competition with one another, making them short-sighted and dismissive of Winnie’s feelings. Even before the divorce, Winnie’s parents are characterized with an extreme self-absorption. They argue with one another and don’t even notice when Winnie leaves the room: “As her parents [continue] their argument, Winnie [scoops] up Buttons and [heads] down the hallway to her room. Neither of her parents [seem] to notice that [she’s] left” (18). Winnie feels that her parents “have never been exactly normal” (10) due to this extreme self-involvement. As a result, they have a dysfunctional relationship with Winnie, one which informs much of Winnie’s conflicts and motivations in the novel.
However, Winnie’s parents are ultimately round characters in the narrative, demonstrating growth in the final chapter. Both characters finally set aside their differences to listen to their daughter. They demonstrate their transformation in Chapter 18—the changed way Winnie’s parents interact with each other demonstrates their changed attitudes. Winnie’s observation of their relaxed body language illustrates this: “The twitch of her mom’s lip, just before her mouth [morphs] into a smile. The smirk in her dad’s eyes, as he [watches] his daughter” (271). Their transformation paints a hopeful image of children and adults finding ways to navigate complex family dynamics and divorce successfully.
Uncle Huck
Uncle Huck is Winnie’s mom’s brother and Winnie’s dad’s best friend from college—the reason Winnie’s parents met in the first place, “although they both [like] him so much they [try] not to hold it against him” (149). He is kind and supportive of Winnie, considerate of her needs and nurturing of her passions. He consistently shows up for Winnie in moments of crisis, such as visiting her in the treehouse in Chapter 10 and being present for her when she comes to him for advice in Chapter 13. Uncle Huck is a supportive adult figure who exemplifies The Importance of Friendship and Other Bonds of Support.
Similarities between Winnie and Uncle Huck are highlighted throughout the narrative, reinforcing his role as a caring adult to whom Winnie can turn for understanding. They are both creative thinkers, and Uncle Huck is the one who first introduces Winnie to her Artist Vision: “[Uncle Huck] claim[s] that [he and Winnie share] an ability to see things in ways that most other people [can’t] […] When Winnie turn[s] on her Artist Vision, [it’s] like the light shift[s], just a little, and she [can] observe things at a new angle—better, deeper, truer” (62). Artist Vision is important to Winnie because it is simultaneously a mode of expression, a key to insights, and a means of resolving conflict for her. Uncle Huck’s role in helping her unlock this potential inside herself points to his role as a facilitator of positive growth for Winnie.
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