The Wars, by Timothy Findley, explores many of the obsessions that color all of Findley's writing: violence, loneliness, a concern for animal rights, and the survival of the individual in war. As the book approaches it's end, Robert Ross, a soldier of the Great War and the main character in this novel, gets raped. Rape is a terrible and ridiculous act towards an innocent individual who is, thereafter, forever changed. "Who is there"" (191) he asks. The people start to move. At first, he hears two, then he hears a sound coming from a third; so there is at least three but probably four. One of them starts pulling on the towel. "Robert felt a tug-very light at first," (191) as it is described in the book. The pull increases and the towel is finally yanked off. He stands there, naked and defenseless, with his hands covering his scrotum. He...