Responsibility often comes with the connotations of burden and sacrifice and most of the time, this is true. In The Wars, by Timothy Findley, the concept of responsibility is demonstrated in the character of Mrs. Ross whose duties as a wife and a mother may be viewed as cold, cruel, and purposefully isolating; the complete opposite of the archetype of a compassionate mother figure. However, like each unique individual in society, the way one responds and takes responsibility varies infinitely; Mrs. Ross attempts to dissociate from society when she feels she has not fulfilled her duties and responsibilities. However, her empathetic nature prevents her from completely isolating herself from all sentiment. Rather, she subconsciously internalizes the welfare and hardships faced by others while sacrificing her own well-being. Through the complex character of Mrs. Ross, Timothy Findley explores the selfless, and sometimes unconventional nature of responsibility, where individuals may attempt to isolate oneself from the burdens of responsibility but still feel obligated to affirm their roles through internalizing the welfare of others whilst depriving oneself if the duties are not fulfilled. …show more content…
However, the burdens of responsibility can lead individuals to attempt to isolate oneself from those they love, yet it is impossible to completely remove oneself from all forms of emotional attachment. Rather, the individual may subconsciously internalize the welfare and hardships faced by others over the well-being of oneself and this can cause a forced deprivation of help and love due to the obligation that one feels to be owed in their responsibility. It is human nature to feel guilt and burdened by the consequences of love and responsibility, but although burdensome, responsibility is crucial in illustrating the inherent empathy and fragility present in all
There was three parts of this book which involved Robert Ross and sexual occurrences. After analyzing the three parts it is prevalent that Robert was a character whom felt very uncomfortable when put in a situation where sexual intercourse is present. Using the critical approaches Archetypal as well as Psychoanalytical his feelings are shown through various symbols, patterns, and actions. From a historical- biographical approach you could relate the tone during the sexual occurrences to the author, Timothy Findley’s personal life. Timothy Findley was openly homosexual (Duffy) which can shadow why the character felt so uncomfortable about mixed gender sexual intercourse.
The Seven Years’ War For the first half of the eightieth century, Britain was at war with Spain or France. The colonist in America often experienced reverberations during these conflicts. In 1754 tensions returned and this time they sparked near America’s Ohio Valley, land variously claimed by the Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and the French, which was inhabited by dozens of Indian tribes.
It is sometimes difficult for individuals to settle the discrepancy between truth and illusion, and consequently they drive others away, by shutting down. Mrs. Ross, in The Wars by Timothy Findley, is seen as brittle while she is attending church, and cannot deal with the cruel reality of the war and therefore segregates herself from the truth by blacking it out. As a result, she loses her eyesight, and never gets to solve the clash between her awareness of reality and the actuality of the world. She hides behind a veil, and her glasses to distance herself from reality. Mrs. Davenport has to wheel her around in Rowena’s chair to keep her awake, so she doesn’t harbour up subconscious feeling within her dreams, which she is unable to deal with.
ways in which individuals take responsibility for themselves or others? Responsibility is something taught using life lessons and jobs. Some people have noticeably better responsibility than others and it shows in many ways. A person's attitude and ability to overcome adversity could be an example of how much responsibility one has in their own life. In the poem “ The Lather” written by David Barber, responsibility for others is shown through the company “20 Mule Team” and the mining group providing homes around America with Borax to help clean all their needs.
The Wars: Through a Formalist Lens One of the most frequent post-modern genres that the award winning author Timothy Findley writes about is Historiographic metafiction; “a genre interested in problematizing historical discourse and practice, and due to its play with the genre conventions of biography, its metafictionality is more complicated and subtle.” (Wang, 130). This post-modern genre is executed thoroughly in one of Timothy Findley’s finest novels, The Wars. The Wars centres on the very diverse heroic journey Robert Ross, during the World War I and the internal and external struggles which are essentially that he along with the secondary characters are battling. It is ultimately the journey that changes Robert from the innocent boy that
If there's nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt”. Furthermore The Inspector creates at once an impression of ‘massiveness, solidity and purposefulness’. Through this, we can see the new delivery of the social justice. Priestley's intention of this is for the high class to realise and take responsibility of their own actions. The Inspector also has a courageous character, he dominates Mr. and Mrs.Birling who are used to controlling others and being obeyed.
The introduction to Irene Gut Opdyke’s experiences before and during World War II left me speechless. It seems impossible to me that she experienced so much pain and suffering in a few short years. The observations, emotions, and reactions to Irene’s marvelous writing in part one of In My Hands have already begun to change how I view kindness and sacrifice. In My Hands begins with Irene’s harrowing tale of her curiosity almost leading to her drowning in the river near her house.
The Dangers Of Responsibility Responsibility is the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. Responsibility is something that every human needs. A lack of responsibility can be harmful to the person and the people around them and a plethora of responsibility can change a person 's life. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Shelley’s portrayal of Victor as selfish suggests that not taking responsibility can lead to pain, death, and the suffering of others as the reader sees in the novel which relates to today 's society of powerful countries not taking responsibility for the weapons that they create, and the damage that is revealed as a result.
When her only son was going to school , she said; “ I never though a son of mine would choose useless books over the parents that have you life”(Macleod 18). It shows how the mother was putting so much pressure and guilt
¬¬¬¬¬The Wars Essay The concept of resilience is often described as being able to recover from difficult experiences or pasts, where one’s resilience could be impacted by drastic changes that occur in their lives. It is something that guides one’s decisions and often defines their morals and what individuals perceive to be right or wrong; depending on the situation they are encountering. Resilience is highly dependent on the thought of empathy, where the resilience of people who have experienced empathy will be different from others who haven’t. How individuals deal with these differences determines one’s level of empathy and also impacts their resilience.
As a result of dealing with their guilt, these characters all experience changes in who they are. Robert Davies’ Fifth Business is a novel that investigates the quest to find the meaning of life; this helps the reader understand the theme in the novel of how appropriate approaches to coping with guilt are necessary in living a healthy life. Both enlightenment and guilt, which are thoroughly explored in the novel, forces readers to think about their own lives and educates them to refrain from avoiding their
Yuri Kochiyama is a Japanese-American civil rights activist, and author of “Then Came the War” in which she describes her experience in the detention camps while the war goes on. December 7th, is when Kochiyama life began to change from having the bombing in Pearl Harbor to having her father taken away by the FBI. All fishing men who were close to the coast were arrested and sent into detention camps that were located in Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota. Kochiyama’s father had just gotten out of surgery before he was arrested and from all the movement he’d been doing, he begun to get sick. Close to seeing death actually, until the authorities finally let him be hospitalized.
Events that occur randomly and that are traumatic can take a toll on all aspects of an individual that endure them, what if an individual were in a gruesome situation and the lives of human beings were lost under their unintentional control? How would they feel for the rest of their lifetime? In the article “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt” by Nancy Sherman, she describes the emotional reality of soldiers in their home are often at odds with the civilian public, and are struggling to carry the burden of feeling responsible of traumatic situations. Survivor’s guilt is the bold feeling that survivors have after a tragic event taking place when others have passed away. Soldiers in battle experience losses during combat.
The responsibility which the characters feel here comes from an impulse of their
Most people can understand that when a soldier comes back from war, he is not going to be the same. He has seen too much and done too much to still be the innocent boy he had been. In the novel, The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, he not only puts the effect of war for soldiers, but for regular civilians as well. The novel is saying that war affects females even though they could not fight in war. The message is conveyed through female characters that have felt sorrow and emptiness during and after the war.