Tragedy is a dominant theme through out Timothy Findley's novel, "The Wars". The book starts with the main character's sister dying and through out the novel, Robert, loses friends to the war. Eventually, through a series of complex events, he ends up in a struggle against the very people he was suppose to be fighting for. And throughout the entire novel, Robert takes a very naive and pessimistic view on life. Even though he is badly burnt near the end of the book, he still refuses to give up on life. One major cause of his problems is his naive view on life which is corrupted by the horrors he has to witness. Because of this, he loses his temper over many things and takes his rage out on the people around him. However, it's not just Robert Ross who has to undergo traumatic events, as many of the people that he knew have also been injured. For example, Taffler, someone who Robert respected, tried to commit suicide because Taffler lost both his arms during the war.
However, as much as tragedy is part of the story, there is still some happiness in the story. Not much sure, but it is there.
Even though it might not be a significant part of the story, I would have to say, it was the time that Robert and his crew his in the bunker with all the stolen food and goods. Anyways, your post is very much alike Tomo, who refers to the post traumatic stress in which they endure after their time at war. For many of us, we cannot imagine at first hand of how devastating these battles can be as words can only be at a certain level of descriptiveness. However, we have to understand that through their losses, that sanity fades away too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. I guess you're right, but I felt like it was still interesting. It's true, that a picture is like a thousand words, and with the right pictures people can better, but not, perfectly understand the experiences of others.
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