"The Wars" by Timothy Findley

I must say that this novel was quite a good read. At first, I thought it was going to be the typical novel about war and how it changes people yada, yada, yada. But it was anything but, the way that Robert's characterization comes about was amazing and the fact that Timothy, while writing the novel, wasn't afraid to dig deeper and get a bit controversial makes it more interesting. The controversy is actually what I want to talk about since it really caught me off guard; I felt that having a rape scene had nothing to do with the context of the novel. When reading this section, the idea of the scene being symbolic doesn't flash into my mind, all I was thinking is that this poor man, who has been through so much, has had something so terrible and violating purposely done to him!! Yet, according to Timothy, this is supposed to be symbolic and important within the story. This is a conversation between Margaret Laurence and Timothy about the scene.

"People have been asking me to cut the rape scene and I can't.
They don't want it cut because they are squeamish. At least, I trust that isn't why they're concerned. They're concerned, I assume, because they think it will get the book in trouble....
Margaret [Laurence] phoned just yesterday and said: "it would be tragic if something went wrong because you're being pig-headed.... Tell me why it has to be there," she said.
"It has to be there because it is my belief that Robert Ross and his generation of young men were raped, in effect, by the people who made the war. Basically, their fathers did it to them."
Margaret said: "yes, I agree with you. But surely that's implicit in the book already. You don't have to say so."
But I cannot remove it. As a scene, it is intrinsic -- deeply meshed in the fabric of the book as I first conceived it. I cannot cut away its arms and legs -- no matter how convinced other people are that the book will stand and function without them.
In the Wilfred Owen poem that Britten uses in the War Requiem, the tenor and the baritone sing together -- Abraham and Isaac....
Lay not thy band upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, the Angel of God commands.
But the old man would not so -- and slew his son....
And half the seed of Europe, one by one....
And slew his son and half the seed of Europe, one by one.
It was rape. The scene stays."

After hearing this in class the other day, I can see why the scene is integral to the story and how it is symbolic. When people start wars they aren't thinking of who is going to fight for them or the consequences, they just want the power and will do anything for it. Rape can be described as someone wanting power over another person (sounds oddly close to the description of war) and taking away innocence (in some cases). This is what Timothy was trying to get at with this scene, he wanted to show that going to war "raped" many young men of their innocence. In the scene Robert does, in fact, lose all innocence (at least he feels this way anyway).

After knowing why this scene was added and never removed it gives us, the readers, a better understanding of what Timothy wanted us to get out of reading this novel. Though the scene is controversial I can't imagine it being taken out and replaced with something more socially acceptable. The scene is making a point that will forever stand out in the reader's minds long after they finished reading the novel.