From your reading so far, post a comment in response to the discussion questions posted earlier about the novel. READER RESPONSE: What do you think at this point happened to Kathy?
We will look at new Imovies from several people.
BRING IN POETRY BOOKS FOR NEXT CLASS!
Time to begin writing your next short story:
Choice A: A story with definite motifs that advance or enhance the story.
or
Choice B: A story with a real historic background (you'll need to do research).
9/11, Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, Woodstock, Kennedy assassination? What else might be an interesting historic background for a short story?
Although the reader knows right from the beginning of the novel that Kathy will disappear, the novel remains suspenseful because the reader desires to know exactly what happened to Kathy. Instead of the revelations of a traditional mystery, In the Lake of the Woods provides readers with pieces of evidence that lead them to believe that they are close to finding out exactly what happened to Kathy.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, it's difficult to say what happened to Kathy. Earlier in the novel, I thought that John must have killed her and thrown her into the lake because he had woken up in the middle of the night and wound up in the lake without remembering what had happened. However, now I know that Kathy took the boat out that morning and got lost out in the lake. Nevertheless, I am still convinced that John has some hand in whatever happened to Kathy, because if he didn't, he would be looking more fervently for Kathy. Though, with the unclear theories and gaps in evidence it is extremely difficult to formulate a concrete hypothesis.
Up to this point in "In the Lake of the Woods", there have been multiple theories as to what has happened to Kathy after she disappeared. Being presented with so many different hypotheses, the reader is never given a definite, clear-cut direction of what could have possibly happened to Kathy. However, due to the evidence given so far, I am torn between two separate theories: I think Kathy either up and left on her own or that John snapped and ended up killing Kathy after being haunted by his time in the Vietnam War. I think that Kathy was probably still very depressed, as evidenced by her medical record in the first evidence section, and maybe couldn't handle her husband's unpredictability. Either that, or John was so caught up in his war memories that he took out his aggressions on Kathy in a fit of rage and maybe didn't even remember killing her.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that Kathy has disappeared, but the reason why she did is almost impossible to really figure out in, "In The Lake of the Woods". Each hypothesis and evidence chapter of the novel gives probable cases of what may have happened to Kathy such as death, being stranded on another island, or even drowning. Drowning is proved to be false however,because Kathy is described by John and few others as being a great swimmer. It may be possible that novel is not all true realism. The novel contains elements of magic realism, such as John healing wounded soldiers with his "magic".
ReplyDelete-James
I guess I think that John is guilty. The reader knows that Kathy will disappear but O'Brien never explicitly says who is responsible for this. There is a lot of evidence against John though, and it makes sense that O'Brien would chose to write a book that makes a strong statement about someone dealing with post traumatic stress disorder and what it does to a person. Even though it is not for sure that John is guilty it makes the strongest statement about people and what happens to them when they go through something terrible like a war.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I think that John Wade killed Kathy. I think that it wasn't his fault necessarily, but that his experiences from Vietnam and his post-traumatic stress disorder combined with his loss of the election and the exposure of the horrors of My Lai compounded to create such a stressful situation that he could no longer handle it. Also, the fact that he is missing chunks of his memory, and that he only remembers being in the lake and later back in bed leaves room for the suspicion that he in fact killed Kathy.
ReplyDeleteit's so hard to tell exactly what happened to Kathy at this point. yet, I don't think John would be mentally capable to hurt Kathy, but i think that Kathy hid somethings from John, thats why its difficult to say becuase their are not enough prove for me to go by and make assumptions.
ReplyDelete-Alicia Green
5. We know for certain that John loves Kathy. However, every time he says this to her in the novel, it leaves me cold. There's something almost sinister about it that doesn't seem like love--more like obsession. He attaches to her and does not let go, going to great lengths to keep tabs on where she goes and who she sees. But no matter how much John seems to want to keep Kathy, he doesn't invest in her emotionally. He simultaneously manages to know everything and nothing about her. He knows what she bought at the grocery store, but has no idea how much she despises politics. Instead of being a person John can connect and share with, Kathy is an outlet for John's almost violent devotion.
ReplyDeleteJohn is not the only one at fault, though. Kathy also keeps some emotional distance, brushing off John when he is on the brink of telling her about his experience in Vietnam.
John and Kathy's relationship is like one of John's tricks. Behind the trick, there are all sorts of secrets that make the effect lose some of its magic. They may represent a perfect couple to John's political audience, but there is a hollowness between them in the things that remain unsaid. This is supported by the snakes John sees in Vietnam and writes to Kathy about: two snakes simultaneously eating the other's tail, locked in a circle that ends in nothing.
At this point, I don't believe that Kathy has simply run away. I do think John had something to do with her disappearance. He says at one point, during the night Kathy disappeared, that he found himself waist-deep in the lake. (Definite red flag). His memories of that night are disjointed and foggy, a sign that John was not thinking straight. I think there's a possibility that John may have killed Kathy and does not remember doing so.
At this point, I have two theories about Kathy’s death. -.-
ReplyDeleteOne, I have a theory that John killed her. He was angry, unstable, and really seemed like a manic depressive. It’s a possibility.
My other theory is that Kathy actually ran away because she was afraid and wanted to get away from John. At this point, I’m really torn between the two. Yeah.
So far, I think that O'Brien is trying to get me to think that Kathy ran away, but in the "trial" (Evidence section) it seems like John may have killed her. I don't believe he did, but I'm not so easily sold on the idea that she just ran away. The easiest possibility to believe is that she tried to run away and got herself lost or killed in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this novel, though we know that Kathy disappears and we know that we will never know why or how according to the footnote close to the beginning, remains very suspenseful. Even though I know the answer will not be clear in the end I still remain hopeful that there will be or that there will be some sort of evidence that completely gives us the answer. But I think that is the novel's uniqueness, and what made/makes it great. People want to keep reading to figure out what happened to Kathy and though in the end they do not find out what happened they still acquire all that O'Brien wanted them to know. Without a clear answer the reader is forced to really think about what O'Brien really wanted us to see significance. If there was a clear answer this story would be "just another mystery" but because there is not, "In the Lake of the Woods" is really a one of a kind novel.
ReplyDeleteI have not finished the book yet but so far I am almost positive that John Wade killed Kathy. Though throughout the novel there continues to be evidence contradicting this theory there is still a lot more evidence that concludes it. I feel like O'Brien hints at this theory more to show how far post traumatic stress syndrome can push someone and how crazy it made him. Killing Kathy would be the ultimate push, taking the life of the one you love, and not even knowing you did it.
7. I think John entered politics for the reason that Tony Carbo gave, that anyone in politics really just wants to be loved by mass amounts of people, for them to entrust their welfare to you. John Wade has never been truly loved, except perhaps by Kathy. His father made fun of him when all he wanted was to be accepted by him, and then killed himself, the ultimate betrayal, and it seemed to John as the ultimate proof that he never loved him. He received mild acceptance in Vietnam from his fellow soldiers, but he worked hard for that, and never stopped working. He never received unconditional love, and so he continued to strive for it, and one more way to do it was to go into politics. That's why Tim O'Brien wrote without Wade's political convictions, because what he thought didn't matter at all, because it wasn't the reason for anything he did.
ReplyDeletei think john killed kathy, but i don't really because it seems a bit obvious. Hes super duper creepy and scooby doo has taught me that its always the one you dont expect. Or is it?! Dun dun, DUNNNNNNN!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's confusing to tell what exactly happened to Kathy In The Lake Of The Woods. At first I thought that John might of killed her in a rage and might have not realized it but then again it keeps taking you to another possible answer that maybe Kathy might of just left and ended up drowning. I believed that John killed her because he seemed obsessed with Kathy
ReplyDeleteAmane Amireh
ReplyDeleteI think John killed Kathy. I think the loss of his father and his military experience played with his head. There were a lot of parts on the novel that lead the reader to believe that John killed Kathy (fights they had, and the reaction he had to his fathers death). I think that John was so afraid of her disappearing that he just decided, let me not worry anymore, let me just kill her. I think his relationship with Kathy was sort of like that guys in prayer for the dying the one who didn't let his wife go even after she died. He kept her alive in his mind because he loved her so much. i think that's what John did. i think he killed her during a fight but didn't mean to and still loves her and just keeps telling himself she disappeared, because he is afraid of the truth.
I have multiple theories as it pertains the whereabouts of Kathy. The most obvious and one that seems to make more sense is the thought that a shell shocked John murdered her. An unstable mind with a knowledge of weapons and memories filled with death is not a good thing. My second still involves John killing Kathy, however with the Narrator being a third person omniscient being. I believe the possibility of Kathy leaving could just be a thought of the mentally and emotionally unstable John, and that he doesn't realize that he's murdered her. This is just a thought though, she could of actually left, but it just seems strange for someone to just leave.
ReplyDeleteI think that John killed Kathy.
ReplyDeleteHe probably poured the boiling water on her (which would evaporate leaving no evidence) and took the boat out on the lake and sank the boat along with Kathy in the lake. John woke up in the middle of the lake and that is why he was there. He had no remembrance of the killing either. It took 73 years to find the Titanic after it sunk. Even though the Ocean is so vast, the ship was huge and the general location of it was known when it sunk, so the search boats and Police most likely would not find Kathy and the boat. John is guilty by insanity.