Previous Next

Chapters 19 & 20

Summary: Chapter 19, What Was Found

On the second day of the search, volunteers and the police fail to find a boat or a body. John spends the morning on the phone and then drives into town to pick up Kathy’s sister, Pat. He and Pat, a twice-divorced gym owner, have never gotten along. At the Texaco station, he checks in with Lux. Lux reveals he voted for John but that Vinny distrusts John. Lux recommends John join the search.

Pat’s plane arrives, and John explains that there’s been no sign of Kathy. At the cottage, they eat a simple meal while Pat peppers him with questions. Then John and Pat go down to the boathouse. The last time Kathy and Pat talked, Kathy seemed happy because John’s career in politics was over. As John and Pat take a walk, John recalls happier times with Kathy. Pat interrupts his thoughts to say that Kathy was so in love with John that she subsumed herself to him. John mentions the dentist, but Pat says Kathy’s affair was to make John realize what he stood to lose. Pat claims that Kathy hated being a politician’s wife. John tries to deny that point, but Pat insists that all anyone had to do was look at Kathy to know it was true. With vastly different viewpoints, John and Pat desist from arguing. However, when John insists that he and Kathy had a good relationship, Pat tells him that he often scared Kathy, adding that John should have been open with Kathy. John insists that he didn’t do anything to Kathy.

Back at the cottage, John and Pat have a drink with Ruth and Claude and plan to join the search the following morning. Pat soon retires and the Rasmussens leave, but John continues to drink. He reads about Kathy and himself in the paper, seeing a picture of her from the night of the primary that shows her elation. Sleeping poorly, John gets up at midnight and goes to the boathouse. He smells dankness, which threatens to revive unwanted memories. John has a few clear memories from the night of Kathy’s disappearance but is less clear about when he went into the bedroom. He can’t imagine Kathy handling the boat on her own. When John returns to the cottage, Pat is waiting for him.

Summary: Chapter 20, Evidence 

The evidence in this chapter comes from many sources. Eleanor talks about John’s dad, who was charismatic when not drinking but prone to depression. A college classmate of Kathy’s confirms that Kathy knew John was spying on her but that she still loved him. Tony talks about John’s ambitions and his progressive ideals. Tony thinks that John didn’t set out to lie about Vietnam but got trapped and then convinced himself that he hadn’t taken part in the massacre.

Magic is emphasized. The magic shop owner says John had slick hands and knew when to keep quiet, which are crucial to a magician. A magic handbook and biography of Houdini describe various vanishing tricks. Tony also acknowledges how good John was at fooling people and himself.

Evidence also comes from a memoir of Woodrow Wilson, who felt unloved at home by his family, a biography of Lyndon Johnson, whose classmates thought he was compelled to lie, and novels.

Soldiers’ testimony provides details of the massacre at Thuan Yen. Paul Meadlo considered all civilians in Vietnam the enemy. Thinbill, who only shot cows, confirms Sorcerer accidentally shot an old man. Thinbill compares the flies to the spirit world, which elicits a lengthy footnote from the narrator about his own experiences in Vietnam. The narrator claims that different elements of Vietnam, which was infused with evil and death, led to the massacre.

Analysis: Chapters 19 & 20

The title of Chapter 19, “What Was Found,” is ironic. Nothing was found. By the time Pat arrives, two days after Kathy’s disappearance, hundreds of volunteer searchers and police, some using high-tech equipment, have uncovered no trace of Kathy or the boat. Then the remainder of the chapter turns to the past to rehash John and Kathy’s relationship.

Throughout the chapter, John defends his actions and decisions, while Pat, speaking for the absent Kathy, relates what Kathy thought and felt. On the surface, Pat is far from an ideal stand-in. John notes that he and Pat have always had a cool relationship, even before Vietnam. Their lack of closeness is echoed in body language, with John shying away from Pat’s touch. John even decides that his trick with Pat will be to keep her at a distance. While Pat speaks with authority, she acknowledges that much of what she says was not specifically voiced by Kathy. When John asks, for instance, if Kathy said she was scared by his yelling in his sleep and his spying, Pat answers that Kathy didn't have to say so. However, Pat’s point of view seems convincing on other issues. She and John have a lengthy conversation about how much Kathy hated the political lifestyle, all while John claims that his political career was a dream they shared. Pat denies that vociferously. Pat says that anyone who even looked at Kathy could see it for themselves.

That evening, John looks at a picture of Kathy taken on primary night, when they knew the election was lost, and he sees Kathy’s truth for himself: She is ecstatic. John has confirmed Pat’s words about Kathy’s opinions for himself, lending credence to her assertions of how Kathy felt about John’s troubled past as well.

The conversation between Pat and John also helps readers begin to weave together many details. In the “Hypothesis” chapters, Kathy has referenced a dentist named Harmon. Pat’s statements confirm that Harmon and Kathy had an affair. However, the details cast more ambivalence about why she did so. According to Pat, Kathy needed a way to make John realize that his focus on politics was costing him his marriage, but that message seems to never have been received.  In fact, for John, the fact that Kathy had an affair is proof that their life together wasn’t all about him.

The evidence listed in Chapter 20 helps confirm some of Pat’s statements, particularly that Kathy knew John was spying on her and yet she still deeply loved him. Statements from other soldiers at Thuan Yen also demonstrate that John was not alone in denying his culpability. Paul Meadlo absolves himself of what seems to be the murder of dozens of men, women, and children when he dismisses them all as Viet Cong, or “the enemy.” Thinbill claims that he didn’t shoot anyone. He also states that some of the shooting was unintended, naming his friend Sorcerer as the culprit. This testimony contains the first evidentiary reference to Sorcerer.

As with earlier “Evidence” chapters, several quotes relate to commonalities among politicians in general. Among these traits are a propensity to lie, like Lyndon Johnson, and the ability to overcome early insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, like Woodrow Wilson. Perhaps most political figures feel the need to be seen, heard, and recognized more than the average person.

Previous section Chapters 17 & 18 Next section Chapter 21

Take a Study Break