The Wars by Timothy Findley describes the many struggles and hardships that people face in life. One common tragedy is the death of a loved one. Findley introduces the reader to two characters who are confronting adversities that have come their way: Robert Ross and his mother, Mrs. Ross. Undoubtedly, losing someone precious leads to a great deal of sadness and anguish. However, The Wars offers a means of coping with the traumatic incident in an effective manner by contrasting Robert’s and Mrs. Ross’s journey of healing. It is evident throughout the book that Robert was able to overcome his past experiences better than Mrs. Ross since he actively sought healthy relationships with others that later proved to be meaningful and beneficial. His …show more content…
Ross. According to The Nebraska Department of Veteran’s Affairs, “People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person’s daily life” (“What is PTSD?”). Timothy Findley gives a brief insight into Mrs. Ross’s sorrowful past; the death of her brother, Monty Miles, had a significant impact on her as, “the world was full of trolley cars and Mrs. Ross could hear their brakes and see them jump the tracks in all her dreams” (66). Her isolation from the world may have started from that point onward as she slowly began to distance herself away from everyone else, hiding herself through means such as alcoholism, and becoming wary of falling in love as it would make her vulnerable to the associated pain. Mrs. Ross goes to great lengths to sever connections that might have been beneficial. She tells Robert to “go to hell” (25) in an effort to detach herself from Robert before he can hurt her like Monty Miles did. Despite the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Ross live together, the lack of communication between them shows how she is unable to maintain relationships. These relationships could have been remedial for her in dealing with these traumatic experiences, thus resulting in her inability to express her feelings …show more content…
Ross have made several attempts in coping with their traumatic experiences. However, it is clear that Robert is able to cope more effectively since he was able to express himself to a greater extent than his mother. He also had the support and the companionship of others while Mrs. Ross tried to isolate herself from everyone else. Robert could find meaning in his life and pursue it, whereas Mrs. Ross lacked direction in her life, which is represented by her blindness. Timothy Findley teaches the reader about effective means of dealing with trauma as he gives the reader a glimpse into the struggles and hardships of Robert Ross and Mrs. Ross and how they handled it, thus showing the reader what is healthy and what is not. Ultimately, The Wars is a timeless instruction manual to managing these
John Marsden’s tomorrow when the war began (1994) is a narrative of an Australian teenager named Ellie Linton and her friends who became guerrilla fighters after the invasion of her homeland by an unknown military force. A key passage in page 75-76 explains how the group transforms into effective leaders while making tough decisions. Marsden’s message in the passage is to be a good leader in a time of crisis, unpopular decisions must be made in order to save the group. Marsden’s passage begins when protagonist Homer forced to make unpopular suggestions in a time of crisis. The author begins the passage by Homer suggesting that the group should split up rather than stay together.
It is sometimes difficult for individuals to settle the discrepancy between truth and illusion, and consequently they drive others away, by shutting down. Mrs. Ross, in The Wars by Timothy Findley, is seen as brittle while she is attending church, and cannot deal with the cruel reality of the war and therefore segregates herself from the truth by blacking it out. As a result, she loses her eyesight, and never gets to solve the clash between her awareness of reality and the actuality of the world. She hides behind a veil, and her glasses to distance herself from reality. Mrs. Davenport has to wheel her around in Rowena’s chair to keep her awake, so she doesn’t harbour up subconscious feeling within her dreams, which she is unable to deal with.
Being lost not knowing what to do, Robert remising saying “Choices seemed pointless now. What did it matter
Society peer pressure is pressure put in a member of a group by the larger group to act and behaver a certainly way. Men have the role of being the rough guy, that’s the role society has gave them. In times of war men are expected to fight and kill the enemy’s without feeling any sympathy. In The Wars, Robert Ross enlisted himself in World War I, but because of his sensibility over living things he couldn’t become what society planned for him. The Wars by Timothy Findley questions how we understand the word.
Before Rachel communicated with Louis about her sister’s death and the impact it had on her, King tells us “For a moment Louis has the crazy impression that he was still talking to Ellie” (King 41). This is another quote that appears in the fight Louis had with Rachel about introducing the idea of death to their daughter. Building the reader's view of Rachel's character, King uses characterization in this line to add to Rachel’s trauma and the extreme reaction she has to sensitive topics such as death. It bothers her to such a degree, that her behavior reflected her five-year-old daughter. It also enhances Rachel’s personal growth, intensifying the extent to which Rachel was suffering and making her courage to communicate with Louis and progress towards healing even more major.
The narrator finally understands how Robert can love a woman or even just eat dinner being blind, since looking is not as important as he once thought. The townspeople were also just as wrong about Miss. Emily. When Emily dies, the townspeople are let into
In the novella “The Wars” by Timothy Findley, the setting, plot, and characterization of Robert Ross, shows how a villain is produced. The setting of the story takes place in Canada, British Isles, and France during World War One. A summarization of the plot illustrates that a Robert Ross’s has changed due to war. Robert volunteers to join the war after his eldest sister Rowena dies. As he comes from money, he becomes in charge of a convoy.
Robert’s father was a very intimidating man who yelled and otherwise verbally abused his son. He grew up a very skinny and shy child, never making friends. In his teen years Robert was even more of a recluse and could not talk to girls at his high school. He had a very bad stutter and therefor would get very nervous talking to girls.
‘In riding a horse, we borrow freedom:’ An Essay of the characterization of Robert Ross In The Wars, Timothy Findley uses personification of the horse to make a mirror reflection of Robert Ross character and self-perception. This is the reason why the horse is one of the main motifs of the novel. In this essay, arguments will be use from Timothy Findley’s novel and Diana Bryndon’s scholarly article “It could not be told: ‘Making Meaning in Timothy Fidnley’s The Wars”, to demonstrate that Robert Ross was kind, noble, perceptive and in some way domesticated as a horse.
Robert literally can’t see, but he does obtain vision only on a deeper level. The narrator isn’t too enamored with the idea of another man coming to his home. He is insensitive and makes some harsh comments that make Robert feel a little uncomfortable. Due to his callous and unsympathetic personality, the narrator is never able to connect with his wife while Robert is instantly able to. Robert comes to visit the narrator and his wife at their home for the first time.
But he narrates what he knows and feels, he also afraid about his wife connection to the blind man. The narrator also shows that he has a difficult time understanding the difference between sight and understanding. The author uses different patterns when he writes, one that it's fascinating is the narrator almost never mention the names of Robert, for example in the line “This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night” (p.86). The narrator calls him ‘The Blind Man’ as if he did not know his name, but he did.
This takes away some resilience from Robert, where he is unable to recover from the scene he witnessed inside the brothel. The ultimate scene out of all sexual acts is where Robert was violated in the cell. This experience strips Robert from both his dignity and privacy and the moment where he felt the greatest shame, where he couldn’t possible recover from such
From the beginning of the novel the narrator shows ignorance and prejudice towards Robert, he is fighting with his own of jealousy and insecurity. Being unhappy with his own life, the narrator sees Robert as a possible threat to his usual evening with pot and TV, without realizing that in order to be satisfied he should step out of his habitual
Alienation in The Return of the Soldier In her novel, The Return of the Soldier, Rebecca West depicts the effects of World War 1 through the character, Chris Baldry, who undergoes a psychological transformation. His memory is rewind fifteen years back, which causes him to retreat from the life he was living. The dramatic changes affected his relationship with his wife Kitty Baldry. Throughout the novel, Chris is treated simply as the “soldier” after returning from war, which leads him to experience a sense of alienation that impacts his marriage, memory and social life.
The narrator begins to change as Robert taught him to see beyond the surface of looking. The narrator feels enlightened and opens up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience has a long lasting effect on the narrator. Being able to shut out everything around us allows an individual the ability to become focused on their relationships, intrapersonal well-being, and