Tim O’Brien: In the Lake of the Woods
Directions: After reading the lecture, answer one of the main questions, which will appear in red. This question is due no later than Thursday, Mar. 1. Following that will be other questions, in black, which you should read and think about–they may help you answer the main question. However, you are not required to answer these questions in writing.
Your responses to other students’ answers are due by midnight on Saturday, Mar. 3. In order to get the full 20 points, you MUST respond to at least 3 or 4 other people’s postings.
This set of discussion questions is worth a possible 20 points. Remember: late answers receive 0 points, so post early 🙂
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O’Brien, In the Lake of the Woods Link
1. How does John Wade’s desire for love influence his actions throughout his life?
2. How do John’s experiences in Vietnam influence him afterwards?
3. What is your interpretation of what happened to Kathy Wade? Explain why you think this.
4. John does not consider himself an evil man. Do you think he is evil?
1. How does John react to the death of his father?
2. What is the relationship between magic and politics in this novel?
3. On page 21, the narrator intrudes to make a comment in a footnote (footnote 21). Why does he say what he does, and why say it at this point in the novel?
4. Why does John spy on Kathy?
5. In what ways does Kathy lie to herself?
6. How does Kathy help John hide from the truths he doesn’t want to see?
7. On page 101, the narrator intrudes to make a comment in a footnote (footnote 36). Explain why he says what he says in this footnote.
8. On page 103 (Chapter 13), the first mention of Lt. William Calley is made. What do Calley’s state of mind and his later actions reveal about John Wade’s motives for his actions in Thuan Yen? Why does John shoot Weatherby?
9. How does John deal with the memory of Thuan Yen?
10. Chapter 16 is called “Evidence.” What does this chapter reveal about memory?
11. In the footnote on page 146 (footnote 67), the narrator talks about how familiar the ditch at Thuan Yen seems. What is he telling you about himself and his own state of mind? (See also footnote 88 on page 199.)
12. What effect does Kathy’s abortion have on John and Kathy’s relationship?
13. When John Wade takes the boat out alone in Chapter 23, does he intend to return? What do you think happened to him?
14. What are John’s reasons for changing all of his military paperwork? (See p. 269.)
15. In this novel, is it possible for the reader to know the truth?
16. On footnote 133, on page 301, the narrator says, “…we all perform vanishing tricks…” Is he right?
17. At the end, the narrator asks, “Can we believe that he was not a monster but a man? That he was innocent of everything except his life? Could the truth be so simple? So terrible?” Why would believing such a thing be “terrible”? What does the narrator reveal about himself with this question?