What Happened To Kathy Wade

Tiffany Ong

Mr. Frickleton

ENG 3U1

May 22, 2007

Beneath the Waters

There are many people in this world that can prove that our past experiences contribute to the shaping of our present day selves and lives. Whether our past contains hidden skeletons in our closets or not, we cannot keep it a secret nor can we run from it. But if we decide to do so the past will only come to haunt us. In the novel In The Lake of the Woods, we see that there is a fine line between love and insanity. And John Wade -the antihero of the story- is drifting on the border line. One day, John awakens to find Kathy Wade, the love of his life and wife, gone without a trace along with the boat. Although author Tim O'Brien presents us with many theories for her mysterious disappearance over the course of the story, he gives give us no final ending. However, John's post traumatic stress disorder, allusions to water, his reputation as a magician allow enough details to surface form the depths of his memory to suggest that he murdered his wife. Before our eyes we view the disintegration of what was once a happy marriage and a murder mystery waiting to be unraveled.

Firstly, John's soldiering in Vietnam caused him to return home traumatized and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which leads to their marriage falling apart. Like other victims of this disorder, John suffers from one of the symptoms called intrusion which is the unwanted recollection of experience. Michael Barton, a real-life spouse of a victim describes the sight of his wife in terror, "To see your wife laying on a bed, grabbing her ears and basically screaming out to make it stop or something like that, it does something to you."1 Similar to Michael, Kathy feels useless because she cannot help her husband due to her lack of understanding because she does not know what he is going through. In addition to, Kathy is frightened by his cries during his sleep. Next, in Vietnam John witnesses many killings and blood shed and even shoots his companion PFC Weatherby- Both of which he later on denies his involvement in. This is important when he states, "This could not have happened. Therefore it did not. Already he felt better" (O'Brien 109). This statement shows that John is able to suppress his memories and deny the truth. It gives us further evidence to believe that if he killed Kathy he would simply erase it from his mind and deny everything. Furthermore, victims from the war who return home without seeking medical or psychiatric attention cannot recover and may pose as a possible threat to others. This is evident according to this excerpt:

"Married veterans or guys who married when they got back had difficulties, too. Waking up with your hands around your wife's throat is frightening ..." -Patience H.C.Mason (Recovering from the War) (O'Brien 146).

This leads to the gruesome possibility of John in a murderous rage of pouring boiling water on plants and then ascending to his bedroom where he too pours boiling water all over his wife. Then in order to conceal this crime John weights her body along with the boat using rocks where they are buried beneath the lake. Therefore, John's traumatizing experience in Vietnam causes him to develop post traumatic stress disorder whose symptoms such as nightmares, explosiveness, and denial further reinstate the theory of the disappearance of Kathy Wade.

Secondly, in the novel John makes indications to Kathy being in the water to imply that the body is buried at the bottom. First, a few days after Kathy's disappearance John decides to dive under the dock and he hints to as where she can be found. This is shown when "...he stripped naked and filled his lungs and dove to the bottom where Kathy was" (O'Brien 242). The statement above strongly implies that Kathy's dead body is beneath the water. Next, the author gives us yet another indication as to her whereabouts in the waters. This is evident when John reveals, "From the bottom of the lake, eyes wide open, Kathy Wade watches the fish fly up to swim in the land of sky blue waters..." (O'Brien 286) This further entails the possibility of John sinking her body in the lake along with the boat. Lastly, John's imagination plays an important role because it contains some truth to it. In one of the chapters John describes Kathy peering at him from under the water with an alert expression in her eyes but is unable to speak. This is stated when the author says:

"...here in a corner of John Wade's imagination, where things neither live nor die, Kathy stress up at him from beneath the surface of the silvered lake. Her eyes are brilliant green, her expression alert. She tries to speak but can't." (O'Brien 288)

This may represent her helplessness as she tries to struggle to save herself from him as well as implying that she is yet again underwater. It also represents all the things she hated about their marriage and election that she kept secret from John. Thus, John's numerous references to beneath the water, imagination and Kathy peering up from below enforces