Do you feel more sympathy for Kathy or John? Explain your answer. How did O'Brien elicit this
sympathy from you?
I feel more sympathy for Kathy. The love between John and Kathy Wade started off pure in
the beginning of the book, “just drive and see the sights together. You and me and a bus load of
babies” (O’Brien 6). The quote emphasizes their passionate love and the bright future for them.
John Wade promised Kathy her simple desired relationship after years of waiting. “We’ll be
happy now… happy us“ (O’Brien 4). Politics seemed to be standing in the way of their
relationship, especially when John was running for senator. O’Brien presented Kathy as feeling
stuck in her relationship while John never realized. “Kathy despised it all, every crummy
minute” (O’Brien 184). Evidently, Kathy wanted a relationship without politics involved and
John ruined her expectations when it continued to be the middleman of their marriage.
He had been in a relationship with Kathy since college, so John being in disbelief when
he found out Kathy was stressed out and hated being surrounded by politics truly indicated
where their relationship standed. O’Brien conveyed Kathy’s feeling as captivated in their love,
which made me feel sympathy for her. Throughout In The Lake of the Woods, I was surprised
they lasted around 20 years in their relationship together. John proved to be a stalker and was
self aware about his menacing actions following Kathy around for years. Even though John knew
his actions were disturbing, he continued making Kathy uncomfortable, “Kathy got scared
sometimes, the detective act“ (O’Brien 185). Not only did Kathy feel stuck in her relationship
with politics, but she also couldn’t get her deserved freedom.
While I do feel more sympathy for Kathy in the book, John has been through tough
obstacles such as dealing with his fathers shame and witnessing his suicide. John has also been
through war and his hardships during that time. O’brien includes his past in certain chapters to
captivate the reader's feelings. While he has undergone intense circumstances, it doesn’t justify
his behavior both during the war and currently in the book. The first day John realized Kathy was
gone, he drank through a significant amount of alcohol and was notably drunk. “ At ten-thirty he
finished off the vodka and switched to rum“ (O’Brien 69). O’Brien continuing John’s toxic traits
such as immediately drinking as a reaction to his wife disappearing gives me more sympathy for
Kathy.
Overall, Kathy was treated unfairly throughout the relationship which is why I have more
sympathy for her. O’Brien conveying Kathy’s feeling of feeling stuck which is mainly found
from her sister's evidence quotes. It highlights that she felt trapped which made me feel more
sympathy for her.
How does the author establish and maintain suspense throughout this story?
Mystery, love, war, chaos, frightening, and dark are all different words that can
be used to describe In The Lake of the Woods. A book that made readers go through
varied emotions and mystery that’s written by Tim O’Brien. The author did a successful
job leaving the readers wanting more trying to figure out what’s happening next. He
continued to leave the chapters in suspense by switching up timelines while adding
different book styles in chapters and having new plots to the book.
O’Brien maintained leaving readers with suspense as he switched the timelines for
chapters throughout the book. Every couple of chapters the date switches as O’Brien
carries the plot. The past gets more into debt, which explains and justifies more of John
Wade's action that currently takes place. The main part of the book is the present tense
when Kathy mysteriously goes missing and John is out searching for her. Throughout
these chapters there are “evidence chapters'' that reveal some surprising information
and a way to learn about the characters' lives. Instead of having the book as a whole be
a complete mystery book, Tim O’Brien switches up the chapters to keep the book in
suspense. Facts about Kathy and John are divulged such as “John loved his father a
lot. I suppose that’s why the teasing hurt so bad” (O’Brien 10). Readers learned that
John looked up to his father for approval but was bullied daily by him. They later
learned from evidence chapters that his father hung himself. Through John's trauma
found in the evidence chapters, suspense was built up. Evidence chapters gave readers
a sense of who he was. Different opinions were being shared which left readers
wondering what happened to Kathy. “My sister seemed almost scared of him
sometimes” (O’Brien 28). Another opinion shared claiming “John wouldn’t hurt a fly”
(O’Brien 13). Those were two very contrasting opinions of John, which is how Tim
O’Brien was able to maintain the suspense. He was able to switch readers' opinions
based on John's past relationships. Another style O’Brien put in chapters besides
present tense and evidence was hypothesis chapters. The authors included repetitions
of “maybe she” before stating what might’ve actually happened to Kathy such as
“Maybe she had grown tired of tricks and trap doors.” (O’Brien 23) and “a boating
accident… maybe she was skimming around…drowned and gone.” (O’Brien 111).
O’Brien added hypothesis chapters to keep readers pondering on Kathy’s
disappearance as a way to build suspense. In addition to adding the different myths, he
sustained suspense by the repetition. O’Brien suggests what could have happened to
her, not revealing what actually did occur to her specifically. O’Brien did a successful job
using different styles to keep the readers in suspense.
Throughout the book, O’Brien left readers with varied emotions trying to figure out
what happened to Kathy and learning about both Kathy and John's past. O’Brien adding
past, present, and hypothesis helped him bring and maintain suspense throughout the
entire book.
The “authorial persona” claims he believes in all the possible endings posed by
the hypothesis chapters. How can this be? Why would O’Brien write a mystery
story that does not resolve the central question of mystery? What effect does this
have on the reader?
Did Kathy take a boat and leave? Did she drown by herself? Maybe her husband
killed her? These are different hypotheses presented in In the Lake of the Woods. Tim
O’Brien, the author, kept readers in suspense as he continued to write several storylines
for how and why Kathy disappeared. Throughout the book there are different
possibilities posed by the hypothesis chapters as a way for the reader to decipher what
could have happened.
In the lake of the woods continued to have a choke hold on readers as they tried
to figure out what may have occurred to Kathy. “The authorial persona” believes in all
the possible endings in the hypothesis chapters, which is possible because each
hypothesis has a motive for why it ends that way. Each motive makes the possible
ending more believable. Throughout the book, readers are introduced to a different
hypothesis as they find out more history about John and Kathy. The first hypothesis
being posed was Kathy leaving on her own to get her escape and freedom. She was
done with the politics and fighting. “The motives were plentiful—fed up, afraid,
exhausted by unhappiness” (O’Brien 21). This hypothesis makes sense because she
was clearly over their relationship. A break from John is what she may have needed
which is why she left. In the hypothesis in chapter 14, the storyline continues when she
snuck out and took the boat. During her escape Kathy drowned, “Something freakish: a
boating accident. Maybe a sandbar” (O’Brien 86). This was another possibility that may
have occurred in O’Briens book. It makes sense that Kathy disappeared from hitting the
sandbar, which is why no one was able to find her. Another likelihood the author
believes may have happened was that Kathy successfully made it to shore after leaving
John. O’Brien continues the storyline of Kathy escaping for freedom and finding a way
to land, “She dragged the boat higher up onto the beach” (O’Brien 134). O’Brien made
this hypothesis believable by continuously using the same motive of why she escaped.
He switched the ending to add different pathways for what likely could have resulted.
The last hypothesis O’Brien believed may have taken place is one many characters in
the book suspect happened: John was responsible for Kathy dying in the lake. He took
her body while she was still asleep and “dispatched her to the bottom” (O’Brien 216).
John was in a horrid mental state which caused him to take these actions. All the
trauma got to him. “Maybe his father. Maybe secrecy.” Proves that there was too much
damage happening for him to deal with. His father was an immense trigger. His motive
was for his own emotional stability. That makes the last hypothesis very believable.
O’Brien wrote a mystery story that does not revolve around the central question of
mystery to address characters such as John Wade’s emotional background. Throughout
the book readers learn more about John's PTSD and trauma, which raises awareness.
Readers were affected by this because it opened their limited view of mental disorders
like this. It’s no secret that John wasn’t in the right headspace while committing his
rather odd actions such as stalking Kathy. His mom has claimed his trauma has affected
him deeply, “His father teased him quite a lot. Constant teasing, you could say.” (O’Brien
112). It was obvious John couldn’t get the validation he needed which created his
habits, “Which was how the spying started. Another survival trick.” (O’Brien 171).
O’Brien didn’t just write a simple mystery book, but rather included John's PTSD and
trauma from the past to bring to light the problems he had to face.
Tim O’Brien wrote a mystery book that was not based of the central question of
mystery to address the background and trauma of John and why it’s a significant factor
in the story. Because the story switches timelines throughout the book, O’Brien posed
different believable hypotheses that each had credible motives for why and how Kathy
disappeared. Readers are able to choose the ending based on what they deemed most
believable from their opinions.