In The Lake Of The Woods Themes

The Dark Side of People

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien is a novel narrating a story of a man referred to as John Wade and his wife Kathleen. Wade is a politician of Minnesota. It is clear from the novel that he has just lost his election to the United States senate. The reason behind his loss is that all the facts about John have been revealed. There is solid evidence of John getting involved in a mass killing that happened in the Vietnamese village of Thuan Yen also referred to as My Lai. In this massacre, John is found responsible for the deaths of two people. On the other side, Kathleen was always on his side. Their relationship started back when they were college mates. One day Kathleen mysteriously disappears from their rented cottage in the north of Minnesota after John lost his election, a mass reach of water and the wilderness that separates the United States from Canada. Among all the events in the novel, the main theme that seems to appear most is the theme of the covered side of life of the people. Many things that take place in the novel are not openly seen, and the author develops this using some characters to reveal the concealed actions of the characters.

The mention of the Vietnam War is a way of demonizing the character of Wade and proving his evil ways. Someone uses the Vietnam War to highlight the real concealed character of John, which, according to the readers is the dark side of John. The fact is that if the Vietnam War would not be mentioned, the readers would possibly not get the real character of Wade. Another event that leaves us in doubt is the disappearance of Wade’s wife. It is referred to as a mysterious happening since the author does not explain the reason for her disappearanc...

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...a theme that seems to have an impact on the characters’ lives of the novel In the Lake of the Woods. John’s character changed after losing an election. He turned into a crazy man different from the one before politics. The author highlights the how stereotyped the Vietnam War veterans are. Later, their lives are bound to change. As exemplified by John’s life, he suffers from stress and yet before he had enjoyed life as a war veteran. Conclusively, O’Brien, the author of this novel wanted to show how the life of a person could undergo changes. He opted to use the novel “In the Lake of the Woods” to show how the dark side of a person can bring impact to one’s life. He mentioned some characters whose work is to unveil the concealed part of other characters. His work is resourceful to understanding the various factors that characterize the life of a human being.