During World War I, the world of soldiers is seen as a world filled with violence that dehumanizes soldiers causing man to change and twist, as revealed by the decrease in the lack of affection towards animals. Within literature, imagery is the literary technique that creative writers use in their words or sentences to create mental images for readers to help them more realistically visualize and experience the author's writing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe sufficient use of animal imagery in The Wars by Timothy Findley is used to characterize and explore the theme of the protagonist Robert Ross, a nineteen year old soldier, whose love and bond for animals is explored and revealed through characterization from a third person's point of view. In Timothy Findley's The War, the existence and lives of animals are used to reveal and parallel Robert's individuality, predict the situations he will find himself in, and symbolize a ray of hope amidst the war. To begin with, Robert's deep connection, which parallels and reveals his individuality, can be seen through the horses, rabbits, and coyote. Looking at Robert in a physical sense, he has many characteristic similarities that could be associated with horses and that is being strong and athletic. Within the novel, horses became a metaphorical feature for soldiers like Robert who were treated subhumanly and this could be seen throughout the ship journey as the men had their privacy taken away and were nothing more than animals. “The latrines and showers were practically open places where privacy was unheard of… the tremendous heat coming from the boilers stole oxygen. Everyone had headaches” and people like Harris got sick. The horse hold to which Robert was assigned "was a hold of horror...alive with flies" that ran parallel to the soldiers and revealed the connection between the way the men were crowded into their barracks with no privacy and the horses in their hold with their urine and "manure". left where it fell for days and days." This can also be seen in the way Robert is forced to ignore civilization to do whatever it takes to survive in the trenches, i.e. soldiers being sent to war like decimated animals and like horses in war being made to fight and die. senseless battles “and not an inch of ground would be won”. Rodwell drawing Robert in his sketchbook is seen as his acknowledgment and/or recognition of Robert's connection to animals and “Robert was the only human form” among all the animal drawings. The use of animal imagery in the novel not only parallels Roberts' individuality, but also reveals his benevolence towards animals. When Robert realizes the folly of war near the end of the novel, he asks Captain Leather to release the horses, but Leather was adamant in his refusal and said, "We should never resign ourselves." Robert risks his life and status to save the horses but, instead of being recognized for his sensible decisions, he was branded a traitor and set to be put to death by his commanding officer. In his final moments after being captured, Robert screamed "We will not be caught." This represented Robert and the horses. Robert's final unification with the horses showed his complete benevolence towards the horses and this can also be seen in his compassion towards the Rabbits when he tried to save Rowena's rabbits after her death. The rabbits reminded Robert of himself..