To best understand Robert's relationship with his mother Mrs. Ross, one must look at their relationship from the perspective of Mrs. Ross. It is her interpretations and ensuing reactions to the tragic events of the novel that reveal the most to the reader about Robert's relationship with her. Mrs. Ross is portrayed as an adamant woman in the beginning of The Wars, yet as the story progresses, her firmness is broken by various tragedies. Mrs. Ross found it hard to be intimate with people therefore, she kept many things to herself. She felt that "Being loved was letting others feed from your resource-all you had in life was put in jeopardy

Robert constantly wrote to his parents to tell them how things were going. Mrs. Ross kept all these letters in a special place and was found re-reading them often. The most influential section regarding Mrs. Ross was when she and Mister Ross went to see Robert in Montreal before he departed overseas. Mister Ross had tracked his son down so his wife could have one last look at her son. Nevertheless, when Mrs. Ross had another chance to say goodbye to her son she blew it. Instead of running out to hug her son and say goodbye she was found in the train saloon getting drunk.

In the structure of Robert and Rowena's relationship, the author is attempting to reveal that Robert, more than anyone else in the novel, is able to look past Rowena's physical deformity and see her inner beauty. In Robert's burning of Rowena's portrait "not out of anger but as an act of charity" (Findley, 195), the author is revealing that Robert respects Rowena and does not want her to be subjected to the cruelty of war. It also suggests that the image of the person Robert was when he knew Rowena no longer fits into his lifestyle during the war. Findley uses Robert's difficulty in dealing with his sister's death to reveal his sensitivity and his feelings of guilt. This is also witnessed in Robert's disappointment in the deaths of many animals as well as the German soldier in the novel..

" (Findley, 153). Mrs. Ross had mourned for years over the sudden death of her brother and her father, now she had lost a daughter and was going to lose a son. It is also evident she kept a lot of things to herself. At Rowena's funeral she stood apart from the rest of the family pretending she did not need any help. Mrs. Ross hid behind a large, black hat that day. Before Rowena's death and Robert leaving for the war Mrs. Ross used to be out in the public, handing out chocolate bars to the soldiers going off to war. However, when Robert left to join the army Mrs. Ross refused to have anything to do with it. Mrs. Ross was an adamant lady. She was adamant when it came to chocolate bars and she was adamant when it came to her decision about Robert having to kill Rowena's rabbits.

I'm just another stranger. Birth I can give you- but life I cannot. I can't keep

going to go away and be a soldier. Well- you can go to hell. I'm not responsible.

'You think Rowena belonged to you. Well I'm here to tell you, Robert no on

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Approximate Word count = 2763
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)