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A renowned author for his writings on the American soldiers in the heart of the Vietnam War was born in 1946 in Minnesota. O'Brien, after studying political science went on to fight in Vietnam. Before the war he lived a normal life, spending the majority of his youth in a small town, Worthington, Minnesota. He now lives with his wife and children in Austin, Texas. In the Lake of the Woods, like many of his other novels are based on the war in Vietnam, but this story specifically focuses on the toll war takes on someone, their tragic experiences and how that caused someone (John Wade) to develop into the person they ultimately become.

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Around the time this book was published society was able to see the full impact the Vietnam war had on the soldiers. O'Brien's personal background on the war only adds to the flashback scenes we see that are present in the novel as it allows for better realistic imagery that conveys the true horrors of the conflict. O'Brien grew up in a world of drastic change. New technologies were being created, Bill Clinton was President of the United States. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Allied landings in France and the beginning of the end of World War 2. Tensions start to rise following inspections of nuclear plants in North Korea.

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The narrator bears a great resemblance to O'Brien himself as they are an unnamed Vietnam veteran. The story of John and Kathy Wade is much like a piecing a jigsaw puzzle in the best way they can. The reader shares the knowledge of the story with the narrator as they try to unfold the mystery of what happened at the lake in the woods. It is crucial to understand the points of view from the different characters like John and Kathy (omniscience). The audience gets a better idea of what is really going on inside John's mind, the corruption and insanity

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The narrator's perspective is what drives the story in the novel. He is throughout, analyzing new details and providing hypotheses about Kathy's disappearance. While also providing quotations pulled from other literature, philosophy, and psychology to try and explain what John is going through. It is left to the reader to determine which truth they believe as there is no concrete conclusion to the novel.

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A politician who had a promising career comes to an abrupt end when it is revealed he was one of the soldiers involved in the My Lai massacre of 1968. He lives in his own world, one of "magic" and deception. The audience mainly follows John through the story and focuses on all the lies and games he plays on others. He is corrupting himself, believing all the lies he is telling to others. Throughout the novel the reader is constantly conflicted about him at moments feeling sympathetic with flashbacks to his past and his abusive relationship with his father, while also making him the prime suspect in the disappearance of Kathy Wade.

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While believable, the reasons that he is researching into the life of John Wade are left completely unexplained throughout the novel. The majority of the time the narrator is not a conspicuous "presence", all he does is narrate what happens, and even suggests he could be distorting the truth, revealing he has been to many of the same places in Vietnam that John visited as a soldier. The question of why the narrator is telling this story is arguable as important, or even more, than the question of what happens to Kathy. Since this question is impossible to answer, it suggests the mysteries in O'Brien's novel will never be solved.

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The mysterious and unsolvable disappearance of Kathy Wade is the prime focus in the novel. She is developed throughout by various different analysis of Kathy and her intriguing relationship with John from a variety of sources. It is often implied that she enjoys Johns games of deception and manipulation, where other people find it frightening. The narrator never outright describes the character and it's rather up to the audience to interpret Kathy and her motivations.

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John Wade's campaign manager who appears amoral throughout much of the novel. He is described to the audience as a fat unattractive man who has a crush on Kathy, John's wife. He routinely tells her that he would lose weight if it meant he would get "a shot" with her. He also regularly tells John that he needs to stop talking about the issues in the world and instead focus on his own "image". Kathy often suggests that Carbo is not as cynical as he seems, and rather puts on an appearance of cynicism to disguise his true idealism. It is left up to the reader whether or not he had an involvement in the disappearance of Kathy.

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In the Lake of The Woods has a complicated structure that is utilized by O'Brien to keep the mystery and suspense surround the disappearance of Kathy and John's attitude throughout. The plot moves forward in specific chapters titled "evidence" and "hypothesis". In evidence, vague characters related to Kathy and John talk about their experiences with them that could possibly lead to the mystery being solved, while also using allusions to other literacy works to introduce the major psychological themes about John. Then the hypothesized chapters are where the narrator gives insight on Kathy and all the possibilities that could have played out in her disappearance, but it's up to the reader to determine which they believe.

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Throughout the novel O'Brien uses a series of flashbacks to help explain the backstory of important elements such as why John acts the way he does, how he got the name "the sorcerer", and gives the reader a peak into the relationship between John and Kathy. Many of the flashbacks deal with John in the Vietnam War, and how it ironically destroyed his chances of winning the political election with his involvement in Mai Lai massacre.

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John doesn't necessarily change or grow throughout the novel but as the story progresses more is revealed about his past and what has caused him to become the person he is. In the chapters "evidence" and by some flashback scenes the audience learns John had an extremely difficult relationship with his father. His father abused him, making fun of his weight and even killed himself. It's because of this that he feels a deep need to be loved and praised a possible origin for his games of deception in the Vietnam War.

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Johns fondness of magic , manipulation, and deception has a lasting impact on the his relationship with Kathy. He often followed her everywhere and did anything to exercise his love of "magic". His tense relationship with his father continued and parallels how he treats his friends and wife. He wants people to love him so he feels happier, but will often show little respect for others as he controls and manipulates them. However, as the novel goes on the reader realizes that at the same time, John wants to love others. This is both sincere and insincere, and is torn for what he truly wants.

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The love between John and Kathy is complicated and never completely explained in the novel. John hides his personal life and history from Kathy while also insisting he know everything about Kathy. It causes the love to be temporary and plays a key role in how the audience determines how Kathy might have disappeared. Kathy eventually responds to Johns manipulation with deception of her own in the form of an affair with a dentist.

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Often throughout the novel Vernoa is described as a place where John and Kathy can be happy. However this alludes to their concerning relationship foreshadowing a their fate of both of them disappearing. The irony of how its described where they can be happy when its a place of catastrophe where Romeo and Juliet both have a horrible end.

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My grandfather fought in the Vietnam War like John and O'Brien. He still deals with some of the memories and experiences from the war like losing some of his best friends and still dealing with the trauma today. He gets anxious whenever fireworks go off and sometimes freaks out like John did at points throughout the novel.

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While there is no specific connection from In the Lake of the Woods to Crime and Punishment the overall feel and genre of the novel matches with the mystery and suspense aspect trying to figure out what is going to happen next. The ideas of corruption and deception are present in both novels and how it impacts people. Even though the stories were extremely different.

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The mystery of Kathy and John in the novel is intriguing. It keeps the reader wanting to find out more and more with every word. Each chapter having a specific purpose and revealing clues into the mystery. It demands the readers attention and the fact that the mystery is never solved keeps the reader thinking about what happened with this couple even after they finish it.

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This book is complicated, while it is meant to entertain the audience it also brings up important points and wisdoms about life. The narrator explains things as they happen and then goes to elaborate on everything the reader has learned and form it into a hypothesis about how Kathy disappeared. However it's up to the reader to determine if the numerous possibilities mentioned in the novel are true. There are also chapters in the book that are allusions/quotes of other works in literature. These quotes bring up major ideas and explain what John is going though, and the reader can take this knowledge and apply it to their own life.

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While this novel is complicated and doesn't follow the normal story structure, it still uses the elements of fiction. The exposition in the first chapter of In the Lake of The Woods is crucial to understanding the situtation the Wade's are in and gives the reader insight into their relationship. The inciting incident can be considered the disappearance of Kathy which kick starts the novel as the reader starts to unfold John's past and how it shaped his future. However the book gets frozen in the element of conflict where the audience and the narrator are trying to solve this mystery, but it never happens. It's left to the reader to understand and formulate their own opinion on what they think happened as the book never comes to a concrete resolution. Instead, the narrator just suggests the audience propose the happiest outcome that John and Kathy disappeared together to end the novel on an open resolution.

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I choose In the Lake of The Woods because of the mystery and suspense. I've always loved trying to solve problems or something unknown. It is by far my favorite genre because it really makes the reader think and figure out what happened as more information in slowly revealed, especially in this book as the mystery of John and Kathy are never solved and is left up to the reader to determine.

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In the Lake of The Woods and The Things They Carried are both written by the same author Tim O'Brien and are set around the Vietnam War. They both discuss what it was like experiencing the war, the horrors, and the toll it takes on people.

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Hamlet has the common themes of disloyalty, corruption, and deception with the relationships between the characters in both novels. The relationship between John and Kathy becomes corrupted with them both having their own secret depression while pretending to be happy to the other, and later in the novel when Kathy has an affair. This connects to Hamlet with the disloyalty and corruption within the family with Claudius trying to plot against Hamlet and poisoning him.

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In a chapter titled "evidence" iO' Brien alludes to The Magicians Handbook by Robert Parrish, "It has been said that a miracle is the result of causes which we are unacquainted. Once these causes are discovered we no longer have a miracle, but natural law . . . In a way, all of us dislike the laws of nature. We should prefer to make things happen in the more direct way in which savage people imagine them to happen, through our own invocation" (O' Brien 94).

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The way its structured in the novel as a whole tells the reader crucial information as it essentially explains how people like John can pretend to be something they're not and fool other people. It gives the reader a method to understanding the novel itself.

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Understanding John and Kathy's Relationship

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Understanding John and Kathy's Relationship

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" They invented happy stories for each other. A latenight train ride to Florence, or maybe north into the mountains, or maybe Venice, and then back to Verona, where there was no defeat and where nothing in real life ever ended badly. For both of them it was a wishing game. They envisioned happiness as a physical place on earth, a secret country..." (O' Brien 3). This allusion to Romeo and Juliet which lays a foundation for John and Kathy's relationship. It conveys to the reader that their relationship is not as good as it may seem and foreshadows the couples eventual disappearance.

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O' Brien uses a multitude of devices throughout the novel. Many prominent symbols included the lake itself representing the past: the traumatic secrets that all the characters hide. The lake is much like the novel itself, having vast dimensions and complexity is much like the novel. Another important symbol is the two snakes eating each other conveying in a sense that there are two different versions of the same problem. John views it as a symbol for the unity of love as he loves Kathy, however, at the same time it's also gruesome, foreshadowing the anger and pain John and Kathy will cause each other. To be able to understand John and his motives throughout magic is another crucial symbol. It symbolizes John's desire to be loved by others, wanting to hide his own weakness and depression to fool others into believing he is happier than he really is. The allusions that are scattered in the different chapters also play important roles to understanding John and Kathy's relationship like allusion to Romeo and Juliet with "Verona" and to other authors to understand the characters motives. All of the different devices used all connect to O' Briens idea that no one should try to fake who they are in society as it only leads to corruption. To be true to yourself. And also understanding that some problems can never be solved just like the novel, the reader will never truly know what happened to John and Kathy Wade during their trip in a cabin in the woods.