Theme

Throughout the novel written by Timothy Findley, with the title “The Wars”, a major theme presented via the beautiful English language is the loss of innocence. At the age of 25, Robert Ross’s hydrocephalic sister, a hydrocephalic being someone who was born with water on their brain, dies when she falls off her wheelchair while playing with her ten rabbits onto the cold cement floor of her family’s barn. Having his sister die in such a tragic fashion, especially a sister he was so close to was very traumatic for Robert and is the first incidence that starts off the gradual breaking down of Robert’s innocence. As if that wasn't enough, Mrs. Ross then ordered Robert to slaughter the ten rabbits Rowena previously owned, for obvious reasons Robert declined the invitation to perform this murder. After having the first layer of his innocence fully shattered, Robert then signed up to fight in the killing fields of WWI era Europe. Aboard the ship, Robert along with the help of a fellow soldier is ordered to do a deed he strongly detests. Robert is forced to kill an injured horse with his six shooter revolver. It takes him six shots to finish the poor animal off. Once in Europe, things don’t get any better. After bathing in a former mental institution in France, Robert is violently raped by thirteen of his fellow soldiers. By now, Robert’s innocence is fully shattered, and the man he was before is fully dead. Sadly, Robert Ross isn't the only character in this novel to lose his precious innocence. Rodwell a dear friend of Robert and a fellow lover of animals not only loses his innocence but commits suicide as a result. In a cruel attempt to taunt the kindhearted Rodwell, his fellow troops killed a cat right in front of his eyes, and the horror of seeing this act of brutality caused him to commit suicide. The character Juliet d’Orsey, a lover of the main character Robert Ross, experiences numerous events that shatter her child-like innocence. Juliet see’s the war hero Eugene Taft attempt committing suicide, and later in the novel by mistake see’s Robert and her sister making love. Incidents like those listed above prove to me that the theme of loss of innocence is a major theme in this book. 

Connections to Economic Systems

To be quite frank, there are limited if not any connections to economic systems in “The Wars”, a great Canadian novel by Timothy Findley. Mr. Ross, father of the main character of the novel, Robert Ross, is an owner of a large business located in the province of Ontario. As an owner of a business, Mr. Ross obviously benefits from the economic system known as capitalism. Capitalism is not only an economic system, but also a political one in which a small group of very rich private business owners control a country’s trade and industry for profit. Capitalism is the economic system most commonly used worldwide, its most avid supporter being the USA. Unlike in communism, another economic system, people are paid depending on the importance of their job in capitalism, while in communist states everyone is paid the same wage no matter the job. Under capitalist rule, with hard work and dedication, the poorest individual can become a millionaire in a matter of years. This is probably why capitalism is such a widely liked economic system, because it offers people the ability to better their life financially. Sadly, capitalism is pretty crappy in how it creates a large economic divide between the poor, the middle class, and of the course the ruling class, the rich. Communism is the exact opposite of capitalism, and for many years capitalist and communist countries “battled” in the Cold War. Communism supports the poor working class, or “the proletariat”, while capitalism supports the rich. The whole point of communism is to create a classless society, the class system being the root of all evil to communists, and in doing so creating a workers utopia. Although communism sounds very noble in theory, true communism has never been attained by any modern state. If true communism were to be attained, by any country, the whole entire world would reap the benefits.                      

Literary Connections to Other Texts

“The Wars”, a novel by Timothy Findley, owes much to the works of other equally, if not better literary works made prior to the making of “The Wars”, although it is distinctly different from the majority of war novels in that it denotes the military and war, and shows it for what it truly is, a life altering multi-year nightmare. Your average war novel reads like pornography for the average army recruiter, telling tales of the glory of warfare, how honorable it is to die for your country, and how dying is a noble affair not filled with tears, soiled underwear,  and the blood of teenagers fighting for a cause they have no knowledge of. But besides its anti-war message, “The Wars” owes a lot to novels written by soldiers who actually fought in WWI. Novels like “Generals Die in Bed”, written by Charles Yale Harrison, a veteran of WWI, another anti-war novel like “The Wars.” “Generals Die in Bed” doesn't gloss over the horrors of mechanized warfare, and if it weren't for it, and novels like it, “The Wars” probably would never have even come to fruition. Timothy Findley also owes much thanks to fellow Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, a writer commonly associated with the genre of historiographic metafiction. Historiographic metafiction being the genre “The Wars” falls under. A book that falls under the category of historiographic metafiction is any book that is popular, but is also very reflective about the times they were written in, and usually the book is about major historical events or people. Other authors that dominate this genre are: Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, James Joyce, Salman Rushdie, Wu Ming, and Julian Barnes.  But regardless of what Timothy Findley borrowed from other authors, “The Wars” is still an amazing novel, definitely worthy of the title of “masterpiece.”