The Development of the Concept of Heroism in Timothy Findley’s “The Wars”

Excerpts from the Paper

The Development of the Concept of Heroism in Timothy Findley’s "The Wars"
This paper explores the noted book by Timothy Findley, The Wars, and its development of heroism over time. The one thing that becomes manifest from the start is that heroism gradually changes over the course of the text – though there is initial foreshadowing that does suggest that the author shares the same cynicism about “heroism” as many of the young men who saw friends and themselves sacrificed by elites who had no comprehension of the grim toll at the war-front. Put in simplest terms, there is a growing awareness that the war was not heroic and the book suggests that true heroism is finding a way to maintain one’s sanity and dignity in a world gone mad. Findley,...

.....y’s own feelings and also captures the contempt that most of us now feel when we look back upon the arrogant insolence of those elites who thought the war could be ended in a neat, tidy fashion – with all their great aims realized. For men like Robert Ross,
Rodwell
and so many others, the war’s end came too late; they lost out just as their entire generation lost out. In a sense, heroism – had the old guard been truly heroic – would have involved doing everything possible to keep the peace.
Works Cited
Findley, Timothy. The Wars. Canada: Clarke, Irwin & Company, 1989.
Hastings, Tom. “Their fathers did it to them: Findley’s appeal to the great war myth of a generational conflict in The Wars.” Essays on Canadian Writing, 64(1998): 85-103.