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Disappearance In Tim O Brien's In The Lake Of The Woods

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In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien is a novel about John Wade and his missing wife, Kathy Wade. The hypothesis about her disappearance in chapter 24 says that Kathy may have committed suicide due to pressure and a collapsing life (250). This Hypothesis is the most probable cause of Kathy's disappearance because of the supporting facts. In the ruins of their relationship lies an affair with a dentist (251), an aborted child by the convincing of John’s hand (155-157), and instances of distrust and weird sick games such as elaborate spying and observation (32-33). Kathy and John had a relationship that was never perfect and could rarely be described as good or healthy. They continued a flawed and sad relationship for many years past the point of recovery and ultimately paid the price for it with Kathy’s suicide. Issues such as fear and dishonesty both consciously and unconsciously began and persisted from the beginning to the end.

John developed mental issues after his father committed suicide, one of the results of these issues was that John has metaphorical mirrors in his head that deflect and protect him from the truth (65-66). When undesirable things happen in his life, he tried to bury and …show more content…

The truth he thought he covered up about his involvement in the My Lai Massacre came out bashing him the newspaper, and Kathy was left happy that the campaign was over but also struggling to get along with John (22). After a short time at the cabin, John had a creepy meltdown where he said the most vile thing he can, “Kill Jesus”, and then proceeds to boil water and ruin all the plants in the house (49). John woke up to find that she was no longer there and proceeded to think about how he will explain the situation (77-78). Kathy never came back because the amount of issues and the intensity they carried through their relationship had peaked and she committed

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