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In The Lake Of The Woods Character Analysis

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Can mere mortals with hold magical abilities? In the Lake of The Woods, a mystery war novel written by Tim O’Brien, whose major theme is that not every problem has a solution, but may present a different outlook on the problem and aspects surrounding it. The main character, John Wade, uses magic to hide his manipulation and deception in order to put on a smiling face on a daily basis. As a result of wanting to carry on his deceit, he ventures into the political world, while putting his wife,Kathy Wade, through misery. Kathy hated the political life style and gatherings, in this degree she was secretly relieved when he was unable to become a U.S. Senator. As an attempt to mend the breaking bonds between them, they decide to go to their cabin near Lake of The Woods, in Minnesota. Their stay was going great, until one morning John awoke only to find out that Kathy was gone, nowhere to be seen. The author, Tim O’Brien got a majority of his inspiration from what he experienced in the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien uses symbolism to reveal the hidden aspects of life. The symbols he used were magic, the idea that one plus one equals zero and uncertainty. John Wade, the main character, helps the reader slowly understand the once hidden aspects of life. As the beginning of the novel depicts the present, with a couple’s location and marital problems. As the story begins to unfold, the readers soon come to the …show more content…

On one side you see a happy couple with dark pasts, while on the other side they are both broken by deception. This deception was created by magic, symbolic snakes and overall uncertainty. Tim O’Brien left too many unanswered questions that cause the readers to have multiple points of views, resulting in mindwarp. He ended his novel with a sole crushing cliffhanger. Mathematically how does does one plus one equal zero? What really happened to Kathy? What will happen to

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