Robertson Davies’ novel, Fifth Business, revolves around guilt, competition, and two men who are foils of each other. Although Dunstan Ramsay and Percy Boyd Staunton are parallels to each other, they contrast in a great number of ways. Their awkward relationship plays a significant role in the number of elements which make Fifth Business such an interesting story.
	While Dunstan Ramsay had never been too interested in competing with Percy Boyd Staunton, Percy from a young age saw Dunny as a rival. When Percy’s brand new expensive sled isn’t as fast as Dunny’s, Percy gets angry and throws a snowball at Dunny, which in turn begins the setting for the novel. The two continue to compete throughout the novel, for things such as Leola’s love, military recognition, and more.
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:
Where Boy lived high, I lived - well, not low, but in the way congenial to myself. I thought twenty-four dollars was plenty for a ready-made suit, and four dollars a criminal price for a pair of shoes. I changed my shirt twice a week and my underwear once. I had not yet developed any expensive tastes and saw nothing wrong with a good boarding-house. (Page 1...
While Dunny was away at war, Boy was still finishing school and in the process of stealing Dunny's girl while he was away. Boy and Dunstan had been competing for Leola all their life up until when Dunny left. This loss for Dunstan could have been avoided if in fact he had not accepted responsibility for the snowball incident he wouldn't have had to leave and therefore could have kept Leola.
The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city’s overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he’d become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they’ll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the “survival of the unfittest”. (Pg.
Brian purchased the finest penthouse that his money could buy. After all, “I deserve it”, he would boast to friends. Expensive white Italian silk suits, alligator shoes, and a red Lamborghini sports car with license plates that read “MONEY” were his trademark. His penthouse apartment held a sweeping vista of the city along with elegantly appointed rooms, marble entry, a swimming pool and a sauna. Art work from the masters and rare collections were an impressive site to visitors. Brian had all the latest toys and electronics gadgets a young man could desire. A staff of servants cooked, cleaned and pampered him where ever he desired.
Percy Jackson lives a normal but hard life. The reader is able to determine that this is the ordinary world as Percy has not been told his true identity. Percy thinks he is an ordinary average teenage boy attending sixth grade at his sixth school, Yancy Academy which is a “private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.” Percy mentions that his life is quite confusing as well as he describes he has dyslexia and ADHD. These are the problems create a major issues as they affecting and make his academic achievement difficult. At birth Percy’s first father had left him and his mother. After his father left them his mother decided to get remarried. From Percy’s point of view this was not a smart choice as his step father treated her poorly. Percy is definitely unsatisfied and frustrated with her decision as he respects and cares about her a lot. Percy also greatly loves his mother as he defends her when she is disrespected by his stepfather. Percy seems to only have one real friend, Grover who is scrawny and “on top of all that, he is crippled”. He does not associate with other kids as he feels he does not belong with them. The reason he is in trouble at home and school could be that others don’t recognize and realize him as well as he does not understand his place. This is what the reader would classify as Percy’s ordinary world. From this point on, the story will further develop into the next stage call to adventure as the ordinary world seems to be a place the he despises.
In conclusion, Canada should not be legalized for marijuana because it causes a lot of negative effects to everyone. Nowadays, everyone knows how bad marijuana is, how can it affect on people’s lives, and how terrible to human. Therefore, people should not use marijuana in their lives for maintaining their health, having a better relationship with their partners and families, and improving the public safety. Also, there are several ways for people or education institutions to avoid using marijuana, schools should teach the right information about marijuana to the next generation, and parents should be good models for their children.
Percy is immensely brave. He is not afraid to do anything if it meant he could save another's life, like he
Lately it seems that drug policy and the war on drugs has been in the headlines quite a lot. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the policies that the United States government takes against illegal drugs are coming into question. The mainstream media is catching on to the message of organizations and individuals who have long been considered liberal "Counter Culture" supporters. The marijuana question seems to be the most prevalent and pressed of the drugs and issues that are currently being addressed. The messages of these organizations and individuals include everything from legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, to full-unrestricted legalization of the drug. Of course, the status quo of vote seeking politicians and conservative policy makers has put up a strong resistance to this "new" reform lobby. The reasons for the resistance to the changes in drug policies are multiple and complex. The issues of marijuana’s possible negative effects, its use as a medical remedy, the criminality of distribution and usage, and the disparity in the enforcement of current drug laws have all been brought to a head and must be addressed in the near future. It is apparent that it would be irresponsible and wrong for the government to not evaluate it’s current general drug policies and perhaps most important, their marijuana policy. With the facts of racial disparity in punishment, detrimental effects, fiscal strain and most importantly, the history of the drug, the government most certainly must come to the conclusion that they must, at the very least, decriminalize marijuana use and quite probably fully legalize it.
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 of 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. The character Grover, who plays Percy’s best friend, parallels a Satyr who is human from the waist up and goat from the waist down and is a companion of wine God, Dionysus, who we later learn, is the camp director for Half-Blood Camp.
novel, Dunstan’s public front that he portrays is the role of Fifth Business. He is characterized as such
One struggle that took place in Percy's life, was that his mom died or “disappeared” right before his eyes... Another conflict is that he has ADHD and dyslexia. Something that took place in the book is that when Percy fought the Minotaur,
I couldn’t think of why. He was only my brother and a drop out at that” (117). The author portrays the son to be someone with low self-esteem. Because he is poor and a drop out, he lives a miserable life. His mother tries to provide him with as much, but is unable to do this because of her social status.
Percy Jackson is a half blood son of Poseidon. He has long shaggy hair with blue eyes and very pale skin. He wears blue jacket with his trusty pen/sword in his pocket. He is a quest kind of person who is always looking for an adventure with his friends Grover, Annabeth and Thalia. He is a very nice not self centered person. He is always looking to help someone like when Annabeth “died” he said “Annabeth no i don’t want you to die” (26). He talks normal like a normal person but he does have dyslexia so he does have trouble reading like “I would read the word dog as bog”(23). He interacts with the other characters very well except for Zoe Nightshade. When she comes in the story he says “oh great you” but everyone else he is friends with. For example when they are at the Hoover Dam Percy said “I need to get to the dam snack bar and everyone cracked up except zoe(p 208). He is a good character and friend to all of his friends in the book.
...rties support the legalization of marijuana . The Liberal party who wants to legalize and regulate the use of marijuana and the New Democratic who supports the decriminalization of marijuana under Thomas Mulcair. Speaking in Kelowna, B.C., “I’m actually not in favour of decriminalizing marijuana. I’m in favour of legalizing it.Tax it, regulate. It’s one of the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids because the current war on drugs, the current model is not working. We have to use evidence and science to make sure we’re moving forward on that.” says Justin Trudeau leader of the Liberal Party (National Pot). Not only do some politicians support the legalization but thousands of Canadians gather on Parliament Hill and as many others assemble in cities across Canada to mark the event known as 4/20, the annual rally for the legalization of marijuana (CBC News).
Wistrom, Elizabeth . "Percy Jackson: Character Analysis." Bright Hub Education. N.p., 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Rumberger, Russell. “Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It” (Dec 19, 2012)