The Wars Essay

War has always been and will continue to be a life altering event for the people of its time. While only the soldiers may be at battle, the world continues to be at war, and as a result, people change. It is greatly debated how and in what mannerisms does war force people to adapt. In Timothy Findley’s, The Wars, there are several examples of how humans adjust to accommodate the unfamiliar effects of war. Often, what is unfamiliar is unknown, and what is unknown can be chaotic. Keeping that in mind, it is without a doubt that war changes people by creating an environment of chaos. Through the effects of confusion, corruption of individuals, and destruction of societies’ standard structure, it will be proven that war changes people by catalyzing a chaotic atmosphere.

Confusion is perhaps one of the most powerful anxieties that one can experience. Quite often, it can cause an individual to greatly diverge from themselves. For this reason it is rare that confusion is found by itself, seeing as it is usually accompanied by other complications; stress and mental instability are but a few. Robert Ross kills a man in the battlefield, and instantly becomes submerged in a state of confusion: “He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. He could barely see. He sat with his head between his knees. He didn’t even know the gun was still in his hand until he reached with it to wipe the mud from his face.” (Findley, 130). Robert Ross experiences a sudden flush of confusion and stress. Ross cannot breathe, speak, or see: thus, he is without sense. This conveys the theme of confusion for the reader. Throughout the novel, confusion is used to establish the presence of chaos and foreshadow future events. Later on in the novel, Robert Ross undergoes a traumatic experience that leaves him in an utter state of confusion and violation. The previous experience is described in the following quotation: “The towel was suddenly yanked from his hand and he stood there naked and