ENG 1120 Lecture 9: ENG 1120 - Lecture 9
15 Aug 2018
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Unit 4: The Wars – Timothy Findley
Relationship Between Past and Present
- The multiple “beginnings” of the narrative suggest that events themselves never have a
clear beginning. While we often imagine that our lives, and even our alrger world, move
forward in time through a straightforward sequence of events, the opening stages of this
novel suggest that events can more accurately be understood as a jumble of experiences –
a collection of fragments that we may or may not be able to convert into a coherent
narrative.
- This novel gives the sense that war in particular fractures the idea that our world
progresses through time in accordance with a coherent story. War presents us with a
broken world, leaving us with the very difficult task of making sense of our reality.
- The Wars shows us a reality that is fragmented, while clearly being interested in the
relationship between the past and present.
o Instead of just telling us what happens to Robert, the novels tells us what the
researcher, “you” learns about what happened to Robert.
Narration & Importance of Researcher “You”
- Most of the novel takes place during the First World War, from 1914 to 1918.
- The narrative jumps back and forth between different frames of time.
o The prologue takes us directly into a war scene where a bloodied Robert Ross
approaches a horse.
o Chapters 1 & 2 jump forward to the present day (likely 1970s). These present-day
sections revolve around a different character, “you,” who is attempting to track
down information about what happened to Robert Ross many years ago.
o Chapter 3: “you” study old photographs taken in Toronto in the year 1915.
Through these photographs the story seems to re-enter the earlier time period,
although the narration also maintains a sense of distance, reminding us that “you”
are merely glimpsing an incomplete photographic record.
▪ Also in this section we see a transcript of an interview with Marian
Turner, who shares her reflections on the war and her memories of Robert.
Representation of Violence and Power in Novel
- After the death of Robert’s sister Rowena, Robert argues with his mother about her order
to kill Rowena’s rabbits. This scene established the everyday world as a place infused
with the same forms of violence and domination associated with war.
o This scene shows us a world in which senseless violence is not only
commonplace, but actually compulsory. Robert learns, to his horror, that he must
prove his capacity for violence, and his willingness not to question violence, in
order to demonstrate his belonging within the family and the larger social order.
o In Robert’s refusal to kill the rabbits, he demonstrates his rejection of the social
order in which violence is compulsory.
- Through these and other scenes, this novel suggests that everyday life involves many
“wars,” as people negotiate the competing forms of power, domination and problematic
social expectations that constitute our cultural world.
o While this novel demonstrates that literal war is a grotesquely intensified form of
experience, it also suggests that war cannot adequately be understood as an
Document Summary
The multiple beginnings of the narrative suggest that events themselves never have a clear beginning. This novel gives the sense that war in particular fractures the idea that our world progresses through time in accordance with a coherent story. War presents us with a broken world, leaving us with the very difficult task of making sense of our reality. Most of the novel takes place during the first world war, from 1914 to 1918. These present-day sections revolve around a different character, you, who is attempting to track down information about what happened to robert ross many years ago: chapter 3: you study old photographs taken in toronto in the year 1915. Turner, who shares her reflections on the war and her memories of robert. After the death of robert"s sister rowena, robert argues with his mother about her order to kill rowena"s rabbits.
