At only ten years old, he dodges a snowball aimed at him, that instead strikes Mary Dempster, the young, pregnant woman next door. Through his after-school job at the Deptford library, he finds books on magic and saints, and becomes enamored of both subjects. just dont plagiarise, cuz your teacher can find any site as easily as u can, i should know . In the process, he is seriously wounded. After a philanthropist named Joel Surgeoner visits Colborne, Dunstan recognizes him as the hobo who Mrs. Dempster slept with so many years before. Unfortunately, Leola remains a small-town girl in many ways, and cannot ever live up to his expectations of a trophy wife. Back at his school in Canada, Dunstan encounters the tramp who slept with Mary—his name is Joel Surgeoner, he is a charity worker, and he believes Mary’s act miraculously reformed him. He chooses to enlist in the army. The protagonist and narrator Dunstan Ramsay has an impassioned interest in hagiography, or the biographies of saints and other spiritual beings. He spends time with the troupe at the behest of Liesl, the bearded lady who manages the show's finances. Dunstan makes the mistake of telling Mrs. Dempster that he has found Paul. The novel takes the form of his memoir. Dunstan Ramsay, the novel's narrator, is not happy. Fifth Business Chapter 5 Summary Essay Example . Dr. Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth: PBS Video Series, An Examination of Guilt: The "Poison" of Hamlet and Fifth Business, Complexity Between Dunny and Mrs. Dempster, Guilt Driven Action: Dunstan's and Cobb's Tricky Choices, The Truth of Two Truths: Narrative Discontinuity in Fifth Business, View Wikipedia Entries for Fifth Business…. Fifth Business essays are academic essays for citation. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Copyright © 1999 - 2021 GradeSaver LLC. This supposition is strengthened when he discovers her third miracle (Catholic saints are required to perform three). Mr. Dempster is pressured to resign, the family moves to the outskirts of town, and she is kept locked in her house. He teaches Paul magic tricks, but this backfires—Amasa is furious that Dunstan has corrupted his son with “gambling tricks” and bans Dunstan from his home. Fifth Business Summary The story of Dunstan Ramsay’s life begins in 1908 when Ramsay is 10 years old. Dunstan fares well in the war, remaining uninjured until one day he suffers a blow to his leg after taking out three German machine gun operators. Of course, everyone else in town thinks him a fool. Dunstan Ramsay, an aging history teacher at Colborne College, becomes enraged by the patronizing tone of a newspaper article announcing his recent retirement, which appears to portray him as an unremarkable old man with no notable accomplishments to his name. The first event of the story is also the one that stays with Dunstan the rest of his life. When he awakens in the hospital, there is a note from Liesl, apologizing for causing him trouble and inviting him to live out the rest of his days with Eisengrim’s crew on tour. Next. During World War II, Dunstan serves as interim headmaster of Colborne College, while Boy becomes an international figure through his faux-philanthropic efforts. He gets Mary Dempster, and she touches Willie and calls his name, and Willie wakes up. At the next performance of Eisengrim’s show, an audience member asks the “brazen head”—the center of a fortune telling illusion put on by Eisengrim—who killed Boy Staunton. Why was Leola’s name misspelled? What are Blazon’s standards for sainthood in terms of the "fool-saint" ? Part 1. The novel follows the life of its narrator and protagonist, Dunstan Ramsey, and reflects Davies's interest in the … He never visits her again until she dies. All of the books focus on the effects of the same single event: a snowball striking Mary Dempster in the head. He has no heartbeat, and Dunstan believes he is dead. The first chapter of the book is preceded by a quote attributed to “Tho. Though Mrs. Ramsay forbids Dunstan to visit her, he does so secretly. When Mrs. Dempster delivers Paul Dempster early, Dunston takes it upon himself to … Before Dunstan departs, he becomes romantically involved with Leola Cruikshank, widely considered the prettiest girl in town and the fancy of Percy Boyd Staunton. All of the books focus on the effects of the same single event: a snowball striking Mary Dempster in the head. As described by Liesl late in the novel, he is "Fifth Business," the type of person always destined to play a supporting (and never a lead) role in life. Fifth Business fixates on Dunstan Ramsay, a man stricken with profound guilt that stems from a childhood accident. The novel Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies, is ultimately a novel that cannot be deciphered through a black and white perspective. On that day, Dunstan and his lifelong nemesis/friend PercyBoyd Stanton, son of Deptford's richest man, are sledding. Staunton is the child of a wealthy family, while Ramsay is the son of strict Scots parents who run the local newspaper. Imagine asking a village priest a question like that! Fifth Business Summary. He comes across a traveling circus and meets Paul Dempster, who has no interest in forming a relationship with his mother, who has gone insane since he left and Amasa died from the flu, and who is living with her Aunt Bertha. Dunstan begins to see Mrs. Dempster as a saintly figure. He is happy to oblige, but soon learns that Bertha's incompetent lawyer has squandered the money. Fifth Business. She has been sent to live with an aunt, Bertha Shanklin, who lives near Toronto. Note the spelling of “Crookshanks” (258). When Aunt Bertha dies, Dunstan, who has visited her and Mary consistently since he heard of their whereabouts, is named Mary’s guardian. The town is appalled not only by her behavior but also by her seeming lack of remorse. Fifth Business is narrated by DunstanRamsay, soon after he has retired from his career as a teacher. One night Mary Dempster goes missing, and Dunstan is part of the search party. Dunstan travels to find Mary Dempster in Weston. Before he leaves, she rechristens him Dunstan from his birth name of Dunstable. Fifth Business stands alone as a remarkable story told by a rational man who discovers that the marvelous is only another aspect of the real. Plot Summary. Mary then prematurely gives birth to her son Paul as a result of the accident. Summary. LitCharts Teacher Editions. The letter to the headmaster concludes with this note. Dunstan gets a degree in history, becomes a teacher, and has a kind of adult friendship with Boy, who often complains to him about Leola’s inadequacies. His wife was glowingly described, though there was little mention of “a former marriage, which ended with the death... Fifth Business study guide contains a biography of Robertson Davies, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. His journey is the first of many, and he slowly becomes an author and world authority on saints, despite being Protestant. A flu epidemic had swept through the town a few years before, killing his parents and Mr. Dempster in the process. Over in Europe, Dunstan meets a Jesuit priest named Padre Blazon, an eccentric whose attitudes on religious are devout but questioning. The three go back to Dunstan’s for a drink, and it is revealed that Boy doesn’t remember the Dempsters ever living in Deptford. Mrs. Ramsay, Dunstan’s mother, aids in the difficult delivery of her baby, Paul Dempster. Complete Study Guide Including Character Descriptions, Study Questions, Chapter Summaries, and More by TheBestNotes.com Dunstan shows Boy the stone that was enclosed in the snowball—he has kept it as a paperweight all these years. Pages: 5 (2005 words) Published: November 8, 2012 5 (2005 words) Published: November 8, 2012 Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is the first novel of the Deptford Trilogy. Thus, Dunstan must put Mary in a public care mental facility or risk ruining his own finances. Eventually, Aunt Bertha dies, and bequeaths her fortune to Dunstan provided he act as Mrs. Dempster's guardian. There, he meets Paul again. Dunstan leaves Deptford for the battlefields of Europe. Dunstan also takes care of Mary and looks after Paul after school. Over time, Dunstan completes his degree in History, and settles into teaching at Colborne College for Boys. He is writing to the current headmaster, to insist that he has not simply lived the life of a lonely bachelor academic, but instead has explored a life of myth and wonder. The Fifth Business is the odd man out, the person who has no opposite of the other sex. Thus Dunstan comes to believe that Mary has performed three miracles: she has reformed the tramp, brought Willie back from the dead, and appeared to Dunstan on the battlefield. Dunstan is henceforth plagued by his conscience; he feels directly responsible for the tragedy, yet tells nobody about his role. Though a seemingly quaint small town, Deptford has an ugliness in its conformity and sanctimony. Even more than Padre Blazon did, Liesl challenges Dunstan to embrace his inner potential and dark side. Fifth Business Is Fifth Business ultimately a novel of hope or despair? While on one of his saint searching sojourns, he encounters Paul Dempster, who has honed his magic skills and now travels with a carnival. Meanwhile, Dunstan becomes interested in renaissance art and sainthood and travels around Europe seeking out new knowledge, leaning new languages, and writing books. Percy - who has renamed himself Boy Staunton - enjoys reminding Dunstan of his romantic loss (Leola) even though Dunstan has long since lost interest in her. He has the sense that he has been reborn, and is free to redefine himself. Each summer, Dunstan resumes his saint hunting in Europe. Characters All Characters Dunstan Ramsay Mrs. Mary Dempster Paul Dempster … She thinks Dunstan is keeping Paul away from her, and Dunstan can no longer see her without upsetting her.