“Focus on something else, try to forget about it” (206), says Vietnam veteran John Wade. This simple tactic of forgetting the horrors and trying to chase away bad memories has often been used by veterans of many wars. As a result, O'Brien incorporates this simple motif of forgetting throughout his novel Into the Lake of the Woods, and this theme ties into a larger subject of the novel: how the Vietnam War continues to affect life by John Wade after his return to the United States. States. The author makes clear that Wade's career, marriage, and mental health are undoubtedly affected by his experience in Vietnam, and O'Brien thus shows that almost every aspect of Wade's identity and life is influenced by his experience of war. Wade's involvement in the My Lai Massacre follows him throughout his life, and O'Brien presents an interesting topic to discuss, as - being a veteran himself - O'Brien is able to effectively use the character of John Wade to reflect the way many veterans react to the trauma of war. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay O'Brien is able to make this point in his novel because he writes with a style such that his writing is not not exclusively focused on John Wade, which allows the novel to be relevant to many veterans, not just Wade. For example, in the first chapter on evidence, O'Brien includes a quote from the character Richard Thinbill, a Vietnam veteran; Thinbill exclaims “F***ing Flies!” (13). Thinbill mentions these flies a multitude of times throughout the novel, referring to the terrible swarms of flies during the My Lai Massacre. It is clear that Thinbill only seems to be able to focus on the flies during the majority of his interviews, demonstrating that My Lai is constantly tormenting his mind and that he is haunted by this experience. O'Brien uses the evidence chapters to effectively characterize Thinbill throughout the novel, so that he can easily be compared to John Wade, as both are obviously affected by the war, albeit in different ways. Thus, O'Brien uses Thinbill to show that veterans are affected in multiple different ways, making it clear to the audience that the horrors of Thuan Yen permeated aspects of many veterans' post-war lives, and not just Wade's. Brien also demonstrates this concept through his use of the narrator. Throughout the novel, the narrator reflects on his own experience as a Vietnam veteran; in a footnote he writes: "I can understand how [John] kept things buried, how he could never face or even remember the butchery of Thuan Yen" (298). This gives the example of a veteran who is also haunted by his own memories of Vietnam; he understands exactly how John feels and why John deals with his memories the way he does. The narrator's ability to sympathize with John is significant because it demonstrates that Vietnam veterans can understand each other's response to the atrocities of war, since many are similarly affected by it. The narrator's position also makes the audience understand that many veterans in general suffer from post-traumatic stress, not just the soldiers who participated in the My Lai massacre. This constitutes an important point regarding the author's opinion on the Vietnam War, as it indicates that not only were the events at Thuan Yen atrocities that could follow a soldierthroughout his life, but that the entire war was. The way John Wade is characterized says little about how the war affects John's life after the war, since John has always demonstrated qualities such as a desire to be loved and a need to have more control over his life. It is indeed true that John loved magic as a child because “it gave him a little authority over his own life” (208). However, as the evidence suggests, magic only gives John limited and insignificant control, but because of the war, John is motivated to pursue a career that will give him much more power over his own life as well as that of others. It can also be argued that John's choice of political career was not a result of the war; for example, Kathy believed that John may have joined the service in order to gain political traction upon his return to the United States. However, the audience is told that John goes to war only to be loved, not to be a hero or for any other reason (59). It is clear from this passage in the novel that John goes to Vietnam to ensure that people love him and are proud of him, not for political gain. O'Brien later includes a quote from Alexander and Juliette George that explains this phenomenon, and the reader learns that the way people like John "seek to erase their inner pain is through success and the acquisition of power" ( 194), which is exactly what John hopes to achieve by touring Vietnam. He wants to hide the pain of his father's death under the increased feeling of being loved and approved. Unfortunately for John, his experience in Vietnam is not enough for him to feel loved. If anything, his tour is detrimental to satisfying his need, as the war damages his already fragile psyche, so much so that John leaves Vietnam with a need for love just as great as when he arrived. John's inability to satisfy his need for love through his This tour then continues into his life back home, where he pursues a political career. As John erases all the documents linking him to the Charlie Society, John reflects that "the trick now [is] to design a future for himself" (269), which alludes to his use of magic in his youth. The audience knows that magic had acted as a small check on his painful life when he was a boy. Now John is enduring greater suffering stemming from his experience in Vietnam, and he is once again employing the tactic of using tricks to gain control of his life by erasing his past - presumably so he can enter the manipulative realm of policy without subsequent repercussions arising from his involvement. in the My Lai massacre. Thus, although John exhibited some characteristics of mental and emotional instability before the war, it is evident that the war nonetheless played a key role in Wade's major decision to enter politics. Wade may have expressed a desire to feel loved as a child, but it would be incorrect to say that this means that the war did not substantially affect John's career choice, nor subsequently other aspects of his life. O'Brien later expands on this point throughout the novel to demonstrate that no area of ​​veterans' lives is untouched by their combat experiences. Through further analysis, it is clear that the war also played a significant role in certain aspects of Wade's marriage. another extremely significant aspect of Wade's life. O'Brien shows that in addition to using politics as a coping mechanism, Wade tries to deal with the trauma of Vietnam by burying it beneath his marriage. O'Brien writes: "[Wade] evolved with,.