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Newt is a boy in his early teens. Cherokee
Falls, Kansas, is partially integrated. Black and white townspeople mingle freely in their
homes and in the streets, but Jim Crow is well entrenched and racial divisions are part of
the fabric of their lives. Newt’s mother advises him to use Cherokee Falls as his
learning tree since the lessons to be learned about people there will teach him about
people everywhere. From that perspective of the story alone, there are lessons about
dishonesty, death, hypocrisy, violence, decency, honor, and dignity.
From a larger perspective, The Learning Tree captures the mindset of the generation that
became the adults of the 1950’s and 1960’s and that was the backbone of the
Civil Rights movement. It also captures the mindset of the generation they were influenced
by and whose social values they tried to change.
In 1925 Cherokee Falls, it is still unclear which way the winds will blow - whether toward
greater racial and economic disparity or less. Social change at that time was not a given.
The Learning Tree was powerful in 1963 and still packs a punch today.
M
February 2000 |
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