“The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different. ” This was quoted by Hippocrates, a Greek philosopher. The numerous animal imageries in Timothy Findley’s book The Wars are used to show the similarities and differences of the way how human treat animals and their life. The characters Captain Leather, Rodwell and Robert Ross reveal their own connections to the animals respectively, and the connections fully prove the good side and the bad side of human nature. Captain Leather is a commanding officer, he is one of the negative characters and he treats animals without humanity in the novel.
When the barn yard is on fire, Robert’s first thought is the animals, and he wants to set the horses and mules free. However, Captain Leather tries to prevent Robert from freeing them, a hundred horses and thirty-five mules, and he does not even care about those real lives. He screams at Delvin, “‘Shut those God damn gates! Shut them! Shut them! You traitor’” (183). He is a selfish officer, and he is very cruel and merciless to animals. A life means nothing to Captain Leather, and he has no feeling towards the death of the soldiers.
When Robert tells Captain Leather that perhaps there are a lot of soldiers died in the trench, Captain Leather does not even worry about it, he seems to think that those men were born for fighting and sacrificing for the wars: “Leather even said ‘Just so’ when Robert explained that he hadn’t been able to locate his men and that he feared they had all been killed” (116). Captain Leather orders Robert and his men to go to the forward position to set up the guns, and Robert knows that they will be dead for certain because the position is very closed to the German lines.
Captain Leather does not understand how dangerous the war is, and he just gives orders: “Laid down the purpose of the new guns. Gun beds would have to be put in ‘here and here’ and ‘there and there. ’ Here and there was all right–but there and there was a death trap” (116). Captain Leather never cares about the soldier’s lives, and fighting a war is just like playing a game for him. He totally loses his humanity in the brutal war. In the novel, Rodwell always shows compassion and mercy to injured animals and wants to protect them. He is an optimistic person, and he knows how to enjoy his life during the war.
Toad is one of the animals that Robert has saved. Even though nobody likes toad because of their ugly appearance, Rodwell still wants to cure the injured toad, he cherishes every creature’s life. The toad also has strong vitality, just like every soldier that wants to survive during the war: “Rodwell had saved the toad by putting it into the drinking water pail and placing sheets of Devlin’s glass on top” (133). Rodwell saved a rabbit during the war. The rabbit is a symbol of innocent and purity, just like Rowena and himself, and the rabbit reminds Robert of Rowena.
The rabbit has survived when they got attacked: “The rabbit turned with its eyes shut tight and huddled in the corner of its cage facing Robert” (110). Rodwell tries to defend the animals with his life, although he knows that he can possibly lose his life. He respects animals and he tries to prevent the German from killing a cat, but he fails. He sees the cat’s life as his own life and he cannot accept the abuse of cats, so that finally he chooses to commit suicide: “They would not be stopped-and, seeing that he took an interest, they’d forced him to watch the killing of a cat.
Half an hour later, Rodwell wandered into No Man’s Land and put a bullet through his ears” (135). Rodwell is like the animals, having purity and virtuous, he is not like the soldiers, violent, and killing, he appreciates and respects every living creature in his life. Although the war is cruel, it does not destroy Rodwell’s conscience. He is still very kind to his friends and family. When Bonnycastle, Devlin and Levitt introduce Rodwell to Robert, they give their high assessment of Rodwell, Bonnycastle says, “‘[He thinks Robert will like Rodwell]’ ‘[The animals] have all been injured.
That’s [Rodwell’s] sort of hospital’” (85). Rodwell predicts that he will die in the war, so he writes a letter to his daughter. The letter indicates Rodwell’s faith and the value of life. In the letter, Rodwell writes, “I am alive in everything I touch. Touch these pages and you have me in your fingertips. We survive in one another. Everything lives forever. Believe it. Nothing dies” (135). Rodwell only draws animals in his sketchbook just like communicating with animals, but Robert is the only human being in the book.
Rodwell draws Robert because he sees Robert as one of the animals which are pure and innocent; unfortunately, Robert is trapped by the war, “In all of them—on every page, the drawings were of animals. Of maybe a hundred sketches, Robert’s was the only human form. Modified and mutated—he was one with the others” (138). Rodwell sacrifices his life for the wars, but his soul will be alive forever. His faith and mercy will stay in their memories as long as their live. The protagonist Robert Ross has connection with the animal’s portraits in the story reflects his personalities and the circumstances that he encounters.
Once Robert ran with a coyote, he wondered why the coyote did not even kill any animals as a food source. Although the coyote is a predator, it only kills the ones who threaten its life: “And when it came to the place where the gophers had been sitting, neither did it pause to scuffle the burrows or even to sniff at them. It just went right on trotting-forward towards its goal” (25). The friendship between Robert and coyote is also peaceful, the coyote notices that Robert is behind and it allows Robert to follow.
The coyote trusts Robert, it knows that Robert will not hurt it and it tries to communicate with Robert. This can be shown in the novel: “the valley was vacant: safe–and that Robert could proceed to the water’s edge to drink. It barked three times–a precise announcement it was leaving” (27). This strongly proves that human and animals can be friends, and the coyote is one of his friends in his life. In the novel, the rat symbolizes the hope and life. Robert saw a rat was trapped in the waterlogged trenches; he sets that rat free, because that was the only alive animal that is in the trenches.
Later, “Robert wondered … if setting the rat free had been a favor–but in the moment that he did it he was thinking: here is someone still alive” (114). The rat’s life is just like human’s life, both of them are precious. Throughout the whole novel, every time when the bird appears, it symbolizes freedom, life and warning. When Robert is in trouble, the bird will appear and give him a signal. Robert hears the bird is singing when he rolls over and sees the German, and then he realizes the sound of bird means that the German relents and shows mercy.
He just let Robert and his men go: “A bird sang, something like a white-throated sparrow: one long note descending; three that wavered. This was the bird that had sung before” (127). After the German gets killed, the bird sings again, this time, the sound of bird is sorrowful. The bird is sad for the death of the German, also the bird is like the soldiers, it does not like the war, and it aspires for peace: “The bird sang…The sound of it would haunt him to the day he died” (131). Robert Ross sees his shadow from these animals, they have same characteristic and they are all very kind.
As a soldier, Robert knows that the value of human life is treasurable so that he does not want to kill the innocents. The death of Rowena has a big impact on Robert’s life, and this incident changes his whole life. Even though Robert does not kill Rowena, he thinks that Rowena’s death is related to him. Robert feels guilty about Rowena’s death, so that he wants to join the war and escape from pain, “All he knew was that his hands felt empty. In this mind, they kept reaching out for the back of Rowena’s chair” (19).
When Robert and his soldiers get gas attacked, Robert acts calm, and he reacts very fast. Robert is the only one who has the gas mask, and the rest of the soldiers do not have masks. Robert gives his mask to a wounded soldier, he does not even consider himself, and he just wants to save all the lives. He orders the rest of soldiers to urinate on their shirts and put it over their faces. They lie down for a moment, lastly, they get saved but unluckily, the injured soldier died, “Robert threw the gas mask at Bates. ‘Put that over [the injured soldier’s] face.
And remember this gun is pointed right at your back’” (124). When Robert and his soldiers try to climb out from the trenches, he sees a German soldier and he is lenient so that he decides to ignore the German soldier: “He didn’t want to point it at him yet. He waited to see what reaction the gun itself would get” (129). As a soldier, Robert is not cruel, he appreciates every life, and he tries his best to protect his friends and family. By comparison, Captain Leather, Rodwell and Robert Ross, they treat animals and humans differently, Rodwell and Robert Ross are kind, but Captain Leather is cruel.
Findley uses the relationships between humans and animals to reveal that in most cases, the nature of human is pure and innocent but sometimes merciless. Throughout the whole novel, human who respect animal’s life also show the most respect for life in general. As a reader, I realize that all the living creatures in the world are the same, they should respect each other.
Works Cited Hippocrates. Notable Quotes about Animals & Humanity. Findley, Timothy. The Wars. Canada: Penguin Group, 2005.