The Tree of War by Tanya Datta

Analysis of The Tree of War

Growing up with a single parent can have its difficulties. You might not have the same benefits as other kids when it comes to going on vacations or getting the newest iPhone. Even though there can be certain things, you miss out on when you live with a single parent, some kids like it better this way. That is the case for the 10-year-old Krishna who we meet in the short story written by Tanya Datta “The Tree of War”. He lives with his mother in England, and hasn’t seen his father for six years when he one day comes to live with them which definitely doesn’t make Krishna happy. A theme in this text is therefore family conflicts.

Krishna and his mother live in North London. They moved there after having lived in India with Krishna’s father. The fact that they are Indians, also makes them immigrants in England. We hear that they live in a neighbourhood that Krishna doesn’t feel safe walking in alone at night. That tells us that they maybe can’t afford to live a place where there might be more security. So we learn that their social status isn’t high.

The story is told from Krishna’s point of view, and therefore the language is also a little child-like at times for example: “(…) like a sleeping dinosaur.” (p. 2, l. 54). We also learn about Krishna’s inner thoughts and feelings. This is especially an advantage when we hear about the relationship between him and his father: “Help them stay together so we can carry on living like this? He must be joking. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, it’d be no use. ” (p. 4, ll. 143-145). We learn that he pities his father. Even though he dislikes him, he feels sorry that nobody does.

Aside from letting Krishna tell the story, the author uses a few other narrative techniques that help the story move forward. The story starts in media res: “I am about to nuke Hawaii.” (p. 1, l. 1). This makes the reader interested and makes him/her want to read the rest of the story. To keep up the suspense, the author also uses flashbacks. For example when Krishna thinks back to when his mother told him that his father was coming to live with them. Another narrative technique is that the story ends with a cliffhanger.

Krishna is a 10-year-old boy and spends time playing, like most kids at that age, with his two friends Feargal and Angus who are both younger than him. Krishna describes himself as leader of “the gang”. The three have a specific thing in common. Their fathers are all not very present in their lives: “Angus’s dad was always running away to the pub, or trying to save the miners. As for Feargal’s father, he was off to Belfast so often that Angus and I figured he had to be in the IRA2. Mine had simply turned out more invisible than most. ” (p. 3, ll. 100-103).

When the three friends are together, they like to play a game called Nuclear War. They play the game in a tree, the Monkey Tree, which Krishna thinks is the best part. “I love that tree. No matter what, it’s always there for me, always within reach (…)” (p. 5, ll. 148-149) The fact that Krishna says he loves the Monkey Tree is maybe because it is something solid. It is something he doesn’t have anywhere else, not even with his mother, who is sometimes out late at night. You might say that it is his safe place or comfort zone.

Krishna is not happy about his father coming to live with him and his mother. The thing about his dad is that he isn’t a typical family man. At a very young age, Krishna has picked up on his fathers violent tendency: “In fact, just seeing my father in the garden stirred up another garden deep inside me: a long-forgotten, baking-hot garden, in which my mum and dad are rolling around on the grass, trying to kill each other – no joke – while I throw pieces of Lego at them to try to make them stop.” (pp. 3-4, ll. 106-109). Krishna seems to have a good relationship with his mother. The father ruins this relationship between Krishna and his mother, and that is, among other things, why he doesn’t like his father. His father has lived in India for the past six years and is now coming to live with Krishna and his mother again. He is unstable and seems to be a person you can’t feel safe around: “Under those eyelids, Mum says, lies a raging volcano.” (p. 3, l. 92). This also makes Krishna fear his father, because he can’t trust him or feel safe around him. He is not a good father and also involves Krishna in the problems between him and the mother. That is not something you usually tell a 10-year-old about. It forces Krishna to act like an adult when both his father and mother doesn’t. His mother is not a responsible parent either, because she leaves her son alone with his father who she knows isn’t stable.