Thwarted love. Ambition. Guilt. Sexuality. Fifth Business is rife with these life lessons. However, the most dominant themes in the novel are ambition and motivation. It is well known that excessive ambition and motivation can destroy someone, but, used correctly, can skyrocket someone to happiness, as in the case of Dunstan Ramsey, Percy Staunton, and Paul Dempster. These two qualities not only give these characters the will to keep on living, but also enable them to rise above the masses during the Great Depression. Right in the beginning of the novel, Dunstan displays his superior motivation and ambition through his learning of juvenile magic. During one of his habitual browsings of the local library in his quest to become a “polymath”, he stumbles upon a book on the subject of Sleight of Hand. He devotes an enormous amount of time and effort into mastering these skills, which is an excellent example of his ambition. This time, his ambition is to become a master magician, which he works tirelessly to achieve. If he had lacked the motivation to become a master magician, he would have given up on magic and would never had taught it to Paul. This would have resulted in Paul not running away, and leading a very different life. So, Dunstan’s ambition and motivation changed the course of a life in no small way. Another instance of determination and ambition changing a life occurs when Dunstan is serving in the military. Having just wiped out a machine-gunner’s nest, he began the dangerous journey back to his own side. However, he is soon wounded in the leg by a stray piece of shrapnel. Quickly losing blood, and in copious amounts of pain, he continues the crawl towards his own side. A man with lesser motivation... ... middle of paper ... ...ts suicide at the end of the book. As with Dunstan, Percy is influenced by the powerful motivator of guilt. He felt so overpoweringly guilty because of what he did to Ms. Dempster that he committed suicide. If the motivator of guilt had not been present, he would have kept on living. The life of Boy Staunton is a testament to both the good and bad things that motivation and ambition can bring about. To these two traits, he owed his success, hi survival of the Great Depression, and the avoidance of filling his father’s footsteps in he small town of Deptford. However, these forces also brought about his death. Paul Dempster’s life was irrevocably intertwined with the lives of both Percy Staunton and Dunstan Ramsay. Also like these two characters, Paul has a very powerful sense of motivation and ambition.
Dunstan Ramsay is one of the main characters in the novel Fifth Business. The novel is based on his point of view. Dunstan is from an honorable family. Dunstan was disciplined by his mother who shaped Dunstan’s anima.
Danforth and Dimmesdale contrast in the way of their sins of commission and omission. Although Dimmesdale does not openly admit his sins until the end of the story, they feed on his conscience, causing him to engage in self-torturing practices. He confuses the destruction and weakening of himself for penance for his sin. Aided by Hester?s angered husband, Dimmesdale weakens himself so much, that he uses the last of his strength in his confession and he dies in Hester?s arms. Danforth suspects he is sending innocent people to their deaths, but through the love of his office, he does not stop his corrupt practices nor attempt to right his wrongs.
...sused and unappreciated in his relationship with Percy Boyd Staunton, being forced to bear the weight of his secrets and the pangs of his marriage. He alone takes responsibility for Mary Dempster when all others abandoned her. Dunstan is alienated by his own guilt, obsessions and past experiences. For fifty years since the incident involving the snowball, Dustan has been trapped in the purgatory of the past. All of this is a cause of the conflicting values between Dustan and those he was exposed to during his childhood. He as a result must face uncertainty in his relationship with Mary Dempster, insecurity in his relationships with women and the reluctance to believe in himself. These thoughts remain with Dustan and contribute to his loneliness and isolation near the final years of his life; lived in completed obliviousness to the love and joy he was deprived of.
The author wants the reader to take another look at Dunstan from a different angle. Seeing that no one has the perfect life.
Any goal in life is achieved through ambition, fueled by determination, desire and hard work. Ambition maybe a driving force to success or to a pit of failure, the path chosen by an individual determines the end. Remember that any goal to be fulfilled needs desire, desire that strives to do good or greedy desire that is selfish. Also the actions that contribute to our ‘hard work’ need to be morally and ethically right to enjoy the sweet success. However, when the desire and determination is stronger than conscience, many tend to fail often reach or don’t reach what they strived for, leaving them emotionally or even physically dead. The inner lying consequence of ambition is clearly stated by Napoleon, he quotes “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them”. The undesirable consequence of ambition can be observed in the lives of the protagonists of ‘The Great Gatsby and Macbeth. This describes the direction in which ambition is driven could change the end result, it is simply based on the individual itself rather than the dream they seek to achieve. Therefore, the strong drive of ambition helps the seeker attain their goal but greedy desires and wrong paths taken eventually lead to downfall.
Davies introduces the reader with Dunstable Ramsay and Percy Boyd Staunton. They are depicted as friends yet rivals at the same time. This is shown when Dunstable had a sleigh that was faster than Percy’s. Of course Percy who is the spoiled rich boy becomes jealous, and starts calling Dunstable names. Knowing that Percy hates it when he is being ignored, Dunstable provokes Percy and ends up with him being chased with snowballs. Eventually someone gets hit and it’s not Dunstable, rather it was Mrs. Dempster whom he had ran around of cover. This is where the whole chain of guilt starts right after this incident. Dunstable feels guilty for this because the snowball who was supposed to hit him, ended up hitting Mrs.Dempster who was pregnant at that time.He feels even guiltier when he hears about the premature birth and infancy of Paul Dempster, which gives him a sickening feeling. As well Dunstable was raised in a strict family and has been encouraged to feel guilt even in the smallest of matters. From that day onward Dunstable was a changed individual who became a responsible person to Mrs. Dempster and was a loyal one. Throughout his life he becomes a better person because of the guilt which he accepts and tries to resolve.
Percy’s and Dunstan’s characters contrast in many ways. The most prominent way in which they contrast is their values. Dunstan values spiritual things, while Percy values only material things. Percy is impressed by and yearns for money, while Dunstan could care less about it. Dunstan explains his lack of desire for materialistic things:
Percy Jackson is the main character in this story, who is a demi god, who mortals are after. His name is short for Perseus and his father is one the big three gods, Poseidon. He is suffering from dyslexia and ADHD, which could be deliberately added to the character by Riordan, to show he is meant to be a hero, and not to do well in school. This shows that school is not what he is good at, and he is destined to be a hero and save people.
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside,
The premature birth of Paul Dempster and the madness of Mary Dempster were both caused by a rock in which Boy Staunton throws. The statement Magnus says at the end of the novel indicates the reason for Boy’s death perfectly, "He was killed by the usual cabal: by himself, first of all; by the woman he knew; by the woman he did not know; by the man who granted his inmost wish; and by the inevitable fifth, who was the keeper of his conscience and keeper of the stone." (Davies 256) In this quote, it refers to “by himself” which can be interpreted as the cruel acts he does to others around him. It also states “the women he did not know” which highlights, how Boy placed what he does to Mary Dempster in the back of his mind. The actions he does to others, even though he does not remember, is what causes his unfortunate death. Both these characters who do wrongful actions got an equal reaction to what they
This is a companion book on how Percy can connect to different characters and settings, and what he feels throughout the book. It is also on getting a better understanding of the characters and how they feel throughout the book.
Fifth Business is a fictional memoir of Dunstan Ramsay, a small town boy from Deptford, Canada whom we get to see evolve into an intellectual man looking for meaning in life. Dunstan has an innate ability to read people upon first or second meeting, but never seems to get a true read on himself. He is relatively successful financially, and is proclaimed a war hero after receiving the most prestigious English award; the Victoria Cross. He was raised well, and has an intelligence that exceeds his small-town upbringing. All these things seem like they would lead Dunstan to a happy, satisfying life. However, at the beginning of the story Dunstan goes through a major life-changing event. His best friend and biggest rival Percy hits a pregnant woman with a snowball intended for Dunstan. This sends Dunstan into a life full of guilt, eventually leading him to a life without any significant other or true friendships.
As their journeys progress, each man is forced to overcome certain obstacles and hardships. At the end
Interwoven with light and shadows, Robertson Davies’s Fifth Business is penetrated with fantastical elements that rub uneasily against feelings of guilt. A snowball thrown by young "Boy" Staunton misses Dunstan and hits Mary Dempster, causing the premature birth of Paul and the insanity of Mary. Guilt ensues and threatens to envelop Dunstable, Dunny, and Dunstan. One is his name by birth; the other a pet name; and the third, his true name upon being born again. With so many identities, Dunstan struggles to understand his role as fifth business and to learn to untie himself from his burden of guilt. Conventional religion may confine Dunstan Ramsay’s spiritual growth, but it lays a firm foundation for him to mature. Myth finds a place in the heart of Dunstan and teaches him to grow. Magic is the escape of yore that Dunstan seeks and successfully rediscovers. Religion, myth, and magic are intertwined in Dunstan Ramsay’s life, crucial for the completion of Ramsay as a person through the wonder they inspire.
Motivation can be one of the greatest and most important aspects inside a workplace, as it enables employees to find their incentive to work harder and achieve different types of goals. Motivation can be identified and accomplished by elaborating a job design that helps keep employees happy considering the different environmental factors of the integrative framework when applying organizational behavior. A formal definition states that job design “refers to any set of activities that involve the alteration of specific jobs or interdependent systems of jobs with the intent of improving the quality of employee job experience and their on-the-job productivity” (Kinicki 168). Job designs help structure jobs and the different tasks needed to accomplish