My self published poem

Film version of "The Wars"

A film version of “The Wars”, a novel by Timothy Findley, was made in the 1980’s to initial wide acclaim. Critics and the general public regarded it as a masterpiece, much like the novel it copied. But as the years progressed, and more critics had time to think about the film, poor directing and other shabby aspects of the film were found. Still, I think it would be really cool to actually watch this film. To finally be able to capture in my mind’s eye what Robert Ross looks like would be stellar. But can any film based on a novel really do justice to the literature it is trying to embody in images, probably not.      

Homosexuality in "The Wars"

Homosexuality seems to be something that appears quite a bit in the novel “The Wars”, written by the Canadian author Timothy Findley.  For example, after retiring to his room from a bath in a former mental institution, Robert Ross is violently raped by thirteen men, who we can assume are all gay. Near the start of the novel, when Robert Ross and some of his soldier friends are visiting a whore house, and Robert is in a room with a prostitute, via a hole in one of walls in the room, Robert is able to see celebrated war hero Eugene Taffler making love to a large male. Perhaps this recurrence of homosexuality in this novel is due to the fact that Timothy Findley, the author of “The Wars”, is homosexual. This is what I thought to be true at first after reading this novel, and which later turned out to be actually true.                              

Margaret Ross

Of all the characters in the novel "The Wars", by Timothy Findley, the most interesting character is Margaret Elizabeth Ross, the Mother of the main character Robert Ross. Troubled psychologically, and well liquored most of the time, Mrs. Ross proves that even the most wealthy and seemingly well put together individual's can have real world problems. Margaret Ross's mental issues began when a brother she loved deeply, was killed when he was hit by a trolley car. Mrs. Ross realised after her brother's death, that it was impossible too keep those around her alive. This event marks the start of Margot having difficulty developing a closeness with those she truly loves. Margaret's inability to develope meaningful relationships with those she is close to is most evident when Robert Ross is taking a bath, and his mother enters the bathroom well sauced and ready to talk to her son. Slurring her words, the Mother of three said: " people in the world are all born alone and at the hand of strangers"', after telling her son this sobering fact, she follows up by saying that ever since his umbilical cord was cut, nothing she could do would keep him alive. Even though Margaret seems cold and distant, you can tell she truly loves her son. When she was told that Robert was missing in action, Margaret goes blind with grief and shock. This is what makes Mrs. Ross so interesting, her contradictions and pessimistic world view.

How we plan on answering our inquiry question

How can we help dissolve the abuse that animals face every day? Derived from the novel “The Wars”, by Timothy novel, this is our inquiry question. Minutes after creating our inquiry question, Tom, David, and I pondered about how we would solve this complex question. For starters, as a group, we've compiled a list of all the nearest SPCA’s and other similar organizations where we plan on volunteering our time and expertise. Directly helping out abused and tormented animals, there simply can’t be any better way of solving our inquiry question than by this method. The next logical step after volunteer work, is obviously informing the young, the middle aged, and the old about the abuse that animals face on a daily basis. Everything from town halls, too the loneliest streets in all of Vancouver can be our soap boxes, soap boxes allowing us to spread our message far and wide. In between preaching and volunteering, we plan on finding time for performing small acts of kindness towards animals. Like handing out dog treats to dogs we see on the street, or even possibly informing the authorities if we see animals in dangerous situations. This is only the start though. We can, and will go much farther than this. Only time and the law limit us.            

Our Inquiry Question

Throughout the novel "The Wars", by Timothy Findley, numerous modern day issues are presented  via fast fast paced, beautifully worded language. So the task of finding one inquiry question was quite difficult. For hours the group I'm in debated at  least hundreds of possible inquiry questions. Everything from the prevention of rape, all the way to helping out the mentally and physically disabled, and even preventing animal abuse. Then we decided on our inquiry question. As soon as we wrote it down, the words seemed to leap out at us, pleading, pleading, for the opportunity to be chosen. I can now say with pride that my group's inquiry question is: "how can we prevent the daily abuse of animals?" The perfect inquiry question. Simplistic and too the point in wording, and it proposes a problem that is extremely evident in our novel. Animal abuse appears so frequently in "The Wars", that it's almost scary. Horses being burned alive, and rabbits slaughtered simply for outliving their deceased owner, is just a fraction of the abuse that appears in this book. So we think our inquiry question is very appropriate.

Rowena Ross

Rowena Ross is Robert Ross’s sister, Robert Ross being the main character of “The Wars.” Rowena suffers from a disease called hydrocephalus, a disease in which there is water resting on the sufferer’s brain. Sadly, the disease restricts Rowena to a wheel chair, greatly restricting her life in many ways. One of the very few things that brighten Rowena’s life is a group of rabbits she cares for in her family’s barn. One day, at the age of twenty five, tragedy strikes Rowena, when while playing with her rabbits she falls from her wheel chair and dies. Robert quickly blames the death on himself, reasoning that he should have watched over his disabled sister. The guilt caused by the death, finalizes the decision in Robert’s mind to join the army, and fight in the death fields of Europe. In this aspect, Rowena is essential to the plot of the novel, “The Wars”, by Timothy Findley.