In the Lake of the Woods

When you think of the Vietnam War, do you think of U.S. soldiers as heroes or villains? In the 1960s and 70s, Americans fell on all sides of the spectrum. Some believed the United States and its soldiers were gallantly protecting the world from communism. Others thought the war and the young men who fought in it were unjustified and ruthless. The Vietnam War has a complicated history in the United States; perhaps no one expresses that better than war veteran and novelist Tim O'Brien (1946-). O'Brien's 1994 novel In the Lake of the Woods depicts the trauma the war inflicted on the young soldiers who fought for their country. A historical fiction/thriller/mystery novel, In the Lake of the Woods, considers how deeply trauma can affect a person: from their career to marriage to mental sanity.

In the Lake of the Woods: a Novel by Tim O'Brien

Time O'Brien's novel, In the Lake of the Woods, was first published in 1994. It examines trauma caused by the Vietnam War, focusing on a veteran who is haunted decades after he has left the army. Tim O'Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War himself when he was young. He is considered an anti-war writer because he writes fictional stories about war with the hope that more people realize the impact of war through his writing.

O'Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1968 when he was fresh out of college. He did not agree with the war and considered going AWOL in Canada. He served in the 23rd Infantry Division, also known as the Americal Division. The year before O'Brien was drafted, a platoon from this division perpetrated the My Lai Massacre. Unarmed Vietnam civilians, including men, women, and children, were brutalized and murdered in the massacre. Although O'Brien wasn't involved in the army at that point, the event significantly impacted his identity as a Vietnam veteran. He reflects on the massacre and the trauma it inflicted in In the Lake of the Woods.

O'Brien reflects on the impact the Vietnam War had on soldiers in his novels, pixabay

In the Lake of the Woods Summary

In the Lake of the Woods follows the disappearance of Kathy Wade after she and her husband, John, take a trip to a remote cabin in Minnesota, near the Canadian border. John was in the Vietnam War and is still haunted by what he experienced there. He was also traumatized by his father's abuse and suicide when he was a child. Despite his mental health issues, John put the war behind him and started a career as a politician. As Wade was running for the U.S. Senate, however, the media revealed that he was in the platoon responsible for the infamous My Lai Massacre.

After trying to cover up his involvement, Wade's reputation is ruined. He and Kathy retreat to the wilderness to escape the public eye. As his mental health continues to deteriorate, Wade's actions get more irrational and sporadic. One night, Kathy disappears; the only sign of her whereabouts is a missing boat.

Law enforcement investigates but cannot find any trace of the missing woman. In the midst of the police investigation, John flees the country and supposedly travels to Canada. He is never seen again, only adding to the mystery of the novel.

The narrator conducts his own investigation and hypothesizes what happened to Kathy Wade. Providing readers with evidence found at the scene, anecdotes about Wade's history, and quotes from other people in town, the narrator leaves it up to the reader to determine what actually happened to Kathy. Did her husband murder her? Did she run away? Did she get lost in the Canadian wilderness?

The remote setting of the novel near the Canadian wilderness contributes to the mystery surrounding Kathy Wade's disappearance, pixabay

In the Lake of the Woods Characters

The main characters in the novel are John and Kathy Wade. The other characters, including the narrator, Sheriff Lux, and Vinny Pearson, are involved in investigating Kathy's disappearance and examining John's past in order to help them solve the case.

John Wade

John Wade is the protagonist of the novel and a man who is deeply impacted by his time in the Vietnam War. An up-and-coming politician, his career is ruined when the media leaks his involvement in the infamous My Lai Massacre of 1968. He accidentally killed two men in Vietnam: an elderly Vietnamese man and a fellow American soldier. Those deaths haunt him.

After a traumatic childhood in which his father verbally abused him and committed suicide, John fell in love with magic and manipulation. His fellow soldiers called him "Sorcerer" during the war, and he used magic to cope with the horrible things he saw. His relationship with his wife was also based on manipulation, as he often secretly followed her to keep tabs on her. After his very public disgraces, John and his wife retreat to The Lake of the Woods, a remote area in Minnesota. When Kathy goes missing, John is suspected of killing her and hiding her body.

Kathleen “Kathy” Wade

Kathy Wade is John's wife, and her mysterious disappearance is the subject of the novel. The two met in college. Kathy was aware of John's manipulation and stalking tendencies, but it is often implied that she found it exhilarating. The two kept in touch while he was in Vietnam, and Kathy felt it was her duty to take care of him following his return home. John knew that Kathy had an affair but insisted on marrying her anyway. She is weighed down by her duties as a politician's wife and resents John when he makes her abort their unborn child in order to limit obstacles to his political career. When Kathy goes missing, it is unclear whether she ran away to escape John or if she was murdered by him.

Unnamed Narrator

The narrator is an unnamed Vietnam veteran. He compiles evidence and interviews various characters to figure out what happened to Kathy. Much of the time, he isn't actively present in the novel and merely records what is happening. He does, however, state multiple times that he might not be completely reliable and that he could be construing the facts. The narrator's interest in telling the story and researching Kathy's disappearance is never revealed.

Claude and Ruth Rasmussen

Claude and Ruth Rasmussen are a married couple who help John after Kathy's disappearance. Ruth is blatantly supportive of John, asserting that she knows he loved his wife and that he is innocent. Her husband has a much more ambiguous relationship to John. Claude aids in the investigation but isn't overly sympathetic to John. Claude is the one who allows John and Kathy to stay on his property in the Lake of the Woods following Wade's public disgrace. It is Claude's boat that John takes to Canada to avoid the police investigation. Towards the end of the novel, Claude states that he is sympathetic to John's experiences during Vietnam and believes John is genuinely upset about his wife's disappearance.

Anthony “Tony” L. Carbo

Tony Carbo is John Wade's campaign manager. He is an amoral man who is perfectly content with lying and withholding the truth in order to maintain Wade's image. He knew that Wade would lose the election, but he stayed because he was in love with Kathy.

Sheriff Arthur J. Lux

Sheriff Lux is responsible for investigating Kathy's disappearance. He is much more neutral than his colleagues and is more concerned with finding Kathy than proving John's guilt. He becomes more suspicious of John as time passes, and obtains a court order that allows him to dig up the land around John's cabin and search for Kathy's body. Lux never finds Kathy.

Vincent “Vinny” R. Pearson

Vinny Pearson is a part-time detective and Vietnam veteran. He dislikes and distrusts John for his involvement at My Lai. He works with Sheriff Lux and is insistent that John is guilty.

In the Lake of the Woods Analysis

In the Lake of the Woods is a complex novel that taps into various genres and toys with structure. The narrator often breaks the third wall and reveals that all might not be as it seems. He includes quotes, evidence, and hypotheses in order to deduce the fate of Kathy Wade.

In the Lake of the Woods Genre

The novel is a work of historical fiction, as O'Brien creates fictional characters who react to the real-life massacre of innocent Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War. All of the main characters are fictional, including John and Kathy Wade, the Rasmussens, and the detectives on the case. The narrator references several real-life figures, the most notable being Lieutenant William “Rusty” Calley, the commanding officer that ordered his troops to kill the civilians at My Lai. The narrator also mentions Lizzie Borden, who was tried for murdering her parents with an axe but was acquitted, and Lee Harvey Oswald, who purportedly assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

Aside from historical fiction, the novel is also a thriller and mystery novel. The narrator and other side characters compile evidence to figure out what really happens to Kathy Wade. In the end, readers are left to interpret her disappearance/possible murder for themselves based on the evidence presented throughout the novel.

The novel is situated in the mystery/thriller genre as the narrator and detectives pour over evidence to figure out exactly what happened to Kathy Wade, pixabay

Finally, In the Lake of the Woods can be considered a love story, as it documents Kathy and John's relationship from the beginning until the end. Kathy stands beside John through his time in the war, trauma, and monumental political loss. John seems to be obsessed with Kathy, and he struggles to cope with losing her. Throughout the novel, Ruth Rasmussen compares John and Kathy's relationship to her own, saying they were deeply in love.

In the Lake of the Woods Structure

In the Lake of the Woods follows an unusual structure. The novel is broken up into 31 chapters, some entitled "evidence" and some entitled "hypothesis." The evidence chapters provide quotes from people John and Kathy knew, police reports, newspaper clippings, and other forms of evidence that contribute to the readers' knowledge of the case. The hypothesis chapters closely examine the narrator's theories for what might have happened. Instead of using chronological order, the speaker uses this structure of storytelling in order to add to the mystery of the novel and argue that some things are completely unknowable. Even with all of the evidence he collects, the narrator does not firmly state what he believes happened to Kathy and John. He leaves it up to the reader to decide the truth for themselves.

In the Lake of the Woods Symbols

The novel uses several symbols in order to depict the main themes. The most obvious symbol is the lake in which Kathy goes missing. The police search the lake for months, never finding any evidence of Kathy or her corpse. The lake symbolizes the past, with its vast unknown and inherent dangers. Wade's trauma, and the other characters' secrets, are buried and lost to the outside world. The investigators find the lake impossible to navigate, and the truth behind Kathy's disappearance is never discovered. This mirrors the uncertainty and secrets of John's past.

Magic is also largely symbolic in the novel, as it is used to hide one of John's biggest insecurities. He plays with magic when he's a child, in the army, and during his political career. Magic allows him to hide the things he doesn't like about himself, including his insecurities. It gives him and the people around him the illusion that he is in control. Magic is a symbol for the way he copes with his trauma and insecurities.

The mystery behind magic can also represent how the readers relate to the story. The most captivating aspect of the novel is the mystery behind Kathy's disappearance. Readers are driven by the desire to know what happened, but if the book came to a definite ending the novel would be less interesting and impactful. Much of the tension that keeps the novel interesting is the unknown.

Another symbol in the novel is the imagery of the two snakes eating one another. John believes it symbolizes a circle of love and unity, reflecting his relationship with Kathy. The snakes, however, are violent and gruesome. Perhaps they are the perfect symbol for John and Kathy's relationship at the end. The snakes are also symbolic of John's trauma. He is constantly stuck in this cycle of remembering what he witnessed and did in the war and attempting to hide from it. The snakes represent how his life is cyclical, centered around violence.

In the Lake of the Woods Themes

The major themes in In the Lake of the Woods are war and trauma and magic and the unknowable.

War and trauma

John Wade is deeply affected by the war. He constantly has flashbacks of the horrors he's witnessed, including accidentally killing his fellow American soldier and a Vietnamese man. He was so emotionally distraught after the killing that he

When he returns to the United States, John attempts to remove himself from the record completely so that the war won't follow him home. It still haunts John mentally, however. He has flashbacks in his dreams and late at night. It only gets worse after he loses his career because of the horrible things people accuse him of. He begins seeing things and is uncertain if they are actually happening or not. His trauma causes him to lose his grip on reality.

The novel also speaks to the trauma that John experienced as a child. His father was abusive, making fun of him for his weight and criticizing his interest in magic. When John's father committed suicide, John felt both great loss and extreme anger at his father for dying. The trauma caused him to lash out mentally, wanting to kill everyone at the funeral.

Magic and the unknowable

O'Brien toys with the idea of the unknowable throughout the story. The narrator is actively involved in the investigation, collects evidence, and presents multiple hypotheses for Kathy's whereabouts. Ultimately, however, his efforts are futile. At the end of the novel, we are as uncertain about Kathy's fate as we were when the novel began. In the Lake of the Woods deeply examines the unknowable and how it affects human lives. There are so many possibilities and uncertainties. The unknowable can be frustrating and dangerous. But it can also be hopeful and full of potential.

The narrator says,

We don't know what happened to Kathy Wade at the end of the story. Perhaps she was killed, either by her husband or in the wildness. Or maybe she escaped a marriage that was slowly suffocating her and fled to Canada for a new start. The unknown is an enormous force in the novel, but its uncertain nature makes it ambiguous with the potential for hope.

Wade uses magic to gain control over the unknown. He enjoys manipulating and controlling people, and he uses magic to this effect. People are impressed by him because they don't understand the reasoning behind magic like he does. He feels powerful when he has that edge over both them and the unknown.

John plays with magic to gain a sense of control over the unknown and other people, pixabay

In the Lake of the Woods Quotes

The most important quotes in the novel speak to the story's themes and develop the ambivalent character that is John Wade. This allows readers to decide if John was innocent or guilty in his wife's disappearance. John is presented as a deeply ambivalent character. Readers occasionally sympathize with him and the trauma he endured while also recognizing his deeply problematic tendencies towards control and violence.

Early on in the book, readers learn that John has already experienced great emotional loss. He was bullied by his father, who committed suicide when John was only 14 years old. John reacted with anger and immediately turned his trauma into violence:

Because of this early loss, John became obsessed with having and maintaining control. He continued to practice magic because it allowed him to manipulate people, and he was obsessed with having control over his relationship. From the very first time he met Kathy, he felt the need to have control over her, stalking her and testing her loyalty:

Ambivalently, the narrator also stresses John's love for Kathy, humanizing John's character:

His turbulent relationship with his wife, past fits of violence, and unstable mental state following the war are all important parts of his character. At the end of the novel, the narrator asks readers, "Can we believe he was not a monster but a man?” (Ch. 31). It is up to readers to sift through these quotes and decide exactly who John Wade was and what role he played in his wife's disappearance.