Life is full of struggles and obstacles that all individuals are faced with and must overcome. Whether grateful or discouraged - after been put through more difficult situations - people must try to overcome the hard events in life and focus on what makes them happy and satisfied. In the story "Stones", the author Timothy Findley tries to show the effects that a difficult situation can bring to a family. War has the power to destroy people's lives and inflict unnecessary harm on citizens. Therefore, Findley suggests - with his point of view - that the consequence of struggles in life can result in an alteration of personality. Beginning by the family's situation in life until the day that the father went to the war, this alteration is stated bringing the theme of stones.
First, their social situation in life suggests a connection to the fact that the father went to war.
The setting, which is the neighborhood that the family live in, suggests that the Maxes didn't lead the most luxurious life. After all, they live "over on our side - the west side - of Yonge Street" (135) where "people of class were not meant to live in the midst of commerce" (135). They survived the Great Depression and adjusted to the change better than the people living on the west side of Yonge Street. However, the 2nd World War changes their life forever. The father's spirit back from the war is broken and damaged. He is a changed man. The children, unlike their classmates, can't talk or brag about their father's return from Europe. There is when the character development is influenced in the story.
The plot starts to be made when the father goes to war. When he went, he didn't return. His physical...