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 jeopar

Robert is never able to forget this conversation because of the fact that he broke this promise by not being there when she fell. This changed Robert's entire perspective on life and his assigned role. He no longer appeared to have feelings anymore but no one knew how much remorse he felt inside. This could have been another reason for joining the war so that he could just go away and everyone would either forget about what he did and be proud of it in the end for being so brave. In a sense, a large part of Robert died that day along with his sister. While attending Rowena's funeral, Robert saw a soldier standing there, he envied this man so much because after this day he could just walk away and leave all of this behind. This is what Robert wanted to do and it turned out to be the worst way to run away from all his problems.

dy" (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

Mrs. Ross stared at her empty glass. How long had it been empty? Hours?

of the pullman chairs and drank a third of a bottle of scotch. When Mister Ross

Robert Ross and his father, Tom Ross, carry out a healthy father-son relationship throughout the novel. Robert is proud of his father and regards him as one of his role models in life. Tom is proud of his son and is loving towards him. Although their personalities do in some ways differ, there is still a strong male bond between Robert and his father.

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Approximate Word count = 2811
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)