Animal Imagery In Timothy Findley's The Wars Essay

The rabbits reminded him of Rowena because she shares the same characteristics as her rabbits such as fragility and innocence. Therefore he risks "a blow on [his] head...to help the helpless [animals]" (Quenneville 1). He even helps a rat, an animal associated with disease and death, escape a muddy grave. His conduct greatly contrasts that of the soldiers who kill and torture cats and vermin. This only further exemplifies his compassion for the lives of even of the smallest of creatures.

As for him killing the sniper, Captain Leather, and others, and his experience of his own sexual assault, was insufferable for Robert and felt as if it was a burden to carry all of the things that happened to him. This drove him to the end result of madness, and his demise. The skull in this sense is where Robert does try to preserve himself through the actions in the war. The skull is a symbol of Robert because it was he who was fighting death every singling day and fighting for his right to stay sane and keep his humanity together. However, towards the end of the novel Robert loses all of humanity because of the burning barn where all of the horses were kept, and eventually died due to the fire. That led Robert to kill Captain Leather and Cassles without thinking or having a conscience like before when he did not want to kill Rowena's rabbits and the horse on the ship. This is because he loved something so dearly and felt too much pain when losing a loved one. "the spaces between the perceived and the thing perceived can… be closed with a shout of recognition. One form of a shout is a shout. Nothing so completely verifies our perception of a thing as our killing of it." The citation shown above can be seen when ‘nothing so completely verifies our perception of a thing as our killing of it' is where the skull that is held so gently in Robert Ross hands ‘as

Throughout the story, the narrator perceives Robert as an inadequate person, pathetic, needing help to find his way around and simply not being able to provide for himself. “But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t

The author of “Chickamauga,” Ambrose Bierce, created this short story as a naturalist visualization of the devastating effects that wars and battles had on the soldiers which fought in them. The short story “Chickamauga” is defined as naturalist literature because of the author’s employment of specific literary techniques which define naturalism, such as the way the author gradually darkens the mood of the storyline as it progresses, the amount of description and attention paid to grisly and macabre details that shed wars in a whole new light, as well as the unfolding nature of the main character as the story

The need for civilization, innocence and loss of power is shown through the impaled pig's head. In order for the group to survive, animals must be killed in order for the boys to eat. Jack takes on the role of hunter because he enjoys killing living things, as seen when he states, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (104) Ralph is a more calm person and does not enjoy killing as much as Jack, although he takes a small part in killing the pig. However, in the end, Jack gains all the power because everyone looks up to him as leader because he attempts to hunt the pig throughout the novel and is successful in the end. “We’ll take the meat along the beach.” “Pick up the pig,” Jack said. (150) Meanwhile, Ralph doubts Jack's abilities to kill the pig, and constantly mocks him about being successful. “He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.”(51) Jack proves Ralph wrong and kills the pig. “Jack begins to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."(58) He celebrates

     In the face of tragedy, Robert manages to hold true to his ideals. When Robert and his men where stuck in the hole, Robert manages to help him men escape. When he fears being attacked, he quickly shoots the German who is watching them. He would always live to regret this mistake. “The sound of it would haunt him to the day he died. (p130)” Not long after that, when

Robert Ross, the protagonist of Timothy Findley’s novel The Wars undergoes a disturbing violation when his fellow soldiers rape him; this is a significant turning point for Robert’s character and a section of the book Findley uses to address many themes. Throughout the book we witness Robert maturing and experiencing many hardships that will help create the man he becomes. The most significant of these trials is the scene at the insane asylum because it is where Robert looses the last connection to his innocence and his faith in humanity’s virtuousness. Findley also uses this scene to address the topic of homophobia in that era, and

Parallels are drawn between the protagonist, Robert Ross, and many of the animals that appear throughout the novel. Robert appears to have a strong kinship with his animal counterparts. After enlisting in the army, Robert takes a run out on the prairie, where he encounters a coyote. He instinctively begins to follow the creature, and it leads him to a valley where it stops to drink at a small pond. As it drinks, "the sound . . . [crosses] the distance between them and . . . [seems] to satisfy his own thirst" (The Wars 28). Before the coyote leaves, it turns and "[looks] directly at him . . . and [barks] . . .The coyote had known he was there the whole time: maybe the whole of the run across the prairie. Now it was telling Robert that the valley was vacant: safe-and Robert could proceed to the water's edge and drink" (28). Later that night, as he sits alone, Robert finds himself "wishing that someone would howl" (28). Robert also seems to have a special bond with birds, which often appear in the novel, frequently at times of crisis for Robert. After unwittingly leading his men through the fog onto a collapsing dike, the air is suddenly "filled with the shock waves of wings . . . [and] the sound of their motion [sends] a shiver down Robert's back" (81). Subsequently, Robert steps into the sinking mud and is nearly sucked down to his death beneath the earth. Later in the novel, Robert again encounters a bird, and it is at the same

The Wars, written by Timothy Findley, is a story about World War I, and consists of many shocking images passed over to the reader. Findley accomplishes to pull the reader into the narrative itself, so that the reader manages to feel an impact upon him/her-self about what is read. If it was not for this specific skill, or can also be seen as a specific genre, the novel would not have been as successful as it is now. Also, something that helps the book be so triumphant, there is the fact that Findley never overwhelms the reader with too many gruesome details about the World War I. Instead, he breaks the book down to help the reader calm down from everything that is happening. Throughout the essay, there is going to be some commenting on a

Robert is ferociously raped and handled roughly in the darkness by the unknown males, and he describes that he is “spun around in the dark.” The confusion that he faces causes him to lose “all sense of gravity,” which emphasizes the intensity of this violent act. The severity of the rape scene is once again emphasized when Robert elucidates that his legs are “forced apart so far he thought they were going to be broken” and he is “struck […] in the face.” The rapists do not merely rape Robert; they viciously attack and beat him as well. After the

In an effort to redeem himself from Rowena’s death, Robert’s goal is to save life, any life, even if it is the life of an animal. To Robert, animals symbolize innocence. He views them as innocent bystanders in a world full of violence and madness. He feels a special connection to them, especially to his totems of horses and dogs. So when Robert is forced to put down the ill horses, this is utterly emotionally heart-breaking. Again he is faced with the murder of innocence. This time, he is the one responsible for such a horrid action. This kind of situation can shape anyone’s character

The Wars written by Timothy Findley shares a great relation to many of the ideas surrounding postmodern society, thus implementing many of the prominent ideas of the time around politics and societal norms into the plot of the story itself. Findley successfully depicts the plot of the novel taking place in the early 1900's; a time in which the western world was emerging from an industrial revolution, bringing radically foreign ideas on politics in the world, including the materialization of the Marxist political theory. The seemingly negative reception of the Marxist theory has denied it the right as a valid political view. One thing that cannot be denied is that a majority of the foundational ideas of the theory, describe basic human

Throughout the book, it is shown that Robert has a special connection with animals and the environment. The many animals he encounters throughout the story are symbols which reflect on him and his actions. After Robert

Once Robert is back in the battle, there is another, worse attack on the Canadian lines by the Germans. They are being rained on by shells, and Robert fears for the lives of the horses in a nearby barn that is being hit by the shelling, and which Robert fears will collapse at any moment. Over the course of the war, Robert has grown more and more attached to horses, and it’s in his benevolent nature to care for other animals. When Robert tells Captain Leather that he will go back to the barn to save the horses, Leather refuses, saying that it is not necessary. Robert, thinking back to the last time he wanted to go against Captain Leather’s orders, and what arose when he didn’t, realizes that he must go against his orders and free the horses. As Robert is running back to the barn to free the horses, Leather screams at him to stop what he is doing and to follow his orders, but Robert is determined. When Leather pulls his gun on Robert, Robert stops to shoot him, killing Leather. In this time, the barn has been hit by a shell, and is burning, but Robert still runs inside to try to save the horses moments before the roof of the barn collapses on Robert, burning him

Throughout the book, Robert Ross was dependent on his sister, Rowena, and the animals he felt so connected to. Robert more than anything becomes a person who relies more on animals, than he does people. Robert’s reliance on animals starts because of his sister’s love for her rabbits: “ ‘Can the rabbits stay forever, too?’ ‘Yes, Rowena.’ ”(18) His dependence on animals only strengthens as the book goes on, and when Rowena dies, he turns to the animals for guidance and as a replacement for Rowena. On many different occasions, Robert displays his love for animals and disconnection from the real world: “Robert soon became completely disengaged from the other life on the upper decks. He even went below off duty.” (56) Robert shows his lack of connection with the other soldiers on board, and demonstrates his relationship he developed with the animals in the army. Robert’s connection strengthens with animals so much, that towards the end of the book he is willing to break military rules and attempt to save them: “I’m going to break ranks and save these animals.” (183) The heroes, we are custom to today, would not go against the rules to save a bunch of horses. Even though, most would not see Robert as being heroic, because he broke the rules, it was his intentions behind his actions. As