Analysis Of In The Lake Of The Woods By Tim OBrien

Ever since the beginning of time, love has played an enormous role among humans. Everyone feels a need to love and to be loved. Some attempt to fill this yearning with activities and possessions that will not satisfy – with activities in which they should not participate and possessions they should not own. In Andrew Marvell’s poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” the speaker encounters an emotion some would call love but fits better under the designation of lust for a woman. In contrast, the speaker of Robert Herrick’s poem, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” urges virgins to marry, to make a lasting commitment in which love plays a

In the Lake of the Woods is a fictional mystery written by Tim O'Brien. Through the book we learn that our lovers, husbands, and wives have qualities beyond what our eyes can see. John Wade and Kathy are in a marriage so obscure that their secrets lead to an emotional downfall. After John Wade loss in his Senatorial Campaign, his feeling towards Kathy take on a whole different outlook. His compulsive and obsessive behavior causes Kathy to distance herself from him. His war experience and emotional trauma are a major cause for his strange behavior. We remain pondering about Kathy's mysterious disappearance, which becomes fatal for her. Possible scenarios are presented in eight

| |of forbidden love and the quest to keep it alive. The reader seems to |

In this global era of evolving civilization, it is increasingly difficult to ignore the fascinating fact about love. Love is a feeling of intimacy, warmth, and attachment. Love is inevitable and it plays a vital role in human life as Janie uses her experience with the pear tree to compare each of her relationships, but it is not until Tea Cake that she finds “a bee to her bloom.” (106).

We live in a society that has increasingly stomped on love, depicting it as cruel, superficial and full of complications. Nowadays it is easy for people to claim that they are in love, even when their actions say otherwise, and it is just as easy to claim that they are not when they really are. Real love is difficult to find and keeping it alive is even harder, especially when one must overcome their own anxieties and uncertainties. This is the main theme present in Russell Banks’ short story “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story,” as well as in “The Fireman’s Wife,” written by Richard Bausch. These narratives, although similar in some aspects, are completely different types of love stories.

In a social setting where the presence of God is absent, love simply cannot exist. It is a common-truth that human beings require love; in a society where love cannot and does not exist, the void where that “love” would have existed becomes filled with deluded misconceptions of what love truly is. In Marie-Claire Blais’ Mad Shadows, Blais clearly illustrates what happens genuine love cannot exist and is replaced by misinterpretations, with the use of well developed character relationships. In many of the relationships (romantic and otherwise) displayed

Love exists in the short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” by Alice Munro and in the short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver. in Munro’s short story the plot is that of a mentally ill wife, Fiona, who falls in love with another patient while her husband still tries to hang on to their old love. Her husband eventually wants to have an affair with the wife of the man his wife is having an affair with. Their love changed because of their circumstances due to ill health. Carver’s story discusses the different definitions of love due to the type and quality of relationships; everyone has a different definition. Love also exists all over the world within different environments and cultures. The concept of love depends upon the environment in which it inhabits. Love is dependent on the life of the people in love and it also depends on their current environment. Nature and nurture are also huge factors into the development and process of love. What nature and nurture mean is whether it is due to how the person lives and acts along with their personality compared to whether it’s all in their genetics beforehand. Love is more on the nurture side instead of the nature side of human experience.

When Homer first included a cliffhanger in The Odyssey, he left the ending open for Telemachus’ downfall for the observer of his poem, until he later went on to clarify his fate. The plotline holes left by the writer results in the opportunity of the reader to formulate probable hypotheses. This is the case in Tim O’Brien’s In The Lake Of The Woods, published in 1994. Both Kathy’s and John’s mysterious disappearances in a short time span suggest that they ran away to Canada together to start their dream life and escape their tumultuous past.

Ever wondered how love can bring you happiness and pain and make you sane and crazy at the same time. How this emotion can change you and make you accept things you are not used to. How this emotion can overpower you in many ways in which you did not know existed. In Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes, the power of love is a commanding driving force that can dominate a person’s mind, body, and soul and one who is courageous enough to love sometimes undergoes serious consequences. Consequences that are driven from the power of love that harm and cause hardship to the one who is determined to seek love.

Sharon Olds’ poem “Sex Without Love” wonders at the ability for two people to have sex and not involve emotions or pretenses of love. The poem argues that it is better to have sex without love under the premise that love is a false savior for people, and everyone is all alone anyhow. In other words, the claim is that personal interactions do not serve a purpose other than being a distraction, and they will inevitably end. However, the notion that attachment and love are false hopes for people and each person is all alone does not account for the inevitability of human interactions and the underlying importance of relationships. While the poem does not give its definition of being alone, complete isolation is virtually impossible and leads

This short-story by Conan Doyle starts with John Watson divulging to the reader Sherlock Holmes’ position on the subject of love. If Watson is to be believed, love is something which

Humans can be acknowledged as dependent species whom need to necessarily rely on other humans to seek happiness in their life. Majority of happiness are originated from the bond and relationship people make with each other. Values and meanings of relationship cannot certainly be measured with tangible objects; yet, respect and feelings of love can only be obtained by truly understanding one another. In a novel, “Embers,” the author, Sandor Marai, articulates the true friendship between Konrad and Henrik. The dream, passion, and youth which Konrad and Henrik shared burned furiously until lust and envy within human nature had devoured the burning flame. Even though

In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White reveals the reality of time, which is that it constitutes inevitable change. When faced with reality, he avoids it by idealizing the past. White has difficulty distinguishing between his son’s childhood and his own because of his illusion that no time had passed. Additionally, he shows contempt for the present by observing the changes that occurred at the lake in Maine that he has been going to since his childhood.

We are born into this world with a need to attach to other humans. Loneliness is something we try combat and we every go as far as to surround ourselves with mindless people just to flee the solitude. With attachment comes love, an exposed wounds to the elements. Undying care is projected on to family or friends or lovers. The fear of loneliness paired with the loss of love can cause one to want the world to cease. In W. H. Auden’s Stop All the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone paints a picture of requested seclusion.

The pleasurable things we are given causes us to think more about ourselves, and introduces more and more layers between the initial filial love we are given, and our concern for others. Suddenly, love doesn’t extend from family to other people because we put our selves in between – “my pleasure first, my happiness first” – dampening the ripples, and the effects of the love we are given. It’s no wonder then that despite positive intentions, graded love can still corrupt. Love is naturally outward, but suddenly, families just stop to their happiness, their power, their