In The Lake Of The Woods Literary Analysis

Pain is one of the most complex words in the modern day language. It is perceived differently with every situation with varying definitions for all types of people. Pain for an infant who scraped their knee seems petty compared to a terminally ill mother who will leave behind three children. The feeling of discomfort or agony may never go away in some cases, especially mental pain. Author of In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O’Brien, writes a novel about war stress and how PTSD can change a person’s entire personality. John Wade suffers through tremendous pain that eventually leads to the disappearance of his wife Kathy. O’Brien portrays the effects of pain through John Wade’s post traumatic stress disorder throughout his lifetime during

Devoting a lifetime with vows and a promise to a God can be exhilarating but not any less terrifying, and those are the feelings of people who have not been through a gruesome loss. John Wade losing his father turned John Wade into someone who could never lose someone he cared for again. Wade needed to have all eyes on Kathy during their relationship comparing it to “magic-a quick, powerful rush” when he followed her (32). Magic was his drug of choice, the thing that made all the hurt and pain go away even if it only lasted a few moments. John refused to feel the ache he versed with the loss of his father, making Kathy is most prized possession. Wade wished to be with Kathy at all times so no one else would be able to receive the affection John so longed for even admitting “there were times when John Wade wanted to open up Kathy’s belly and crawl inside and stay there forever” (71). A very creepy line but it was give insight into John’s head and how Kathy was the best thing that will ever happen to him. The way John has dealt with his pain and wanting to crawl inside of his wife to know what she is doing at all time is excessive; but Wade is so paranoid that he will be alone again. He goes through complete agony when Kathy goes missing because on some level he believes he could have hurt the woman who he can not live without. Their love was extremely unique but without Kathy’s love, it is impossible to imagine where John would possibly be. It is disturbing and not the ideal marriage but without Kathy, John’s secrets and guilt would have certainly eaten him