The American Heritage Dictionary defines denial as; an unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings. All three of the main phrases of this definition of denial are constantly seen throughout the novel In the Lake of the Woods. “Painful realities, thoughts, or feelings”, “refusal to acknowledge”, and “defense mechanism” all pertain directly to the main character of the novel, as well as the way the book is written. For this reason, I feel that this definition of denial and the word denial itself perfectly illustrate the theme of Tim O’Brien’s novel, “In the Lake of the Woods”.
The main action takes place near the town of Angle Inlet on the shores of The Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota. John Wade and his wife Kathy move to a cabin on the lake shortly after he is handed a landslide loss in a senatorial primary race. In the race, the main character, John Wade, was revealed to have participated in a massacre at the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War. It was also revealed that Wade later altered his military documents to show that he was never involved in the incident; this is the reason behind the landslide loss. After a week at the remote cabin, Wade’s wife, Kathy, and the only boat at the cabin mysteriously disappear. Despite a massive search, no trace of Kathy or the boat is never found. More than a month later, John Wade heads out in a small boat to search for his lost wife and he too is never seen again.
The Essay on Greasy Lake Main Character
Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story "Greasy Lake" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact ...
Now that we have the main storyline, we can go deeper into the theme of the novel, denial. “Painful realities, thoughts, or feelings”. This phrase is directly related to John Wade’s experiences from his childhood and The Vietnam War. In his childhood years, John Wade definitely had some “painful realities” to deal with. In my opinion, the original source of Wade’s emotional problems stem from his father. John’s father was an alcoholic and verbally abusive towards him. A major emotionally traumatic event in John Wade’s life happened at the age of 14 when his father committed suicide. This incident coincides with the theme of denial because it evokes painful feelings in John Wade’s conscience, and who wouldn’t at least want to deny that their father was an alcoholic that committed suicide.
John Wade’s years in Vietnam also fall under the theme of denial and “painful reality” During his tour of duty in Vietnam, John Wade is in an infantry unit that is ordered to “Kill anything that breathed” in and around the village of My Lai (O’Brien 142).
On this mission, Wade’s company goes into My Lai and massacres around 500 innocent women, children, and old men. Some of the men who participated in the raping, torturing, and murdering of My Lai were court martialed. During the My Lai massacre, John Wade shot and killed a member of his own platoon along with an old unarmed Vietnamese man. This event played a major role in the Collapse of John Wade and is definitely a “painful reality” for him.
“Defense mechanism” is another phrase in the definition of denial that plays a major role in contributing to the main theme. The main way that John Wade uses a “defense mechanism” is his magic. From childhood, magic fascinated John Wade. After a time, he began to use his magic not only for fascination and to gain applause from others, but also to escape from his own reality.
Growing up practicing his tricks in front of a mirror, John soon added a new illusion to his bag of tricks. He developed a knack for using imagined “mirrors” inside his head to escape from troubling situations. “The mirrors helped him get by. They were like a glass box in his head, a place to hide,”–“whenever things got bad, John would slip into the box of mirrors and disappear there” (208).
The Essay on John Wade War Mirror Life
.".. It wasn't just the war that made him what he was. That's too easy. It was everything - his whole nature... ." - Eleanor K. Wade IS THIS AN ADEQUATE EXPLANATION FOR WHAT HAPPENS TO JOHN WADE? John Wade left America a human being, yet came back a human killer. His months in Vietnam were filled with bloodshed and human atrocity, and from this, no man could feasibly return the same person. Yet ...
During his time in Vietnam, Wade used his magic to impress his fellow soldiers which eventually led to a nickname of “Sorcerer”. He used this false sense of divinity and his box of mirrors as a defense mechanism against the real hell that was the Vietnam War.
The last part of the definition of denial that contributes to the main theme is “failure to acknowledge.” The notion of a failure to acknowledge I think, is one of the main subjects of the novel. The author leads the reader the whole time to believe that John Wade killed his wife. He also never acknowledges this to be wholly true, but instead gives us hope for a less gruesome ending for Kathy and John in the hypothesis chapters; “maybe one day they discovered happiness on the earth–in some secret country” (301), “Maybe they spent the night huddled at a small fire, celebrating, think up names for the children they wanted” (300).
In the end, the reader figures out what really happened, although we never know with exact certainty; O’Brien explains, “there is no end, happy or otherwise” (301).
I think that by not giving the reader a concrete ending to the story, he contributes to the overall theme of denial.
This is exactly how John Wade lived his life. Failing to acknowledge his childhood, failing to acknowledge Vietnam, failing to acknowledge his past. This mind-set eventually leads to his downfall. After the My Lai incident, John Wade was promoted to an office job filing paperwork. He had access to his battalion records. Battalion records that showed he participated in the My Lai massacre. So what did Wade do about this incriminating evidence? He rewrote the records to show he was never anywhere near My Lai and forgot about it. Through this act, John Wade chose to deny his past and give himself chance for a career in politics.
After years and years of denying his past, combined with his exposure of his role in the My Lai incident and the loss in the election led to a complete mental breakdown. These events spark the emotional and mental breakdown of John Wade during which he murders his wife. I believe that if John Wade would have acknowledged his wrongdoing in the first place, he would not have had to live with that lie hanging over his head for the rest of his life. Most likely, he and Kathy would have lived more peaceful and happy lives together.
The Essay on Analysing on Liberty by John Stuart Mill
Humanity’s attempts to study the state of society have stretched back throughout the ages. From forefathers such as Socrates or Aristophanes to the great enlightenment philosophers of Locke or Voltaire, all have grappled with the questions of how humanity best functions as a collective. John Stuart Mill, hailed as a paradigmatic liberal political philosopher, continues this tradition of thought in ...
For the reasons that I have just stated, I believe that the theme of In the Lake of the Woods is denial. Not only is the whole plot based on John Wade’s denial of his past, and his struggle to keep it a secret, but I think that O’Brien as an author tries to appeal to the reader’s own sense of denial. The way that he writes and gives us hypothesis chapters to consider as the truth lead us away from the factual evidence. It is the readers own sense of denial that leads to the conclusion that the hypothesis chapters might be true; this is how O’Brien integrates the theme of denial to the whole of the book, and what makes it so interesting. Although the book can be read in many different ways, and has many different themes, I believe the main theme to be denial
In once sentence, the theme of the novel can be summed up; “An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings.” This definition of denial by the American Heritage Dictionary illustrates perfectly why denial is the theme of In the Lake of the Woods.
