51 pages • 1 hour read
Timothy FindleyThe Wars
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
Animals
Of all the motifs in the novel, one of the most meaningful is the regular presence of animals. One of the most important figures in Robert’s life is Rowena, who is inextricably linked to animals. She and Robert share happy memories of riding a horse together and defying her disability. Her rabbits were her indulgence; she cared for the rabbits despite her family’s indifference to them. When she dies, Mrs. Ross immediately decides that the rabbits should be killed. They no longer have a reason for being alive, in her view, without Rowena to care for them. Robert instead sees the rabbits as representative of Rowena’s innocence and purity. To kill them would sever one of the few connections he has to his dead sister and the hope that individuals can do good things for each other and enjoy small blessings in life with simplicity. When they are inevitably killed, Robert leaves for the war the next day.
While in Europe, Robert meets another person to whom animals are very important. Rodwell is an illustrator; he draws animals for the purpose of placing them into children’s books. This has imbued him with a great appreciation for animals. He has scoured the battlefield and has collected together the injured animals that he finds. He nurses these animals back to health with the aim of releasing them far beyond the lines. Like Rowena, his link to animals is a bastion of innocence in an otherwise cruel world. When Rodwell is redeployed, he is sent further down the line, closer to the front and closer to the true depravity of war. There, he is forced to watch as his fellow soldiers torture and kill animals. The experience is too much for Rodwell and he kills himself. He does not want to exist in a world that would inflict suffering on animals and can no longer tolerate his own participation in such a world.
From his interactions with these two characters, Robert develops his own appreciation of animals. In his mind, animals have come to symbolize the lost innocence and purity of the world—qualities he found in Rodwell and Rowena. So, when Robert is at his emotional nadir, he determines to disobey orders and try to save whatever animals he can. Though this action ends in tragedy, Robert’s will to save the animals becomes a reflection of his own quest for salvation. If animals represent innocence and a marked difference from the horrors of war, then an attempt to save them is a moral quest. Though Robert fails, the symbolic meaning of the animals helps him to claim some form of redemption.
The Stained Glass Panels
The stained glass panels found in the dugout are important because of how out of place they appear on the battlefield. As the First World War rages, these delicate pieces of manufactured glass represent an archaic form of beauty juxtaposed against the vicious thuggery of the surrounding battles. Because of their seeming anachronistic nature, and because they contrast so severely with the muddy brown surroundings, they allow for a delicate reminder of how tenuous and fragile civilization is formed within chaos, and how easily it succumbs. There is also a symbolic irony attached to the fact that the stained glass panels survive, for a time, while surrounded by wanton destruction. While buildings, land formations, human bodies, and almost everything else is irrecoverably scarred and reshaped by the war, the most delicate objects remain intact. The fact that they are inevitably destroyed when the dugout collapses represents the end of hope for civility amid brutality.
It is also important to note that the stained glass panels have a religious affiliation. As explained to Robert, the panels portray St. Eloi, an important figure in the local area that shares the saint’s name. The specific religious meaning is not as important as the general sense of religion that the panels impart. The stained glass portrayals of saintly scenes are among the incredibly rare references to religion in the novel. Indeed, religion is notably absent from the book in almost any sense. The world of the front is one that God has abandoned.
The fact that the social order religion offers society is destroyed directly mirrors that of the social order in the wake of the Great War.
The Elements
One of the most explicit motifs that appears in the novel is the inclusion of the elements. When creating Robert’s gravestone, Juliet lists them all: earth, air, fire, and water. They represent the challenges that face Robert throughout his life. The natural elements fight against him and the rest of humanity as the world descends into chaos. If the First World War is a thoroughly modern and terrifying endeavor, then the inclusion of the classical elements is a clear reference to the classical world, juxtaposing the two ages and finding the modern world wanting.
Earth is one of the most dangerous of the elements. Robert slips into the mud and is almost choked to death as he sinks. The mud is even poisonous, filled with chlorine that burns Robert’s eyes. After he escapes and looks out over the battlefield, Robert sees nothing but mud and corpses: the earth is extracting its revenge against humanity.
If earth is one of the most dangerous elements, then air is a potential savior. When the gas begins to roll in over the crater in which Robert and his men are positioned, it is fresh air that will save them. They need to keep breathing to stay alive and there is only one gas mask. Robert’s quick thinking neutralizes the threat and the men use their urine to combat the gas. In this instance, they are saved by the air. Later in the novel, the air also becomes a threat. The air above is filled with airplanes, which bring bombs. Robert’s convoys are attacked from the air; gradually, all of the elements are being corrupted by humanity and there is no escape.
Fire is the most destructive element of all. It represents pain and death. The Germans wield newly developed flamethrowers to devastating effect and Robert finds himself trapped inside a burning barn. Even Harris is made to suffer by fire: he is cremated instead of buried. Fire has the potential to eradicate humanity in all its forms and it very nearly succeeds in eradicating Robert.
For all of fire’s destructive properties, water has the power to heal. Robert’s bath helps him to feel human again after spending weeks trekking around France (even if it does proceed a traumatic event). Similarly, Robert bathes after Rowena dies, hoping that the water will be able to heal the pain he feels. The rain at the train station and the snow that melts as Mrs. Ross leaves the church attempts to wash away the feelings of pain and loss the characters are experiencing. Given the sheer scale of the terror the characters are facing, the rain is not powerful enough to truly heal the characters. In the end, the brutality of the First World War seems too strong to overcome the classical elements, which are buried alongside Robert as victims of the war.
