The Wars

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The Wars
Author Timothy Findley
Cover artist Unknown. Image courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Country Canada
Language English
Publisher Clarke, Irwin
Publication date 1977
Pages 226
ISBN 0-7720-1188-5 (first edition)
Preceded by The Butterfly Plague
Followed by Famous Last Words

The Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I. First published by Clarke Irwin, it won the Governor General's Award for fiction in 1977.

The novel follows the experiences of Robert Ross, an officer in the Canadian army who was nineteen when World War I broke out, and is narrated by a historian who is researching and understanding Ross's life, in particular a controversial wartime incident he instigated. The story is told through the memories of the few living people who knew him, and the historian's reconstructions based on archive materials. It portrays the life of an Edwardian higher class family in Canada's 20th century, and warfare on the Western Front.

Robert Ross, the protagonist, was inspired by T. E. Lawrence and the author's uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, to whom the novel is dedicated. Findley named the character after Canadian literary figure Robbie Ross. Robert Ross's sister, Rowena, was inspired by Mary Macdonald, daughter of Sir John A. Macdonald.

The Wars utilizes first-, second-, and third-person narrative, which is very rare in literature. The novel is also an example of historiographic metafiction.

A feature film version of The Wars, written by Findley and directed by Robin Phillips, was released in 1983. The novel has also been adapted for the stage by Dennis Garnhum, and premiered at Theatre Calgary in September 2007.

Contents

[edit] About The Author

Timothy Findley, also known as Tiff, was born in Toronto, Ontario. Timothy was born on October 20th, 1930 and died June 21st, 2002. Timothy came from a wealthy family, and studied dance and acting. He was also a founder of the original Stratford Company. Timothy started off as an actor on TV (mainly CBC). He was also briefly married to a woman named Janet Reid. However, in 1951 he met his life partner, William Whitehead. It was William who encouraged him to write. Timothy left acting in the 1960’s and first wrote Last of the Crazy People in 1967. His second book was Butterfly Plague in 1969. He then wrote The Wars, which was first published in Britain and the U.S. Timothy was also a founding member of Writings Union of Canada and a president of the Canadian chapter of PEN International. He is considered a Southern Ontario Gothic writer (heavily influenced by things such as psychology and gender themes).

[edit] Plot Summary

[edit] Part One

Robert Ross has enlisted in the army. His Sister, who suffered from hydrocephalus and was confined to a wheelchair, has recently died from a fall. Robert had left his brother Stuart to look after her and she had fallen reaching for one of her pet rabbits, a gift from Robert. During training at Lethbridge, Alberta, Robert is out trying to find missing horses with Clifford Purchas, who he had gone to school with, and they meet Eugene Taffler a former all-star Varsity athlete, who is now a war hero. Robert decides Eugene Taffler will be his mentor. Robert is shamed into going to a brothel with some of the other men including Purchas. While there he is told to look through a hole in the wall and sees Taffler with a man.

In a flashback Robert is twelve and is emulating his hero Tom Longboat by running a marathon around the block. One lap short of his goal, he faints and comes down with jaundice. His Father comforts the sick child by telling him stories every night after work.

Robert is heading to Europe on a ship and has just received a gun he asked for from his father, but it is the wrong one. Clifford Purchas and a man named Harris are also aboard and the ship is also transporting horses for the war effort. Harris becomes sick aboard the ship, and Robert takes over his duties of taking care of the horses. Robert must shoot an injured horse as he is the only one with a gun.

[edit] Part Two

Robert is now in France and in charge of a convoy, he has become lost in the fog and separated from his men. He falls into a muddy sinkhole and nearly drowns. He is saved by Poole and Levitt, two of his men. Robert eventually reaches the dugout with Levitt. Devlin Bonnycastle and Rodwell were there. Rodwell cares for injured animals he finds and has birds, rabbits, toads, and hedgehogs. The rabbits remind Robert painfully of Rowena.

Robert visits Harris in a London Hospital while on leave. Harris' condition has worsened since he first became sick on the ship and is now bedridden. While visiting Harris Robert meets Taffler once again. Taffler introduces Robert to Barbara d'Orsey.

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[edit] Part Three

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Robert is now experiencing trench warfare at its fullest. Following a shelling of the dugout, Robert must cope with not only the loss of sanity on behalf of his teammate Levitt, but also of himself. Ordered to place guns in a location sure to be a deathtrap, Robert and his men find themselves on the wrong end of a gas attack. After pretending to be dead for hours, Robert finds that they are being watched by an enemy soldier. Rather than shooting the soldiers, the German allows all of Robert's men to leave the area. Just as Robert is leaving, however, the German makes a quick motion, resulting in Robert killing the man. He quickly realizes that the man was only reaching for his binoculars. Following the loss of the guns, Rodwell, who possesses similar attributes to Robert as per the tragic hero, is transferred. Rodwell is forced to watch the killing of a cat, and subsequently kills himself. Prior to being transferred, Rodwell leaves Robert his artwork as well as a letter for his daughter. Robert finds that his is the only sketch of a person, and the remainder is of animals, thus presenting Robert as different than the other men, and that Rodwell connected with this sense of extraordinary. Meanwhile, on the home front, Mrs. Ross has begun to descend further into insanity, dragging Ms. Davenport with her.


[edit] Part Four

Robert receives an invitation to Barbara d'Orsey's home. The majority of this section is told through transcripts via Juliet d'Orsey. Juliet relays through diary entries the building relationship between Robert and her sister, Barbara. She also tells of Eugene Taffler's attempted suicide, following the loss of both of his arms and Barbara. Juliet accidentally sees Barbara and Robert Ross make love prior to leaving. This section of the novel introduces Robert's dark temperament, and implements the structure of a tragic hero, as is relayed throughout the novel.


[edit] Part Five

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Robert leaves Barbara d'Orsey's home and heads back to battle on a small train. Shortly after reaching the bath house, he is brutally raped by four of his fellow soldiers. This sends Robert into a downward spiral towards insanity. Nearing the end of the book, Robert kills two of his fellow men, just so he can save some of the Army's horses. After he is cornered in a barn, it is set on fire and Robert is severly burned. He then dies after spending 6 years in a hospital.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Robert Ross

A second leftenant in the Canadian field artillery from 1916-1917 (he enlisted when he was nineteen). He is a compassionate, handsome fellow who suffers the loss of his sister, Rowena, who died from a fall onto cement ground in the barn. This caused Robert great guilt for his sister's death. From this point, Robert sometimes has violent streaks and leads an internal war with himself while also trying to cope with the war going on in the world. After Rowena's death, Robert became distant from his mother and much closer to his father, who continued to support and encourage him throughout his experience in the war. Robert's personality is serious, practical, determined, and observant of things that other people cannot see. His observations also allow him to react quickly to the situations he encounters in this novel. Even though Robert is determined, he was not a natural killer; this weakness was seen in his inability to kill the injured horse or Rowena's rabbits. Robert strived to learn from Eugene Taffler, who Robert hoped could help teach him to kill by example. After all the terrible things Robert witnesses, he gradually descends into madness, and reveals his true essence: "not yet".

[edit] Rowena Ross

Rowena is Robert's older sister, who acted as his guardian when he was a younger child. She was hydrocephalic, meaning she was born with water in the brain. This caused her to have an adult sized head but a body of a ten-year-old, and could not walk. She was 25 years old when she fell and died from her complications, and remained to stay in Robert's life throughout the rest of the novel. Rowena also took care of ten rabbits, all of which were killed against her wishes shortly after her own death.

[edit] Thomas Ross

Commonly referred to as Mr. Ross in the novel, who is the father of Robert Ross. He was the more lenient parent in the family and loved every member enough to encourage Robert to go for what he wants, but be lenient towards Rowena's death and the accusations that were made. The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Ross became helpless after Rowena's death and Robert's enlisting in the army. It was only after Robert's death when Mr. Ross actually seemed to help.

[edit] Mrs. Ross

Mrs. Ross is Robert's estranged mother who was furious with him, after Rowena's death and his enlisment in the army. Rowena's death was an entire turning point in Mrs. Ross' life and caused her to change the way she acted. When Rowena died, Mrs. Ross tried to force Robert to kill the rabbits because he loved Rowena, which was a sign of her jealousy for the relationship that Robert and Rowena had. She became a heavy drinker and smoker who hides her real feelings and loses her faith, family, sight, and mind. While she never brought up the courage to even say goodbye to Robert, she would hand out chocolate bars to other departing soldiers with her friend, Miss Davenport.

[edit] Peggy Ross

Robert's little sister, who has many beaux. She changes men as she would change her outfit.

[edit] Stuart Ross

Robert's little brother. His behaviour was irresponsible in terms of Rowena's and Robert's death, and was supposed to be watching Rowena when she fell. When Stuart heard of Robert's death, he only became concerned about how his death could benefit him.

[edit] Marian Turner

This lady is an 80-year-old nurse in World War I who had the only other first-hand account of Robert besides Lady Juliet. She remembered Robert vividly and wished that she could have taken away his pain.

[edit] Lady Juliet d'Orsey

The account of Robert given by this lady was when she was experiencing life at the age of twelve. She is Barbara d'Orsey's younger sister who saw too much and acted too maturely for her age. She loved the Mass and was manipulative, also being someone who loved Robert.

[edit] Barbara d'Orsey

This lady is Juliet's older sister, who became Robert's lover at a point in the novel. She was uncaring and moved easily from one man to another, who admired athletes and heroes.

[edit] Eugene Taffler

This man was a war hero who was often accompanied by a dog and a horse. He became Robert's model on how to kill, but then loses his arms and eventually his sanity. At one point, Eugene attempts suicide as a result of his life and the lost love he experiences.

[edit] Symbols

[edit] Wars

The title of this novel is named the way it is to show the war he has with himself, and on the battle field. War is also the cause of Robert's characterization, and allows him to become a hero because he survived the dangers that were thrown at him. However, as a result of the madness and confusion of war, Robert ultimately dies trying to perform a noble act for the horses, and Mrs. Ross goes blind and crazy due to the betrayal she endured by the government's assurance of Robert's safe return home.

[edit] Animals

  • The birds represent the danger that Robert was going to experience in the novel. They are a sort of warning; each time Robert notices they have stopped singing, an attack soon follows.
  • The coyote represents the relationship between man and beast. It can mean friendship, companionship, and loyalty towards Robert. The coyote willingly ran with Robert and did not hunt even though there was prey clearly for him to hunt for.
  • Rabbits come up in the novel on several occasions: it brings back memories to Robert about how he did not want to kill the rabbits her rabbits, since they belonged to Rowena.
  • The horse is what brought Robert to Eugene Taffler. Robert was corralling mustangs when he came across Taffler, who had returned and reenlisted in the war. The horse was often used in the novel as a means of transportation and companionship. When Robert finds a mare while attempting to free a group of doomed military horses, this horse is notably described as black. This refers to the Book of Revelation, in which St. John the Divine describes a vision of a black horse whose rider is holding balances.

[edit] References

Preceded by
Bear		 Governor General's Award for English language fiction recipient
1977
 Succeeded by
Who Do You Think You Are?