The Use of Animal Imagery in "The Wars" by Timothy Findley.

The Use of Animal Imagery in The Wars Timothy Findley's The Wars describes the history of Robert Ross, a Second Lieutenant in the Canadian Army, during World War 1. The story of Robert Ross is a candid recollection of a young man coming of age in the midst of horror and confusion associated with the "war to end all wars". Presented in the form of an archivist trying to piece together the past from pictures and …

…For instance it acts as a beacon of hope, a device for foreshadowing dangers, and a means of revealing Robert's compassion. The diversified use of animal imagery is important in a war novel because the insanity of war only results in the dehumanization of humans into animals. It is therefore fitting that in a place where man and beast are one, "nature will form both the moral and the visionary centre of the novel" (Quaid 408).