Animal Imagery in Timothy Findley’s The Wars Essay -- Timothy Findley

Animal Imagery in Timothy Findleys The WarsSigmund Freud once argued that our species has a volcanic potential to erupt in aggression . . . and that we harbour not only positive survival instincts but also a self-destructive death instinct, which we unremarkably displace towards others in aggression (Myers 666). Timothy Findley, born in 1930 in Toronto, Canada, explores our human predilection towards violence in his third novel, The Wars. It is human brutality that initiates the horrors of humankind War I, the war that takes place in this narrative. Findley dedicated this novel to the memory of his uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, who died at home of injuries inflicted in the First World War (Cude 75) and whitethorn have propelled him to feel so strongly about what people really do to one another (Inside Memory 19). Findley feels a great fondness for animals, and this center surfaces faithfully in many of his literary works. The Wars is a novel wrought with imagery, and the most oft en recurring pattern is that of animals. Throughout the novel, young Robert Ross strong union with animals is continually depicted in his encounters with the creatures. Findley uses Robert to reveal the many similarities between humans and animals. The only quality, which we humans do not appear to share with our animal counterparts, is our mysterious predisposition to needless savagery. In his video documentary, The Anatomy of a Writer, Findley describes his affinity for animals when he says that he has always been in awe of . . . animals. He has never understood where humankind picked up the idea that animals are less than people are-that man is everything. In The Wars, Findley stresses his belief that humans are no better and... ...s of humankind and the hostile environment we create. Although a leafy vegetable assumption is that animals are vicious and wild, there is no evidence of this in the novel. Malice appears to be solely attributable to humankind. This is the truism t hat Findley depicts in his telling of the tragical story of Robert Ross. Works CitedCude, Wilf Truth Slips In Timothy Findleys Doors of Fiction The Antigonish Review, Spring 1996, vol 27 pp75. Findley, Timothy. Inside Memory Pages From a Writers Notebook. Harper Collins, Toronto 1990. Findley, Timothy. The Wars. Penguin Books, Toronto 1996. Macartney-Filgate, Terence. Timothy Findley Anatomy of a Writer. National Film Board of Canada, Toronto 1992. Myers, David G. Psychology 6th ed. Worth Publishers, New York 2001. Roberts, Carol. Timothy Findley Stories from a Life. ECW Press, Toronto 1994.