Events that occur in a person’s childhood develop the person that they become later in life. The person is attached to their past because they retain the thoughts and memories that change the person as a whole. The importance of one’s past results in the way one acts in the present. This concept is developed in the Fifth Business as the main character Dunstan Ramsey, Dunny, is reminded of his past wherever he goes. In the novel, Dunny is unable to forget his past and it becomes a large part of his present character. There are many occasions throughout the Fifth Business in which Dunny shows that he is unable to forget a significant event of his childhood. When Dunny was ten, his friend Boy Stauton threw a snowball in attempt to hit Dunny but missed. Dunny ducked to avoid the snowball and as a result the snowball hit a peaceful lady named Mrs. Mary Dempster. Mrs. Dempster, the wife of Baptist minister Mr. Amasa Demspster, became deranged and went into labour prematurely as a result of the strike. Mrs. Dempster gave birth to her son Paul 80 days prematurely with her husband offering no support. During the delivery, Mr. Dempster prays to God to take his wife and spare his son leaving Mrs. Ramsay to help her. Since the incidence, Dunny has felt responsible for the incident because he felt his actions had resulted in Mrs. Dempster’s suffering. Dunny continuously gets tied up and never is able to leave his roots in Deptford.
Dunstan dropped out of school and went to the army in attempt to leave and forget about his roots. He needed to change something in his life so that he could get his mind off Mrs. Dempster. Prior to him leaving to fight in the war he was not allowed to see her very much because she had told him to s...
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...t will relieve him of his guilt. Dunny located Mrs. Dempster in Toronto under the care of her aunt.
Dunny could never escape his past roots from Deptford. His memories always followed him and eventually brought him back to the same place where he started. Boy had no guilt because Dunny took full responsibility placing all the guilt on his own shoulders. As a result, Boy had no problems heading into the future while Dunny was always restrained. Dunny felt that it was his entire fault that Mrs. Dempsters life was ruined and the thought continued to linger even after taking care of her. Dunny could never live up to Boy because Boy had a better start. Boy’s ability to set aside his childhood memories was something that Dunny could never do and also something that Dunny could never do.
Works Cited
Robertson Davies, Fifth Business. Penguin Books., 1970 print
Ever since the snowball accident Dunny has been preoccupied by worrying over Mary Dempster, and now her son Paul. At the age of sixteen the small town of Deptford becomes too much for Dunny to handle so he decides to drop out of secondary school and join the Army. Dunny needed a change in his life, something to get his mind off Mrs. Dempster and the guilt he felt for her. Leading up to his departure to the War he never really saw much of Mary, mainly because Mr. Dempster told him to stay away, but also because every time him saw her he couldn't hold back feelings of guilt and remorse. This troubled Dunny, much more then he would ever let on. On the other hand, Boy was doing as well as ever, possibly due to the fact that he knew that much of the responsibility of Mary and Paul was securely on the shoulders of Dunny. Dunny knew this as well but it was too late to do much about it except leave.
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novel, Dunstan’s public front that he portrays is the role of Fifth Business. He is characterized as such
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale’s greatest fear is that the townspeople will find out about his sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. Mr. Dimmesdale fears that his soul could not take the shame of such a disclosure, as he is an important moral figure in society. However, in not confessing his sin to the public, he suffers through the guilt of his sin, a pain which is exacerbated by the tortures of Roger Chillingworth. Though he consistently chooses guilt over shame, Mr. Dimmesdale goes through a much more painful experience than Hester, who endured the public shame of the scarlet letter. Mr. Dimmesdale’s guilt is much more damaging to his soul than any shame that he might have endured.
The story begins with the narrator’s brother, Sonny, being arrested for using heroin. When the narrator discovers what has happened to his brother, he slowly starts to relive his past. Up to this point, the narrator had completely cut his brother and his childhood from his life. He disapproves of the past and does everything in his power to get rid of it. The narrator had become an algebra teacher and had a family who he moved to get away from the bad influences on the street. As a result, it is shown in the story that he has worked hard to maintain a good “clean” life for his family and himself. Readers can see that he has lived a good life, but at the toll of denying where he came from and even his own brother. For years, his constant aim for success had been successful. However, as the story progressed everything he knew started to fall apart.
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.
Jack, thinking he might have been that very baby, retrieves the bag he was found in as an infant in which Ms. Prism identifies by some distinguishing marks to have been her own. Jack realized the woman that had been teaching his niece was his mother. But then Lady Bracknell explained that she was not, but Lady Bracknell’s poor sister Mrs. Moncrieff was. The irony continues to explain how Jack and Algernon were biological brothers. They were pretending to be earlier to play out their game of Bunburyism.