In the Lake of the Woods
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien is a novel that shows the waythe Vietnam War still holds a grip on the American psyche and some of thereasons why this is so. The novel illuminates issues that ar reflected inother literature, both fictional and non-fictional, regarding the war andits effect on those who had to fight it. The My Lai massacre is notrepresentative of American actions in the war, but it does hold aparticular place in the effect that war had on those at home, a pubic thatwas horrified at some of the things being done in its name. Thiscontributed both to the end of the war and to the unfortunate way manyreturning veterans were treated by an unforgiving public. The story centers on John Wade, who has run for the U.S. Senate andwho has lost because of the revelation that he participated in the My Laimassacre during the Vietnam War. This is a secret he has hidden from hiswife--the loss of trust is a key theme in this novel. Wade himself wastrusted with a gun and a uniform and betrayed both by his actions. Hiswife trusted him, and he betrayed that trust by not telling her of hispast. He has betrayed himself by hiding this issue as well, for the fact
Remembering issomething he cannot avoid: And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. A related theme is found in Plato's criticism of Homer andin his belief that "good character is a firm wall between a good person andevil acts" (Shay 32). He is lost from the momentit took place. There may beconsequences for such a person such as producing cruel or evil actions inthat individual, even if he or she is otherwise a good person. Bad parenting will lead to a lack of self-control, self-esteem, and consideration for others. Shay saysthat the most ancient traditions of Western literature call on us to baseour self-respect on firmness of character. Healso hides the fact of this new crime much as he hid his involvement in theMy Lai massacre--he weights the body and the boat so they sink to thebottom of the lake. Clearly, he shows this same power of memory in the character of John Wade. Heis explicit about the importance of stories in this process. Judith Herman in Trauma and Recovery writes, "The ordinary responseto atrocities is to banish them from consciousness" (Herman 1). One of the elements of thefuture they once contemplated would have been a child, but they havesacrificed that possibility as well. Good parenting canproduce good character and all the other adult resources a child willeventually need. Stories allowhim to gain control of events that otherwise would control him. For men like Wade, though,the reality of why My Lai occurred is less important than their ownparticipation, than their own loss of a moral center so that they were ableto participate in such terrible events at all. Such a betrayal comes about whenone is captured and subjected to the degradations wrought by the enemy on adaily basis: Prolonged contact with the enemy in war destroys the soldier's confidence in his own mental functions as surely as would prolonged torture in a political prison.
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Acceptance Essays
