Stones - Timothy Findley

The story "Stones" by Timothy Findley is truly a remarkable piece of work. This story really caught my attention and I learned a lot from it. It displays a really powerful theme that evokes emotion. The theme I am speaking of is War. 

War is defined in the Websters Dictionary as a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air. In the story Stones, Findley displays a character David Max who went to war, but did not return. His physical body was present, but he was not the same man. Before war, David was happy and he loved his family. He bet Mister Schickel (the butcher) a bet of roses that he could not cook an egg on the sidewalk. So Schickel took on that bet and put an egg on the sidewalk and they both watched as it sizzled. David "slapped his thigh and whistled" and sent his daughter Rita inside to get the flowers. David joined the army for his family; to protect them. He joined so his sons Ben and Cy would not have to become soldiers. His relationship with Ben was a desired one....until he came back from war.

"Our father's wounds were greater than we had been told. There was not a mark on his body, but- far inside- he had been destroyed. His mind had been severely damaged and his spirit had been broken. No one had told me what this might have made of him. No one had said he may never be kind again. No one had said he will never sleep again without the aid of alcohol. No one had said he will try to kill your mother. No one had said you will not be sure it's him when you see him. Yet all these things were true."

When David Max returned from War, he was a completely different man. He was drinking more in every waking hour, he tried to get arrested by wearing his greatcoat over his civilian clothes, he tried to kill his wife with a hammer, and he even broke his son Ben's collar-bone by throwing him onto the floor against a bureau. War can either change a person for the good, or it can completely destroy a person. In this case, it destroyed David Max. His guilt ate away at him from the inside and out and he could not return to the person he used to be. His motto was, "Whatever you can hide does not exist." He tried to hide his guilt to disguise the fact that he was carrying a burden, but in reality he was carrying that guilt on his sleeve for the whole world to see. 

What really stood out to me in this story was a sons unconditional love for his father. Ben Max stood by his father until the day he died, when neither his brother Cy or sister Rita would do so. Everyone deserted David...except Ben. Even though his father tried to kill his mother, tried getting arrested, broke Ben's collar-bone, swore a lot, left his mother and drank the rest of his life away in bars, Ben still stayed with him. When David asked for his ashes to be placed among his fellow soldiers that died in Dieppe, Ben took on the task and did it for him. He did it when neither Cy nor Rita would, they said "Gone, Good riddance." It's what David had wanted, Ben couldn't refuse him. This just really stands out to me because Ben has so much love for his father that it brings tears to my eyes. 

I also really love the symbolism of the stones. Stones are cold and lifeless, just like David after he returned from War. He wasn't the same man when he returned, he was different and not in a good way. Ben said, "I would have loved a stone." If David had let someone in, if he had just let Ben love him, maybe he would have returned slightly to the person he once was. Maybe then he wouldn't have drunken his life away. David wanted his ashes to be placed with his dead soldiers in Dieppe, "a stone among stones." The stones are treacherous. But they are also beautiful." This is symbolic because David was treacherous; he was an attempted villain and an alcoholic, but at the same time he was a beautiful human being. He defended his country even though it destroyed him inside. No matter what, he was a courageous and honorable man. He did what a lot of people fear to do, he went to War. 

This story made me appreciate soldiers a lot more. They fight for us and they defend us not because they are asked, but because that's what they want to do. They put their life at risk, they leave their families for months at a time, and they risk not returning as the same person they left as. They are incredible people and i appreciate everything they do for us.