Robert Ross, is the main character of the novel, The Wars by Timothy Findely. One of Ross’ distinctive character trait that drives the entire novel forward is his hesitancy to commit violence, even though he willing entered the war. Timothy Findely shows Robert Ross as a kind, silent, loving young man. These character traits develop throughout the novel, until the climax when due to madness, Ross loses his defining character traits through a dramatic, yet genuine change in character.
During the beginning of the novel, Robert Ross is shown to be sensitive, caring and protective, especially with his sister, Rowena. Rowena is one of the first characters to change Robert’s mental stability. With her death, he is lead to war. However, his inability to kill is shown in several portions of the beginning of the novel. First, he is unable to kill Rowena’s rabbits even at the insistence of his mother and tries unsuccessfully to stop their execution. (pg.18)Secondly, after he is drafted in the war, Robert believes he has a need for a teacher to guide him in “learning how to kill without killing at all but only throwing”. He considers Taffer, a retired accomplished captain, “a man who made his piece with stones”, for the job, but is sent off to sea before anything comes of it.
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At the same time, Robert gets his first taste of trench warfare and he loses both friends and entire men under his command. It’s during this time that his unwillingness to kill and sensitive nature is replaced with a willingness to threaten and an increase in his temper. Robert threatens several soldiers when in command when being gassed by Germans. He even fires at a man when he runs. (pg. 124) In addition, Lady Juliet experiences this anger firsthand. It is described as “His temper, you know, was terrible. Once when he thought he was alone and unobserved I saw him firing his gun in the woods at a young tree.”
Robert Ross is the main character in the story and has horrible things done to him and has done things no man should desire to do, these actions have forced him down a path that leads to the wearing down of his love for humanity and his desire to be a soldier; he no longer wants to be a soldier because the actions of others have removed the romanticized idea of a death in sacrifice for king and country. The idea of becoming a soldier came when his
Analysis of Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, is an exceptional autobiography on a man's first-hand experiences during the Vietnam War. Philip Caputo was a Lieutenant during the Vietnam War and illustrates the harsh reality of what war really is. Caputo's in-depth details of his experience during the war are enough to make one cringe, and the eventual mental despair often experienced by soldiers (including Caputo) really makes you feel for participants taking part in this dreadful war atmosphere.
Sigmund Freud once argued that "our species has a volcanic potential to erupt in aggression . . . [and] that we harbour not only positive survival instincts but also a self-destructive 'death instinct', which we usually displace towards others in aggression" (Myers 666). Timothy Findley, born in 1930 in Toronto, Canada, explores our human predilection towards violence in his third novel, The Wars. It is human brutality that initiates the horrors of World War I, the war that takes place in this narrative. Findley dedicated this novel to the memory of his uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, who 'died at home of injuries inflicted in the First World War" (Cude 75) and may have propelled him to feel so strongly about "what people really do to one another" (Inside Memory 19). Findley feels a great fondness for animals, and this affection surfaces faithfully in many of his literary works. The Wars is a novel wrought with imagery, and the most often recurring pattern is that of animals. Throughout the novel, young Robert Ross' strong connection with animals is continually depicted in his encounters with the creatures. Findley uses Robert to reveal the many similarities between humans and animals. The only quality, which we humans do not appear to share with our animal counterparts, is our inexplicable predisposition to needless savagery.
The Vietnam War has become a focal point of the Sixties. Known as the first televised war, American citizens quickly became consumed with every aspect of the war. In a sense, they could not simply “turn off” the war. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo is a firsthand account of this horrific war that tore our nation apart. Throughout this autobiography, there were several sections that grabbed my attention. I found Caputo’s use of stark comparisons and vivid imagery, particularly captivating in that, those scenes forced me to reflect on my own feelings about the war. These scenes also caused me to look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a soldier, which is not a perspective I had previously considered. In particular, Caputo’s account of
Very early in the novel, Robert’s sister Rowena dies from a fall. Robert takes this accident personally, believing “It was Robert’s fault. Robert was her guardian” (16). Although Robert could have done nothing to prevent Rowena’s death, he takes it very personally and isolates himself from his family. The situation is made worse when his mother demands Robert kill his sister’s pet rabbits simply “Because a girl had died – and her rabbits had outlived her” (21). Although Robert does not kill the rabbits personally, they are killed regardless. Rowena’s rabbits rely on Robert to protect them, much like she relied on him, enhancing Robert’s sense of failure. This initial experience with death causes Robert to escape his previous life by joining the war, an unwise decision considering his initial reaction to death and violence. A similar event occurs while Robert is travelling across the Atlantic Ocean when he is told “one of them horses of yours has gone and broke its leg” (57). Robert is told that he must shoot the horse because “an officer had to do it. They were the only ones with guns” (57). Unlike the killing of the rabbits, Robert is required to kill the horse by himself. Robert displays a strong connection with animals throughout the novel and is appalled at the thought of killing
The appearance of a character is not always a good reflection of one’s true personality. In The Wars, Robert attempts to change how he appears to people; he tries to become what he believes a soldier should be. When Robert kills the horse on the ship, he is traumatized; he “began to squeeze the trigger and he squeezed again and again and again” (Findley 68) which indicates he is going insane, having to do an act he did not want to commit in the first place. Robert tries to act like nothing from the shooting has affected him; he exceeds his emotions and acts exactly like an officer by saying “if this damn ship would sell us one I’d buy us both a drink” (Findley 69), by changing the subject, Robert indicates that he is not affected nor cares about the killing of the horse, even though internally, he is. Likewise in King Lear, Goneril and Regan both intentionally appear to be something they are not. When Lear
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
With the overwhelming detail, the readers are able to imagine the perfect replication of what Robert is seeing in the story and this allows for the detachment from reality. At the verge of the climax of the story, Robert sees a doe: “he was alone with the [it] in a green world that seemed to cru for rich red, and he did not have time to think; it was enough that he sensed the doe’s quick decision to leave him” and at that moment, “the arrow sliced through the deer” (1670)
Robert Ross becomes the anti-hero because of his need of to save others but inability to do so; Robert, himself, is not aware of the fact that all he wants to do is save others because he could not save the one person he cared about, Rowena: “It wasn’t Stuart’s fault. It was Robert’s fault. Robert was her guardian and he was locked in his bedroom. Making love to his pillows.” (16) Furthermore, Robert tries to save Rowena’s rabbits: “I’ll look after them. […] I’ll take care of them. Please!!!” (18) Meanwhile, he fails again when someone else was hired to do so: “It took him thirty seconds to emerge from his pain and to realize why Teddy Budge was there.” (20) Robert unknowingly feels the need to be a savior for the people in his life, but constantly fails to do so with every attempt. Throughout the book, Robert blames himself for not being able to save Rowena or her rabbits. Another reason Robert enlists in the war is to unintentionally make up for the lack of lives he could not save in his own household.
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 society and nature very accurately, which is something Findley explores in depth. The ideologies of power, class, and struggle are key factors in Marxism. These are the ideas that usually dictate; many of the actions that we make as people and in the journey's that we encounter in our lives. "Marxism attempts to reveal the ways in which our socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience" (Tyson 277). The protagonist in The Wars ,Robert Ross, is an example of this experience. He is a young man from an elitist family that encounters these ideologies throughout his journey. The archetypal journey of Robert Ross in The Wars contains many elements of political theory from Marxism, showcased through the class system, the distinction between the oppressors and the oppressed, and the revolutionary actions that occur.
The Way Juliet Feels in Act 3 Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
In the novel The Wars, Robert Ross is a sensitive nineteen year old boy who experiences first-hand the horrors of battle as a Canadian Soldier in the First World War in hopes of trying to find who he is. Being named a Lieutenant shortly after arriving in Europe, Robert is thrust into combat. War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Timothy Findley shows the effects wars have on individuals in his novel The Wars. Findley suggests that war can change a persons behaviour in many different ways, however it is seen to be negatively more often then not. Robert Ross, the main character of The Wars, shows symptoms of what is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in today’s society.
...ry there are many instances in which the narrator seems to dislike Robert, in which case it is because he is “blind”. Not only is he blinded in the way that he cannot understand Robert, but it leads him to believe that Robert is not human at all because of his disability that he possess. The narrator develops with the aid of Robert, to see Robert as an actual human being. Raymond Carver gives the narrator a transformation through characterization as well as the aid of Robert to show his development and progression throughout the story.
At the start of the book Robert is being very mean or stern to everyone else on the boat. Here is an example, Robert is seen yelling (some what) at the other kids to get them to help. In (Pg 134) he is kinda rude to andrew by calling his a “Bumbler” and is also kinda bossing them around (Pg 123). But despite him doing this it’s only because he’s is stressed out and the bossiness is all for a reason. The yelling and bossiness is because he needed to be ready for antarctica the kids weren't really preparing for the journey, without Robert they might have rushed on the final day and forget a bunch of
Juliet goes through physical pain, stabbing herself so she can be with Romeo after his death. Juliet looks at death as a positive thing because it allows her to be with Romeo again. Before she kills herself she says, “O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare V.iii.174-175). In most romantic tales, violence is the last thing you would think of when it comes to love, but it would be different in this play.