John O Brien's In The Lake Of The Woods

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In the book In the Lake of the Woods, the character John fought in a war, and throughout the book it portrays the effects of the war. The profound impact of war intertwines with various facts of life, shaping the character’s journey. The forces that impacted the writing of this book are the era in which it was written, O’Brien’s personal experience, and societal influences. The Vietnam War, an important period in American history, significantly shaped the writing of In the Lake of the Woods. O’Brien, a veteran of the Vietnam War himself, drew upon his own experience and observation to capture the psychological effects of war. In the book it says, “After he’s shot PFC Weatherby - which was an accident, the purest reflex - he tricked himself …show more content…

Even though the War technically ended in 1975, the people who experienced it now had to fight another war within themselves. In an article talking about the long-term impacts of the Vietnam War it says, “approximately a decade after the end of the Vietnam War, it found that for many veterans, their PTSD had become a chronic (that is, persistent and long-lasting) condition” (Matthew). With so many people dealing with such effects, even after many years have passed, the timing of O’Brien couldn’t have been better. People could easily connect with the characters and sympathize with them, even as far as coping with what they may be going through. O’Brien’s personal experience as a Vietnam War veteran undoubtedly influenced his writing for the book. In an interview, O’Brien reflects on the time he experienced during the war, stating, “The sorrow you feel when a friend dies, and the subsequent anger when there’s no way to strike back” (Interview). The emotions he states he felt after losing someone during the war are relatively similar to how John Wade felt when his father …show more content…

Beyond the personal experiences of the author, the book is also influenced by the societal trends at the time. A genre the book falls into is psychological thrillers, “.Psychological thrillers are relatively recent, as they gained popularity in the early 90s” (Grigoryan). Although O’Brien may have had other reasons to write this book the way he did, there’s no doubt that the popularity of the specific genre played a part in deciding how it was written. Psychological thrillers usually feature a protagonist who is driven by obsession or violence, along with eternal conflicts (Dukes). John often showcases such behavior, in the book it says, “...for John Wade the spying was like an elaborate detective game, a way of crawling into his father’s mind and spending some time there” (O’Brien 2009). John has a habit of spying on people he’s close to and has done it multiple times. He does this because of his internal conflict with himself, when he spied on Kathy, he did so because he was insecure, and when he spies on his father, he does so because he thinks his father hates

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