The Wars - A Mysterious Stranger [Entry One]

For this blog, I comment on novels in a running commentary style. Forgive me if there seems to be a missing link between thoughts, but that's the way I run. So, enjoy my first post on the novel, "The Wars".

These are two quotes in the novel that I found to be very attractive, and they will be my hooks for today.

"Everyone wants to know what people look like. Somehow it seems to say so much about a person's possibilities..." (9)

"People can only be found in what they do..." 

       The Wars by Timothy Findley is a novel that investigates the life of Robert Ross. What caught my eye about this novel immediately is its narrative point of view. Never in my academic life have I come across a novel that dealt with a second person point of view. For example, this is exemplified in an entry that begins like, "You begin at the archives with photographs" . It reflects a sort of game for the reader whose goal is to investigate and the discover the true life of Robert Ross, who in the first few pages of the novel seems to be a soldier from World War I. The novel is also strange for its plot and dialogue are driven by "entries" found by the main character looking through archives. You the reader also joins the character in this journey. Each new twist and addition to the plot is indicated by the entry number, so the novel starts at like 1, 2, 3... and so forth. It's strange but it works; a puzzle if you will.

There are also mentions of iconic symbols that can be directly or indirectly related to the war. What's a

• Magdalene Wood
• the S.S Massanable
• Barbara D'Orsey
• S.S Minnetonka 

The novel opens up with a prologue that is very surreal in its nature. Robert is injured as the novel states, "He could not breathe through his nose. It was broken" and gives indication that he was in a recent battle, "Robert appeared to be the sole survivor". He comes across a black horse and a dog. This immediately can be an image or a symbol for something, possibly freedom? And this is when it gets really strange, it becomes magic realistic in its nature. "Robert was riding along the tracks behind a hundred and thirty horses with the dog trotting beside him". Uh, thats awfully weird. Is this an allusion to thesupernatural? "This was when the moon rose - red".

It gives indication to the background of Robert Ross.
"He wears a checkered cap and dark blue suit. He watches with a dubious expression; half-admiring - half reluctant to admire. He's old enough to go to war. He hasnt gone" (Entry 3) He has a sister named Rowena who is diagnosed with a condition whose adjective is hydrocephalic - to have water in the brain. He becomes her guardian, probably metaphorically. Robert is a "fine catch for any girl. He was a scholar and an athlete. Besides - he had money" (8).  The parents seem to be detached from their children. Mrs. Ross especially, seems to be like a bitch for telling Robert he can go to hell because he wants to be a soldier hence go to war. Like wth? She also orders him to kill the rabbits which he owned in partnership with Rowena, who passes away at the age of 25 years old (23). The mother also smokes, which I find unconventional given the time frame around WWI. Has she been a good mother?  tsk tsk.

Marian Turner - a nurse in WWI who remembers Robert when she took care of him in the Bois de Madeleine hospital - a first hand account given in the form of a radio transcription.
"The human body - well - it's like the mind I guess; terribly impressive till you put it in jeopardy" (10) and shows a hint of her awareness to politics, "You have to be awfully careful how you define extraordinary" What actions define a hero? Who is the hero? The reader is intrigued about what Ross has done that gives him all this attention, especially if the novel revolves around him. "Many men have died like Robert Ross, obscured by violence". "Ross was consumed by fire" (3).

"No one smiles. Life is dangerous" (4)

When Robert Ross goes to a whorehouse, the novel reflects the conventions at the time in a strange way. It shows that prostitution must have been at a high or something. It shows a slow but sure deterioration in his innocence. It also brings up the issue of homosexuality, as Ross is shocked to see his idol, Taffler, having sex with a man. 

The diction is quite simple, formal. Tone; instructional as evident through the entry format, perhaps imaginative in some ways. Images - vary from freedom, to despair. Central idea - investigating the journey of the hero, "Robert Ross". The title, "The Wars" - indicates not only the possibilities of the world wars, but maybe its a metaphor for internal struggles and insecurities as well? 

The reader is left wondering, will Ross undergo shell shock? What discoveries will the reader find out about?

Till next time,
Alexander Truong.