ELA 30-1 The Wars by Laura Myers

(Myers) p. 2 "Then we shall all go together."

myersl8 — 2024-10-22 14:30:47 UTC

This is from the prologue. Robert is there with the horses. It establishes the connection between Robert and the horses. It sets up the conflict even though we don't know what it is yet.

p. 71 "They're wonderful to fire, and they kill at 50 yards."

2024-10-22 14:54:44 UTC

Distance is Robert's sanctuary. The Webley .455 Mark gun he is asking his father for would allow him to separate himself, both physically and emotionally, from whatever is on the business end. He is reluctant to face the reality of his actions and the real violence of the war.

pg 60. He was only a child who had never been away from home

2024-10-22 14:55:35 UTC

This relates to the young boys who were thrown into war despite their initial lack of maturity and overwhelming innocence

Pg.10 "Fire, you know-there's nothing worse than fire."

2024-10-22 14:55:47 UTC

This quote is from Marian Turner while she is talking about Robert. This places emphasis on the meaning of fire in the novel and shows that she thinks Robert is a hot headed, sometimes dangerous guy

"In the evenings, he sat on the roof and stared and stared across the prairie- wishing that someone would howl." (Pg. 28) Even though Robert chose to be in the army, he chased the coyote as a yearning for freedom, as this wild animal led him across the prairies, and carried him to safety. The relationship with the coyote establishes his connection to animals.

2024-10-22 14:55:48 UTC

pg. 39 "Robert sat on the edge of the bed with his hands folded on his knees."

2024-10-22 14:56:02 UTC

This quote is from when Robert was in Lethbridge. This quote and scene shows Roberts innocence and makes us question what he is thinking in this situation.

(Aleyx) pg. 3 "People can only be found in what they do."

2024-10-22 14:56:16 UTC

This quote comes from the beginning of chapter one and communicates the idea that a person's identity can be shaped and manipulated by their actions and behaviours. I think that having this quote so early on in the novel allows readers to follow Robert closely as the theme of "innocence and experience" shapes who he is.

p.23 "The expression on her face might have frightened him. Yet people tend to look most often like themselves when no one else is watching."

2024-10-22 14:56:27 UTC

A connection that I've notice with this quote is the study of "The Spotlight Effect" it explains that not everyone is staring at you and that you should be free to be yourself in any situation.

p.3 "He'd rather his father was with him telling him what to do"

2024-10-22 14:57:34 UTC

Robert and the soldiers are in the trenches hiding and figuring out how to escape alive. Robert is relyed on by many people and feelis feeling a lot of pressure. He tells us what likely every soldier has thought before. That they wish they had someone telling them what to do.

p. 18 "The rabbits had to die- and Robert had to do it."

2024-10-22 14:57:47 UTC

This quote is when Rowena Ross had just died and Robert had to kill the rabbits that Rowena had a pet.

hiding from gas attack

2024-10-22 14:58:14 UTC

this image depicts Robert and his troop as they hide in the mud with the clothes of urine on thier faces to avoid the chlorine gas, this is the action of the foreshadowing behind Roberts wrong turn when he first makes it to France and finds himself on an old trail that had previously been gassed

"Everything lives forever. Believe it. Nothing dies.

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pg. 84 "You weren't a real soldier unless you were in jeopardy"

2024-10-22 14:59:02 UTC

This quote responds to Levitt and all other newly arrived soldiers. It represents the innocence and lack of experience that these new soldiers hold, as they are yet to understand fully what being a soldier really is and means.

P. 68 "A chair fell over in his mind."

2024-10-22 14:59:32 UTC

This is from when Robert had to kill the horse when he shot the horse. It reminded him of his sister Rowena who had died because of her wheelchair falling over, so he is very traumatized by this.

p.119 ''This is not a military funeral. this is just a burial at sea. May we take off our caps?"

2024-10-22 14:59:49 UTC

Robert and Taffler acknowledge that Harris was not a soldier in the common sense. For Harris, the war was an escape from a childhood of not being wanted. His real dream was being at sea, this was Robert's way of fulfilling that dream. It proved to Taffler and Barbara that Robert did love Harris and wanted him to be at peace in death.

2024-10-22 15:01:07 UTC

p. 146 "The sound of it would haunt him to the day he died."

2024-10-22 15:01:21 UTC

This quote is from part four. Robert and those who survived the gas attack from the Germans are climbing over the crater, a German soldier chose not to harm them and let them escape. Robert was never able to figure out how the soldier died, only that he could have killed them and did not. This is what the sound of the bird reminds him of, the constant question of how he died, and why he did not kill them.

pg 17 "Why do the rabbits have to be killed?"

2024-10-22 15:01:51 UTC

Robert's father is forcing him to kill his sister's pet rabbit after her death. This describes the similar experience that he had to go through while he was in the army and was forced to kill the injured horses.

p. 84 "You weren't a real soldier unless you were in jeopardy."

2024-10-22 15:01:57 UTC

This line illustrates the mentality that a soldier's experience is only valid if it is related to danger. This notion gives rise to the thinking that thriving in uncertainty and harm are crucial elements to prove one's worth in the army.

2024-10-22 15:02:33 UTC

"The coyote had known he was there the whole time: maybe the whole of their run across the prairie." Pg.28

2024-10-22 15:03:06 UTC

This a valid quote

pg. 47 ", He'd go upstairs into the attic, when he was ten, and take off his clothes in front of an old, dark mirror, and wish that he was red. Or Black. Or yellow. Any colour but pink."

2024-10-22 15:04:47 UTC

Here, we see just how much Robert admires and wishes to emulate his idol, Longboat.

(Aleyx) pg. 84 "You weren't a real soldier unless you were in jeopardy."

2024-10-22 15:05:11 UTC

This quote suggests that a soldier's mission or duty can only be authenticated through danger and peril. These factors were perceived as the criteria to define a "real hero".

Pg. 69 "He didn't want to see another man's face yet - though he didn't know why. "

2024-10-22 15:05:29 UTC

After killing the horse with a broken leg in the ship, Robert doesn't want to see the face of anybody and wants to sit in the shadows. This is because he feels responsible for killing it and doesn't know how he feels about himself anymore after shooting the horse more than the job needed. If his main concern is becoming a man and knowing who he is, he'd be confused as to who he really is and what it means to be a man after relentlessly shooting the horse; and wants to disconnect himself from the deed he's done.

pg. 75 "There is no good picture of this except the one you can make in your mind."

2024-10-22 15:06:19 UTC

Robert begins to describe the horrible living conditions of the front line.

p. 66 "Robert could barely move in his panic but he knew that he had to show his nerve and his ability as an officer."

2024-10-22 15:06:41 UTC

This was when a horse was injured, and Robert was tasked with killing him. He'd never done that before, so it scared him, but he knew that he had to since he was an officer. By doing this, he'd supposedly prove himself worthy of his position.

2024-10-22 15:07:07 UTC

Pg.89 "Above them, the sky was breached by a waverign arm of wings. The crows were following"

2024-10-22 15:07:39 UTC

This scene is very significant as it shows how always near death the soldiers are. Crows are scavengers, meaning they wait for their prey to be dead and eat the dead bodies. Crows would often follow soldiers as they knew there would soon be food.

p. 177 "Soon I will be a woman but they go on dressing me up as a child."

2024-10-22 15:08:47 UTC

Juliet D'Orsey, as expressed through her adolescent journal entries, both longs to remain a child and is desperate to become a woman. This quote largely summarizes the theme of innocence vs. experience in The Wars, as many other characters undergo this same internal conflict; the deadly curiosity of what lies ahead and the desperation to step back from the precipice of responsibility and adulthood. It also portrays a contrast between the societal views of men vs. women in the early 20th century; while Robert Ross is enthusiastically thrust into the battlefields of WWI, Juliet is kept subdued, preparing for the traditional role of homemaker that awaits her.

pg. 64 "He had never squeezed a trigger against a living creature in the whole of his life."

2024-10-22 15:09:12 UTC

This quote refers to Robert, specifically to his innocence. He has never been faced with the need to kill a creature, and when he had to do it, he found it very difficult to do.

pg.145 "He had strangled on his shirt tails."

2024-10-22 15:09:20 UTC

This quote reflects themes of entrapment and the harsh realities of war. It can symbolize the suffocating nature of the experiences the soldiers face, suggesting that they are caught in circumstances beyond their control. The imagery of strangulation implies a loss of agency, echoing the emotional and physical toll that war takes on individuals. Overall, it encapsulates the struggle for survival amid chaos and the tragic consequences of conflict.

p.115 "These were not accidents-or the quiet, expected deaths of the old. These were murders. By the thousands. All your friends were... murdered."

2024-10-22 15:09:37 UTC

Lady Juliet explains how no matter how you try to frame it, the war is not a humane thing. That all the people who died died not of something normal or expected but of something harsh and cruel. She explained how all of those deaths were cold-blooded murders, and not a heroic feat accomplished to help save your country. Lady Juliet does not agree with way the war was handled and recognized afterwards.

Pg. 89 "The water was washing him free of the mud." This quote contains symbolism of earth and water. Earth takes the form of mud, which almost claims Roberts's life. These elements represent obstacles for Robert to overcome. The water represents change and freedom, relieving him from the mud that nearly suffocates him.

2024-10-22 15:10:09 UTC

"Birds. Rabbits. Hedgehogs. Toads and things." Pg. 95

2024-10-22 15:10:21 UTC

This shows the care for living things that Robert has. The unwillingness to kill something living.

p. 46 "It was the war that changed all that. It was. After the Great War for Civilization-- sleep was different everywhere..."

2024-10-22 15:10:38 UTC

This quote tells us so much depth about the hidden realities about the Great War. It talks about how it didn't just affect countries, establishments, and people but how it served as a transformative element that changed the whole dynamics of human civilization from then on.

Pg 16 "This was forever. Now the rabbits had to be killed"

2024-10-22 15:10:52 UTC

This quote symbolizes the loss of innocence. It's how the drastic changes Robert's character as he navigates his way through the war. It shows the necessary violence conflicting with morels that soldiers have to face during war. this necessary violence on innocent things shows dehumanization.

p. 17 "This was forever. Now the rabbits had to be killed."

2024-10-22 15:11:14 UTC

This quote is from the beginning where Rowena dies and Mrs. Ross says they're going to have to kill the rabbits. Robert disagrees, asking why they have to be killed. Robert must have felt that the rabbits were the only things left for them to have some sort of connection with Rowena. The rabbits symbolized what was left of Rowena and Robert's bond and this quote symbolizes the loss of innocence.

Pg. 91 "It gave the war some meaning if you knew that the men who took your fire (and returned it) wore blue scarves or had grey mittens like your own."

2024-10-22 15:11:17 UTC

Acknowledging that all soldiers are human and alike one another. A different perspective on the battles.

pg. 67 "Why didn't someone come and jump on his back and make him stop?"

2024-10-22 15:12:41 UTC

This quote is from when Robert was ordered to shoot the sick horse. It describes a sense of helplessness and frustration in the face of violence or suffering. It highlights the desire for intervention in moments of crisis, and emphasizes a point in the novel where Robert loses another shred of his innocence.

Pg. 91 "It gave the war some meaning if you knew that the men who took your fire (and returned it) wore blue scarves or had grey mittens like your own. "

2024-10-22 15:13:23 UTC

Because the leaders and trainers for the war used dehumanization as a tactic so that people (especially young people) would feel more at ease to kill the other party. If the other countries people were not human to a soldier, there would be no difference of killing bad guys in a video game. When Robert understands that the other party is no different than his own, the war seems much more real than playing a video game.

p. 88 "Robert yelled and grabbed at it. Bones and claws. Robert shuddered. Birds."

2024-10-22 15:13:50 UTC

This quote depicts the fear and trauma induced onto Robert after he witnesses the figures and noises he had been hearing throughout the expedition picking away at the bodies of fallen soldiers, though Robert was aware of the brutality of war, nothing can prepare you to see a corpse rotted by birds. This clearly affects Robert throughout the next few pages and a shift in his attitude on war is shown.

pg. 120 "This was the beginning of the second phase of battle the Canadians thought was already over."

2024-10-22 15:13:53 UTC

pg.4 "As the past moves under your fingertips, part of it crumbles."

2024-10-22 15:14:09 UTC

The narrator is talking about how over time the past is forgotten about or it gets lost.

"The crows began to call to one another." Pg. 141

2024-10-22 15:15:01 UTC

Quite valid if I can so say myself.

(Aleyx) pg. 114 "No one else can ever live your life and no one else can ever know what you know."

2024-10-22 15:15:57 UTC

The quote relates to the theme of "innocence and experience" and communicates the idea that a person's journey to discover themself is entirely individual. There are so many factors that influence the creation of identity and this quote relays that the experience can only be truly known by the host.

Pg 81 "as if the world had emptied"

2024-10-22 15:16:04 UTC

This quote shows the emptiness that was felt by the soldiers despite there being chaos all around them. This quote shows the effects of war on a human's spirit, your world that was full of life now feels meaningless and is full of overwhelming silence.

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(Aleyx) pg. 179 "...in a way being loved is like being told you never have to die."

2024-10-23 20:35:54 UTC

This quote communicates the idea that love is eternal and that it has a significant impact on the human experience. It means that the love you receive from others can make you feel so cherished that it exceeds all of life's physical imitations. I think that this concept can be very comforting for soldiers because it creates an idea that our loveable qualities are stronger than any of our weaknesses.

(Aleyx) pg. 178 "I feel a dreadful loss. I know things now I didn't want to know."

2024-10-23 20:58:25 UTC

This quote explores the theme of "innocence and experience" as Juliet d'Orsey grieves her own. The following words that she has written in her journal after this quote capture the chaotic and overwhelming nature of learning something so uncomfortable. When she talks about regretting her negligence toward her doll, it further solidifies the idea that she mourns her youth.

(Aleyx) pg. 138 "For a moment they ceased to be soldiers..."

2024-10-23 21:08:57 UTC

This quote stresses the idea that soldiers are just people. Putting all of the violence and savagery aside, every single person involved in the war is an ordinary person with an identity and feelings. I think there is a stigma around the idea that soldiers need to be fearless and ruthless in order to succeed. However, they should be able to be freed from the rigid composure when moments of vulnerability arise.

pg. 8 "The only thing you can do with a dream is to wake up."

2024-10-25 15:25:11 UTC

This line highlights the theme of the loss of innocence and the harsh realities of war. It underscores the idea that idealism is often shattered by the brutal truths of conflict. The character's journey reflects the struggle between dreams and the stark reality of war, making it a pivotal moment that sets the tone for the rest of the narrative.

(Aleyx) pg. 184 "He had lost his clean white linen."

2024-10-25 16:45:31 UTC

This quote reminds me of a time earlier in the book when the narrator is talking about Rowena in a white dress. White symbolizes innocence and purity, something that Robert's experiences have stolen from him throughout the war.