Animal Imagery in Timothy Findley’s The Wars Essays

Timothy Findley's The Wars describes the history of Robert Ross, a Second Lieutenant in the Canadian Army, during World War 1. The story of Robert Ross is a candid recollection of a young man coming of age in the midst of horror and confusion associated with the "war to end all wars". Presented in the form of an archivist trying to piece together the past from pictures and letters, the narrative account is full of rich imagery and deep meaning. The abundant animal imagery in the novel is used to parallel and reveal the character of Robert Ross, foreshadow the situations he finds himself in, and symbolize hope amidst war.

The book takes a twist not only is he not alone with the forest he finds a dog that the Germans used to hunt the Americans With His dead and frozen owner. Tshe book is about the bond he must make between the dog and him and to find his friends who were taken prisoner by SS soldiers, and

     Through despair, Robert forces himself to keep with his ideals, which shows just how strong his resolve is. When Robert was in despair, he took his mind off his problems by keeping himself busy. After losing Rowena, Robert decides to join the army to replace taking care of Rowena, by taking care of the human condition. Later when Robert loses Harris, he busies himself by performing the last rites over his good friend. “This is not a military funeral. This is just a burial at sea. May we all remove our caps? (p107)” Later when Robert is attacked in the bath house, he finds that he is still trying to protect Rowena. He does this by lighting her pictures on fire to remove her from this cruel world. “Robert sat on the mutilated mattress and opened his kit bag. Everything was there – including the picture of Rowena. Robert burned it in the middle of the floor. This was not an act of anger – but an act of charity. (p172)” These show that even through despair, Robert manages to stick to his ideals.

The abundant animal imagery in Timothy Findley's book The Wars is used to develop characterization and theme. The protagonist, Robert Ross, has a deep connection with animals that reflects his personality and the situations that he faces. This link between Robert and the animals shows the reader that human nature is not much different than animal nature.

Robert’s mother instructs him to kill his handicapped sister Rowena’s rabbits following her death, which was a result of Robert not watching over her. Robert refuses to kill the rabbits and insists that they find someone to look after them instead. Mrs. Ross finds this proposal absurd and follows through by hiring a man named Teddy Budge to perform the task. Still, Robert tries to avoid the rabbits being killed. “Robert regained his feet and lunged, butting his head like a battering ram between Teddy’s shoulder blades” (20).

In 1914-1919, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the cause of World War One, resulting in conflicts between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. In the Great War, No Man’s Land was a dividing field from the opposing trenches located in France. Soldiers were forced to cross the land to push forward their side of the battle, to either take control or defend the territory. Gas was often used in the trenches to wipe out large groups of soldiers at a time. During the battle, soldiers would come across harsh conditions such as disease, treacherous terrain, and the passing of men. Soldiers sent into war experienced hard decisions and tragedies which can change their mentality. In the story, The Wars Timothy Findley develops the idea that when an individual faces dilemmas in life, one’s innocence can vary due to a person’s human nature.

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

Joseph Conrad once observed that “a belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” As a result of the violence that is necessary during wartime, soldiers are permitted to engage in savage behavior that is normally forbidden in society. In The Wars by Timothy Findley, however, soldiers act in violent ways even when they are not actively engaged in battle. The inherently savage nature of humankind is evident when Robert Ross kills the German soldier after the gas attack, when Robert is raped in the baths, and when Robert kills Captain Leather. These violent events that occur outside the direct action of the war demonstrate the evil inherent in

The people Robert feels at home with also have a connection to animals, such as Rodwell is his fellow officer and friend who runs an unofficial veterinarian hospital in the trenches. This demonstrates that both Rodwell and Robert share an obligation to care about these creatures and protect them. Rodwell also draws Robert in his sketchbook: “in all of them—on every page, the drawings were of animals. Of maybe a hundred sketches, Robert’s was the only human form. Modified and mutated—he was one with the others” (138).

All things truly wicked start from innocence. A moral truth that finds its place among today’s society. Innocence is such a frail, yet valuable quality. The loss of innocence can lead to such disastrous consequences. The theme of the loss of innocence is a prevalent one found throughout the novel The Wars by Timothy Findley. It is noted particularly in regards to the protagonist, Robert Ross. Early on in the novel, he encounters such miserable situations that dramatically mature his character emotionally and mentally in such a short period of time. Such events include the sudden loss of a loved one, sexual encounters, and the murder of the

was not the truth. This book showed the harsh reality of war that most people

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

We tend to root for the underdog when a battle occurs. In this novel, Robert Ross is the dark horse we hope doesn’t get killed in the various battles he endures. Unfortunately, not all wars are reenactments of the battle of Puebla. Underdogs don’t always end up victorious like the outnumbered Mexican farmers that fought against the elite French soldiers back in May 5, 1862. As I stated in my first journal, the corruption of innocence is an inevitable war all humans are destined to lose. Robert is puny compared to the Goliaths of violence. No measly pebble nor boulder would be able to take down this beastly enemy. This is predictable because beasts and violence rule the animal kingdom after all. Robert is just another fragile rabbit facing

Robert Ross’s role in society. Robert Ross was a soldier and a young man with a great sense of sensibility for any living creature, and that was his downfall, Miss Turner says "Robert Ross was no Hitler. That was his problem" (Findley, 15). This is important because his inability to kill took away his sanity, creating a chaos within himself and society, we will see this later. He was not a killing machine: his weakness is seen in his inability to kill Rowena’s rabbits and the injured horse. killing the rabbits would had helped Robert forget his guilt about his sister’s death, but he couldn’t “The rabbits had to die- and Robert had to do it. Mister Ross was inclined to be more lenient. Surely the rabbits could be killed somewhere

War is a tragic experience that can motivate people to do many things. Many people have been inspired to write stories, poems, or songs about war. Many of these examples tend to reflect feelings against war. Kurt Vonnegut is no different and his experience with war inspired him to write a series of novels starting with Slaughter-House Five. It is a unique novel expressing Vonnegut's feelings about war. These strong feeling can be seen in the similarities between characters, information about the Tralfamadorians, dark humor, and the structure of the novel.