What seems to be the common factor that conjoins Lysistrata, In the Lake of the Woods, and The Things They Carried consist of two main ideas. The first is the men's unwillingness to give up the war that has engulfed their whole being. The second is the draw to their home life with a special love that constantly fills their minds keeping them going. In each of the three books it is hard for the …showed first 75 words of 434 total…

…showed last 75 words of 434 total…s home beach in his mouth that his girlfriend had sent him. He would ponder on how she found the pebble, what she did with it, and who she might have been with at the time. John Wade from In the Lake of the Woods, used to talk about his love for Kathy, and would constantly say that their love was like two snakes that he had seen eating each others tails over in Vietnam.