Findley Mentioned The Binoculars

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.

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

     Many times throughout Robert’s life, all those whom he thought were close to him, while he tried stick to his ideals, had betrayed him. When Robert lost Rowena, he felt that he had failed at his duty and he feels he must make up for it by joining the army.

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.

2001. One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” But Emily Dickinson wrote “Much madness is divinest sense to a discerning eye.” Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning eye”. Select a novel or play in which as character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

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

Despite the fact that the German has let the rest of the soldiers escape unharmed, Robert’s innate violence triggers the death of an innocent soldier. Thus, Robert’s actions reveal the inherent savage nature of humankind.

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).

Robert was once a timid individual who valued his privacy. And as noted with the encounter with Heather Lawson, we see that Robert is awkward around women. However, after thrusting himself into war he can no longer hide himself or his capacity for sexuality and violence. With the experience with Ella at the brothel he feels ashamed and now has been exposed, at such a young age, to a morally corrupting way of life. He has leaped so far, from ‘making love to his pillows’ to encounters with a prostitute. His morals are disintegrating; his childlike innocence is fading. His character is altering dramatically. When he sees his ‘role –model’ Taffler engaging in homosexual actions he is shocked, enticed and disturbed. This reaction gives way to anger and violence. The world as he knew it, one in which he could hide, no longer exists.

Robert Ross is a sensitive, private boy; last person you would expect to sign up to fight in World War One. In The Wars by Timothy Findley, symbols are used in conjunction with Ross’ story to cause readers to reflect on symbols in their own lives, and to allow then to dive deeper into the world of an innocent boy who is placed into a cruel war. The various symbols in The Wars provide for a graphic and reflective reading experience by emphasizing Robert’s connection with nature, his past, and his experiences during the war.

Robert comes in contact with a German soldier when he and his battery are trying to plant the gun beds. This situation showcases the fact that, despite how hard he tries, Robert is not always able to overcome the corruption of war. Expanding sentence. In war, a soldier’s duty is to kill the enemy and in the novel Robert’s gun is symbolic of this duty.

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

Robert Ross’ whole life he grew up in a household where they did what was expected of them, rather than what was right. The type of people that Findley place in Robert’s life is what molds him into the type of character he becomes. Timothy Findley manipulates what a hero is supposed to be, by making Robert Ross a distorted kind of hero. Robert Ross exemplifies anti-heroism throughout the text because of his need to be a savior but inability to do so, his morals and his connection with animals.

In this passage O’brien demonstrates his own character traits. As a writer, he has a strong ability to understand what others are feeling and sympathize. When he kills the young soldier, he creates a story around him, imaging the soldier as having similar struggles to his own. He deeply regrets the soldier's death because he feels that neither of them really wanted to be fighting in this war and relates his own life story to the fictional one he creates for the soldier.