Mother/Son Relationships

           In a typical household in Canada, there is a definite bond between mother and son. Although, sometimes this bond may slowly drift apart with age, there is always some kind of connection between mother and son under any circumstance. In The Wars, this typical mother/son relationship seizes to exist. Throughout the first quarter of the novel, you get a good feel for Robert’s family and how one another is bonded to him. Robert’s mother seems to be an alcoholic and that factor really separates her from her children. It seems that at a younger age, Robert did have a close relationship with his mother, but as he grew older and many new factors come into play, he drifted from her companionship. There is a love/hate relationship floating amongst Robert and his mother. The catalyst of the turning point in their relationship was when Rowena died. Rowena was closest to Robert, almost like a father to her. He was always by her side and when she died, Robert was a mess. Robert was mourning Rowena's death and at the same time, his mother was very hard on him and pushed Robert away and to his limits where he couldn’t handle her anymore. Their relationship kind of ended at this point of the novel. His mother was harsh on him at his time of mourning and tried to make him kill Rowena’s rabbits. Of course, Robert did not proceed with the deed, and his mother hired a man to kill them, which even made Robert more angry and frustrated. Mrs. Ross took it to the final level where she made critical remarks of the death in their family by saying such things like,

“Funny, she said, how most people fall down and nothing happens. Some people bruise like apples. But most people – nothing! Yes. While others die “(Findley 23)

This remark reminded Robert of how Rowena died and how soon it was too. She had died only days prior and his mother said such remarks of distaste and ignorance. Robert’s mother pushed him to the last straw and the next day, before everyone woke, Robert left and enrolled in the army without even saying goodbye. What was left of the little relationship Robert did have with his mother, is now shattered and left behind in memories. My predictions for later on in the book are that Robert will rejoice with his mother after the war and hopefully will forgive each other for the sake of the family. Robert probably had a fair relationship with his mother, but because of her alcohol problem and these circumstances, crushed whatever was left of it.  

This picture above me shows the Mother throwing the relationship in the garbage, which in this case it's true. It depends on how you look at it. Robert could be throwing the relation out because he left for the army without settling the problem. On the other hand, it could easily be Mrs. Ross' fault for pushing and being hurtful to Robert. Just something to ponder on.

So Far... Main Events

There are many key events that have occurred so far in the first 18 chapters. I thought they were pretty important to share by which they have drastically changed the novel and the outlook of Robert Ross in his home life and in the war. Here is an update of main concepts in the novel so far:

·       There is defined character development of Robert Ross and his ties with his family. Robert is portrayed as a gentle, loving, caring person in these first dozen chapters. He is very loving for his disabled sister Rowena, who has hydrocephalics as well as for the rest of his family. I will touch on later in a blog about Roberts’s relationship with his mother.

·        “She died on the Monday, never regaining consciousness” (Findley 17) This quote refers to the death of Rowena. She was ten at the time and playing with her beloved rabbits on the concrete floor of the barn. Robert’s little brother, Stuart, was supposed to be watching her when she fell out of her wheelchair and later on died. Robert felt guilty of the whole thing and blamed himself for not being there to catch her in her final minutes. Robert was crushed and couldn’t get over the death in their family for a long time.

·        Robert ended up joining the army on April 2^nd, 1915. The main reasons why he joined were because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his family in the army, as well as because of the death of Rowena. The major reason why he admitted to the army was to escape from his mother and show his dominance and significance of that point. Again, I will touch on this later on in another blog in more depth about the relationships of Robert and his mother and how Mrs. Ross basically thrived Robert to join the army without even saying goodbye.



Keep in touch for more posts on the way
 of the intriguing book “The Wars”

·        While in the army so far, Robert has not done anything too significant in the portrayal of “war” but has connected with animals throughout the entire novel so far. There are many incidences that deal with animals and Robert in the book and foreshadows that there is going to be many more times where animals come into play in this novel. There are at least 5 times where I can give you examples of animals bonding to Robert so far and I think there will only be more examples on the way.

The novel is turning out to be a great read so far. I would have thought it would be more about war, but realistically, so far I have only learned about Robert and his family and his admittance into the army. I’m sure there will be more about war later on it the next couple parts of the book, and I can not wait.

Book Choice: The Wars

The Wars

By: Timothy Findley

The Wars was originally published in 1977 by The Penguin Group. The edition of the book that I selected was published in 2005. The Wars has around 198 pages, give or take a few because of publications.

I chose this book because it not only deals with the history and brutality of WWI in Canada, but also the psychological  aspect of war and how it effects one’s mind after being through the ordeals of war. I have also heard many good remarks of Timothy Findley and his writing which also urged me to choose this book.

After reading the prologue and a few chapters of this novel, I really enjoyed the beginning to the story line. During the first few chapters, the book goes through an overview of life in 1915 and how it radically changed when the First World War was in the creating through the use of flipping through photographs to get a sense of the setting and mood of Canada at this time. The beginning of the book also touches on the protagonist of the story of Robert Ross, a Canadian boy who ends up leaving for war.

As touched on before, the book really introduced the setting of Canada at the breakout of WWI and the mood drastically changing from a jolly setting to a strict and tenser situation through the use of photographs.  It seems the first chapter of the book is a flashback of Robert Ross’ memory of a horrible incident of a fire. Also in this flashback it tells of how Robert united with a horse and a dog to save livestock and over 130 horses from an abandoned train wreck. The character of Robert Ross is starting to develop more and more through the progression of the book and the telling of his family is also coming together.

Some themes that are starting to develop throughout the book are heroism and manhood. This is predicted to be two main themes in this story because of Robert Ross and the encounters that may come up in war where these themes must be used for survival. Other themes that came up in the book so far are the themes of fire and animal relationships from the flashback in the prologue to the story. Robert Ross shows relationships to a horse and dog in the prologue and the theme of fire comes up in this flashback of a house burning in front of him and unable to do anything about it.

I haven’t yet found an actual secondary source from a scholar based website, but from the research I did accomplish on the book, I was able to find interesting facts. This book deals very much so with the aspect of life or death and the relationship between Ross and animals throughout the story. I didn’t want to spoil the book, so I really didn’t research in depth too much about the storyline of the book. I didn’t want to ruin the story for myself that many people have said to be a very well written book. There is a website that deals with all this information that I have found that talks about Timothy Findley as an author and his accomplishments. The website is posted below. Click Here: 

“See what I mean? You have to be awfully careful how you define the extraordinary. Especially nowadays. Robert Ross was no Hitler. That was his problem.” (Findley 13)

This quotation really stood out to me as a reader of the book. This line is so powerful to the overview of the storyline. It foreshadows a huge part of the novel is its simplicity. This line speaks out to me that at one point of the book or even throughout it, many conflicts may come up in a life or death situation where Robert Ross won’t have the same mentality as a leader of such like Hitler, although it does say he is a hero. This line could be foreshadowing a large portion of the book or maybe not. I’m just glad I’ll be able to read to find out.

The Wars is only about 200 pages long. So I expect myself to read about 50-75 pages a week to finish the book within three weeks or so, depending on how much I enjoy reading this book and how I get involved into the storyline.