The Great Treehouse War

The series of illustrations that precede the action of the narrative establish the framing and structure of the novel as a “collective memoir.” Although the novel is mostly written from a third-person limited point of view, this framing allows Graff to add a layer of omniscience to it: Although it is ostensibly Winnie doing most of the writing about her own experiences, the framing as a collaborative memoir allows Graff to include details that would have been outside of Winnie’s purview at the time it occurred, such as Mr. Benetto’s letter to her parents. The fact that Winnie is supposedly writing this from a retrospective perspective also allows for more explicit foreshadowing.

The prefatory illustrations foreshadow key plot points of the narrative. The news article with the headline “‘Treehouse 10’ End Ten-Week Siege” foreshadows the central conflict that drives the events of the novel. Prefacing the main action with this article allows the author to point to the plot’s key conflicts before they unfold. Following the article are Winnie’s doodles of her friends; the illustrations offer visuals for key characters and establish important traits for each one. The illustrations also implicitly establish the theme of The Importance of Friendship and Other Bonds of Support. The illustrations suggest the Treehouse Ten as key characters in the text and indicate their significant relationship to Winnie. 

Other illustrations like the April calendar indirectly characterize Winnie’s growing unhappiness in her situation with her parents. The content and visuals of the calendar create a strained tone that underscores their conflict. Every date save Wednesdays is occupied with a different holiday. In most of the boxes, the name of the celebration takes up almost all the space; in contrast, the activities Winnie has planned for Wednesday appear to take up less space. The visual clutter of the non-Wednesday dates contrasts the space built into Winnie’s Wednesdays, evoking the idea that Winnie’s parents have dominated most of her time and reinforcing Wednesdays as Winnie’s only time to herself. The positioning of the calendar before Chapter 3, wherein Mr. Benetto discusses Winnie’s grades, gives the reader a context for Winnie’s chaotic life, pre-emptively develops their understanding of why Winnie hasn’t been able to complete her schoolwork. 

The author uses other indirect characterization methods to establish personalities for each of Winnie’s friends before they are introduced on-page. The side commentary via the sticky notes in each chapter provides characterization for the Treehouse Ten. Their commentary to each other, complemented by the visual effect of giving each character different ‘handwriting,’ grants each character a distinct tone and personality. For example, notes from Squizzy appear most often in the marginalia, suggesting her role as a group leader. In her responses to other characters, she often corrects, playfully teases, or scolds them for careless comments. The tone and content of her commentary supports her later characterization as responsible and assertive. 

Chapter 1 is immediately preceded by the text of a letter from Mr. Benetto addressed to Winnie’s parents. Like the other prefatory materials, it foreshadows central questions and conflicts in the narrative, introducing Wednesdays as a motif representing a place of safety and escape for Winnie, by asking, “What happens to Winnie on Wednesdays?” (7).

Chapter 1 begins a year prior to the main action of the narrative, establishing context that develops into the catalyzing factor of the novel’s main conflict: Winnie’s relationship with her parents in the midst of their divorce, establishing conflicts that develop throughout the novel within the theme of Navigating Parental Divorce and Complex Family Dynamics. Winnie’s initial characterization occurs in conjunction with the introduction of this theme, introducing internal conflicts that drive her actions and growth throughout her arc. While heated arguments are usual for her parents, Winnie is distressed by the conflict. Graff suggests Winnie’s emotions via descriptions of Buttons, “the world’s greatest cat” (8). Winnie cuddles him for comfort during tense arguments and often projects her own emotions onto him. For example, when Winnie learns that her dad plans to take her away with him for the entire summer, Buttons “let[s] out an angry mew!” (88). Winnie’s interpretation of Buttons’s reaction reveals her own feelings. Because Winnie is conflict-avoidant, she struggles to communicate her needs to her parents. Buttons acts as a surrogate, expressing her emotions for her. Winnie also develops empathy for herself via caring for Buttons and his “emotions.” The necessity to recognize her own feelings and needs structures Winnie’s character arc throughout the novel. 

Graff uses humor and heightened circumstances to center the child’s perspective in a parental divorce and highlight the extreme emotions familial conflict causes. Both Winnie’s parents are caricatures, their behavior taken to exaggerated extremes. Their insistence on everything being exactly equal—to the point of mapping out a spot on the couch for Winnie to sit that is precisely situated between the two of them—is humorously absurd. The situation they force Winnie into with the treehouse is a perfect example of this: While it is irrational, it emphasizes the intensity of the divorce situation and reflects the intense emotions a child experiencing the divorce of their parents might feel—a sense of abandonment and upheaval, the sense that they must now face a new reality radically different from the one they have previously known.

Part 1 establishes Winnie’s friendships with the Tulip Street Ten. Winnie’s interactions with them and the role they play in her life develop the theme of Importance of Friendship and Other Bonds of Support. In Chapter 4, Winnie confides in her friends about her predicament with her local history report, and afterward finds herself “feeling a little better already, just from telling her friends about her problem” (76), suggesting the power of friendship to help one feel supported and empowered. It is the Tulip Street Ten who first encourage Winnie to confront her parents about her feelings, and help her feel “more confident than ever” (77) that she can find a solution. Their role as a catalyst to Winnie’s first attempt at advocating for herself points to their role throughout the novel in helping Winnie develop this skill.

The scene between Winnie and her friends in Chapter 4 also establishes two motifs in the novel: the concept of Artist Vision and the idea of wants versus needs. Winnie’s Artist Vision, “an ability to see things in ways that most other people [can’t]” allows her to “observe things at a new angle […] better, deeper, truer” (62). Artist Vision recurs throughout the novel to grant Winnie important insights and reinforce her connections with others. The observations Winnie makes with her Artist Vision in Chapter 4 foreshadows the concept of wants versus needs: while observing her friend Aayush’s body language after he complains about a situation with his parents, “Winnie wonder[s] if it [is] really his science experiment that Aayush [is] upset about'' (70), introducing the idea that deeper needs belie what adults might perceive as frivolous external wants, an idea that later develops important narrative themes and catalyzes the novel’s climax. 

Part 1 establishes the treehouse as a symbol of Winnie’s individuality and autonomy. When Winnie first enters it in Chapter 2, the narrator describes it as “bright and cheerful” with walls that are different colors: “turquoise blue with white polka dots, pink with wiggly green stripes—whatever [Winnie] felt like” (28). Although the treehouse is at the center of Winnie’s contentious situation with her parents, its characterization designates it as primarily a symbol of Winnie’s self-expression. Like her Wednesdays, the treehouse represents a space that is all Winnie’s own—away from the constant conflict between her parents—a place where she can do “the sorts of things that most kids [can] do any old day of the week” (32). It is the only place she has full control over how she spends her time, reinforcing its symbolism as a place of refuge and autonomy.

The inciting incident of the narrative’s main conflict occurs in Chapter 5, when Winnie’s parents’ plans for the summer violate her sacred Wednesdays (and, on a metaphorical level, her needs for space and autonomy). The reveal that her treehouse is located on non-US soil prompts Winnie to take a drastic step—making her treehouse her own country entirely governed by herself. This heightened situation complements the humorous tone of the novel and reflects the desperation children feel and the extremes they need to go to in order to be heard. Winnie’s act of climbing into her treehouse is the first moment in which she stands against her parents, establishing the direction of her character arc and the theme of Self-Advocacy and Standing Up for One’s Needs. The final line of Part 1 as Winnie climbs into her treehouse and “didn’t come down for a long, long time” (109) foreshadows the significance of the conflict and the challenges that lie ahead.