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6. Although it is easy to see Kathy as the victim of John's deceptions, the author at times suggests that she may be more conscious (and therefore more complex) than she first appears. We learn, for example, that Kathy has always known about John's spying and even referred to him as "Inspector Clouseau," an ironic counterpoint to John's vision of himself as "Sorcerer." At a critical moment she rebuffs her husband's attempt at a confession. And in the final section of "Evidence," we get hints that Kathy may have planned her own disappearance. Are we meant to see Kathy as John's victim or as his accomplice, like a beautiful assistant vanishing inside a magician's cabinet?
7. Why might John have entered politics? Is he merely a cynical operator with no interest in anything but winning? Or, as Tony Carbo suggests, might John be trying to atone for his actions in Vietnam? Why might the author have chosen to leave John's political convictions a blank?
8. John's response to the horrors of Thuan Yen is to deny them: "This could not have happened. Therefore it did not." Where else in the novel does he perform this trick? How does John's way of coping with the massacre compare to the psychic strategies adopted by William Calley or Paul Meadlo? Do any of O'Brien's characters seems capable of acknowledging terrible truths directly? How does In the Lake of the Woods treat the matter of individual responsibility for evil?
9. Each of this novel's hypotheses about events at the cabin begins with speculation but gradually comes to resemble certainty. The narrator suggests that John and Kathy Wade are ultimately unknowable, as well; that any attempt to "penetrate...those leaden walls that encase the human spirit" can never be anything but provisional. Seen in this light, In the Lake of the Woods comes to resemble a magician's trick, in which every assertion turns out to be only another speculation. Given the information we receive, does any hypothesis about what happened at Lake of the Woods seem more plausible than the others? With what certainties, if any, does this novel leave us
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ReplyDelete6. There was never the interpretation, until maybe the very end, that Kathy was being used by John as a part of his final magical act. It was always portrayed that she was his victim.
7. John probably entered politics because he subconsciously wanted to make himself feel better about his actions in Vietnam. While he did not directly participate in the killings in My Lai, he was still a part of Charlie Company. O'Brien probably chose to leave his political convictions blank because he wanted the reader to decide what they thought of John, and not be swayed or biased by any more outside factors.
8. O'Brien's characters all seem to have difficulty handling terrible truths. They all seem outside of their own mind and actions. I think O'Brien makes it seem like evil influences individual responsibility. Other characters in the book, not involved, don't want to know what happened, they don't want to get involved or try to understand, partially because they were not there, so there is no way they could totally understand, but also because it is easier to be angry at Charlie Company members than to listen to them. Reason's don't seem valid because what they did in Vietnam seems so evil.
9. The end situation are either Kathy is trying to escape from John and John is trying to escape from himself, or that they both are trying to run away and live, missing, together. The idea that he killed her did not seem like the most reasonable conclusion to accept, just the easiest one.
6. Kathy is going to be portrayed as the victim because she is the one who disappeared. It was kind of foreshadow that she would disappear when she was in John's act.
ReplyDelete7. O'Brian left it a blank because he wanted John to feel like he was doing something right for his country, so he wouldn't feel so bad about what he did in the war.
8.The characters in the book are always in denial when bad things happen. They do not want to be involved in anything or act like they just don't understand whats going on.
9.Despite who was trying to get away from who. Who ever is at fault in this situation decided to take the easy way out.
6. I think we are meant to see Kathy as a victim and have her anxiousness build up in the story. She is meant to seem like she has to deal with john’s obsessiveness for a long time and know about it so when we get towards the end of evidence, I got the interpretation that she’s wanted to leave for a while now and it was pre planned.
ReplyDelete7. I think john entered politics because he has this need to watch over people and control little aspects of their lives like he did Kathy and you would do in politics. I don’t think it has anything to do with his Vietnam experience. Tim O’Brien left john’s political convictions a blank for the same reason he did the end of the story, to leave you up to your own interpretation of what might have happened.
8. John performs this trick again when the sheriff is asking him about killing Kathy and he keeps denying it saying she left, she left. He coped by telling himself that they were the enemy and communists. The other characters mostly only come up in evidence and hypothesis and they come up with little theories of what might have happened but people close to Kathy like her sister don’t want to talk about it because it’s hard.
9. the hypothesis that Kathy left on the boat seemed the most logical because of evidence and the boat being gone but people kept assuming he killed her just because of the way they’re relationship was. At the end whwen john gets on the boats and leaves, we don’t know for sure if he killed himself or what but it shows us for certain that he was sad about her being gone and he couldn’t bare it.
6.The book kind of foreshadowed Kathy's disappearance but she is seem kind of as the victim because she is the one who disappeared
ReplyDelete7. I think his reason for politics had nothing to do with Vietnam . It was a personal but the author left it blank to see your understanding of what you think happened
8. John is in denial that's why he thinks everyone is against him because they see him as the reason why Kathy disappeared. Everyone in the book points to John as the reason she is gone.
9. the idea is that they both tried to escape from the things going on in life.
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ReplyDelete6. Throughout the whole novel Kathy was definitely more so a victim. Although she did have a hunch about certain things, the main component of her character is the fact that she was a victim to John.
7. John probably entered politics to fill a void within him, a void caused by the events at Vietnam. He wanted to be the hero for once and to make people happy, something he didn't do in Vietnam.
8. John seems very in denial about everything, his father's death, his wife's disappearance and various other things. It seems that he cannot accept the truth so he ignores it/ gets rid of it, like he did Kathy. She probably wanted to leave him so he killed her; he couldn't accept that truth.
9. The end of the book leaves room for interpretation. We believed that John did kill Kathy because he was so mentally/emotionally unstable. He loved her so much that he couldn't handle it. It was actually more so obsession than love.
6)Kathy is more a victim than anything else in the book. It seems that she had to deal with all of Johns faults from his time at war that was eating away at him.
ReplyDelete7)John most likely entered politics to try to fix what he feel he has broken during his time in Vietnam, he wanted a chance to make everything and hopefully do something good for his country.
8) Most if not all of O'Brian's characters has a problem of dealing with truths that they must face. John cant handle the harsh truth so he try to find away around it and away to get rid of it, so he denies it.
9)The end of the book does give a solid answer, their is plenty of room for the reader to decide what really happened. few characters in the book think that John did kill Kathy ,but no one actually knows for sure what really happened.
6.Kathy is the victim in the book despite her affair that may portray other things about her. She has to deal with a lot of Johns memories and breakdowns with his time at war; as it begins to eat him alive she notices a change in him and this makes her want to be more so detached from him so I believed she been planned on leaving him for good.
ReplyDelete7.John entered politics because he wanted to make everything right as to his past with the war and how tragic it was. He wanted to do something good.
8.John being denial about everything from the past dealing with his childhood to the presence and dealing with his wife's disappearance. His memories of the war had a huge impact on himself that it changed him mentally. I believe he didn't want to believe the fact that Kathy didn't want to be apart of his madness so he made her disappear forever. Which was something he could not admit to himself
9.Few of the characters in the book believe John killed Kathy but there is a lot of room in the book that makes the reader question whether he did or she just left because of the mentally ill state of mind he was in or the denial he was in with himself.
6-Kathy is the victim in the book, Although she did have a hunch about certain things, the main component of her character is the fact that she was a victim to John.She has to deal with a lot of Johns memories and breakdowns with his time at war
ReplyDelete7- John entered politics because he wanted to make everything right as to his past with the war he would hopefully do something good for his country.
8-John being denial about everything from the past dealing with his childhood to the presence and dealing with his wife's disappearance so he denies it.
9-The end of the book gives us a direct conclusion We believed that John did kill Kathy because he was so mentally and or emotionally unstable. He loved her so much that he couldn't handle it. It was actually more so obsession than love.