The Importance Of Personal Mythology In Robertson Davies Fifth Business

Everyone in life must find, and know themselves from the stories they tell. In Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business Dunstan Ramsey tells us his life’s story, from a small-town kid, to battling in the war, growing into old age and his struggle to capture and understand his personal mythology. Personal mythology is ones life story and inner self, whether they’re conscious of it or not. It’s shaped and created by experiences, moments, people, beliefs and stories. Throughout his life Dunstan is molded and influenced by different events, people, stories and his inner-self that make him better understand and make his own personal mythology. However, Dunstan’s – like most other’s – personal mythology must be set on course by a trigger event that sends

He never would’ve thought ducking under a snowball would change his life completely. After getting argument about who sled was faster, Percy, Dunstan’s spoiled childhood friend fires a snowball at Dunstan. After dodging it, the ball struck Mary Dempster, the town’s priest’s wife. This launches a whole chain of events, starting with Mrs. Dempster becoming simple, then the premature birth of her son, Paul Dempster. It causes Dunstan’s whole life to revolve around looking after Mrs. Dempster. It sets him on paths that he otherwise may not have taken, such as traveling to Europe to study saints or going to war. Without this incident Dunstan’s wouldn’t of met the people he did who helped him create and gain knowledge about his mythology. Life would be completely different for people from Deptford, people like Paul, Mary, Surgeoner and in the end Boy all would’ve had different lives. This is the first story that beings to shape Duntan’s life and is the starting point of Dunstan’s personal

One’s mythology can cause another’s to change. The main one being Boy’s and Dunstan’s: Since the snowball incident Dunstan and Boy have remained friends on the surface, with Boy helping Dunny financially, and Dunny showing up to Boy’s events as the war hero. But Boy’s personal mythology, unlike Dunstan’s, revolves around money and materialism. Boy believes in having a high social status along with a trophy wife. He tries to “make [Leola] into the perfect wife for a rising young entrepreneur in sugar” (124). While Dunstan is haunted everyday of the guilt of Mary’s condition, Boy doesn’t even acknowledge that the event ever occurred. But, because Dunstan is faced by the guilt his entire life, he can embrace his shadow. However, for Boy, his ego has been covering up and pushing away his shadow for most his life. In the end Boy’s shadow is simply to big to accept or overcome, the guilt of sixty years, to big to swallow, is finally eating away at him his has no other choice but to take his own life. Boy’s mythology influences Dunstan’s personal mythology to not care for money and wealth. Carl Jung, creator of Jungian Psychology said, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Dunstan stays away from the things that irritate him about Boy, he learns from Boy what life is not about, and is sure not to let himself become like Boy. By