In the Lake of the Woods

Publication Date:January 1995 In The Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien John Wade is the main character and his wifes name is Kathy. John is in the military and not long after he comes home his wife disappears.



Author Biographical Information
Tim O’Brien is from a small town in Minnesota called Worthington. He was born in Austin, Texas on October 1, 1946. At first he was against the war, but reported for service and was sent to Vietnam. After being in the service he became a graduate student at Harvard. He is now a visiting professor at Southwest Texas State University where he teaches a creative Writing Program. He is in the advisory for the Ridenhour Prizes held by the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas.

Setting: Historical Information
Bill Clinton was the United States president. Gas was a lot cheaper, clothes style wasn’t very different. Seinfeld and Friends were the hit TV shows. Internet and email was just starting. Computers were huge bulky and slow. And the economy was doing great. Cell phones were big and funky and had antennas. Instead of iPods there were disk men and we were still using VCRs. Overall’s and baby doll dresses were very in style.

Genre
A war novel is a novel where the primary action takes place in an armed field or domestic setting where the characters are occupied with preparations for, or recovery from war.

Mystery usually involves a mysterious death or crime to be solved.

Fiction is a story that is not real it could happen but the story is made up.

Plot Summary
John’s childhood is constantly referred back to in the story to explain why he is the way he is today. As a child he was frequently abused verbally and emotionally by his alcoholic father who seemed like the perfect father to everyone else. Even though his dad treated him badly he was devastated when after his father’s death. John met a girl named Kathy in college and both of them had secrets harbored between them. John spied on Kathy which she was aware of just as she was aware that he knew about her affair with the dentist. John later deployed to Vietnam and they had to resort to letters as their communication. John became absorbed in his job and later became a lieutenant governor of Minnesota and later ran for US senate. After a terrible loss John and Kathy moved to a cottage in the woods by a lake. They pretended to be happy but it just didn’t happen. One morning John wakes up and realizes Kathy is gone after searching the area he finds that the boat is gone. After some time he calls the police and organizes a search party. Eighteen days went by and they had to cancel the search party, John heads north on the lake to escape his problems and was never seen again. Tim O’Brien leaves the reader wondering what happened to the both of them, I guess you can pick the ending you think fits best.

Characters
John Wade-A political candidate who loses by a landslide, he is a very dedicated husband, but he and his wife start having problems after the big loss. John served in Vietnam and he has nightmares about the tour a lot.

Kathy Wade- Kathy is a sweet girl but doesn’t know what she wants at first, while she and John still dated she cheated on him, knowing that John knew about the affair she continued it for awhile. It was difficult for Kathy at first while John was on tour but they adjusted to letters as there communication just fine. When he came back and lost the election Kathy became distant with John.

Ruth Rasmussen- Closest neighbor to the Wade's cottage. When Kathy cannot be found Ruth helps John search for her.

Claude Rasmussen-Ruth’s husband.The closest thing to a friend John has. Claude helps John search for Kathy and is the last person to talk to John before he goes missing as well.

Eleanor Wade-John’s mother,She tells about John’s child experiences with his father and the effect it had on him.

Patricia Hood- Kathy’s sister,Patricia never trusted John and she was always Kathy’s go to person when it came to relationships.

Arthur Lux-The sheriff of Lake of the Woods county,He is in charge of Kathy’s investigation.

Myra Shaw-Works at the mini-mart,She observes John and Kathy fighting at dinner, and then witnesses John buying supplies before he is gone.

Tony Carbo- John’s campaign manager, He helps manage through John’s political career.

Author's Style
Most of O'Brien's writings deal with the Vietnam War and his stories commonly blend memories of his own experiences with fictional treatments of such themes as courage, heroism, brutal violence, and emotional upheaval in the face of death and destruction by impersonal, global forces. O'Brien's interweaving of fact and fiction has generated much commentary, particularly about the vague nature of his narratives help the quality of his storytelling techniques.

Setting
The story occurs in the late 1986, in northern Minnesota. This setting was chosen because John and Kathy wanted to be isolated from the outside world, to forget about the stress and emotion of the failed election. They move into the Lake of the Woods to relax and build their marriage back together, they had grown apart through his tour in Vietnam and through the hard times with the election. As they start to reconnect in their cottage old secrets start to resurface and tensions rise and then out of the blue Kathy goes missing.

Themes

 * Theme One - explain your theme in detail
 * Theme Two

Symbols
The lake provides a symbol that helps understand that there is much about ourselves and the world we cannot know.

Significance of the Opening/Closing Scenes
The significance of the first scene was the flashbacks to John’s childhood with his father. It tells how John’s dad was an alcoholic and was abusive to him. It helps explain John’s personality and explain why he is the way he is when he is older.

The closing scene ends with John drifting away in his boat. Kathy disappears and the story doesn’t have an explanation, the author lets the reader come up with what you think happened to Kathy.

Memorable Quotes
John was older than Kathy and when they first met he said “the trick then was to make her love him and never stop” pg 32

“let’s be cobras. You and me. Gobble each other up” pg 38

“That’s what the whole stupid fling was about – to make you see what you were losing” pg 187

“I love you and I think we can be wonderful together” pg 105