Fifth Business by Robertson Davies :: Fifth business robertson davies Essays

fifth part Business by Robertson DaviesIn Robertson Davies novel Fifth Business, the author uses the eventsthat occurred in Deptford as a Canadian Allusion to reveal character identity.Three characters in the novel from Deptford son Staunton, Dunstan Ramsey andcapital of Minnesota Dempster, leave Deptford to embark on a new identity to rid of their horridpast. The three main characters of the novel, all of whom to some extent try toescape their small town background, potpourri their identity to become people ofconsequence. All in some way take on a new identity. Imbedded in thistransformation is the assumption that ones accepted self, especially onessmall town origins, must be discarded before one can become significant in theworld.Firstly, Paul Dempster grows up as an outcast in Deptford, his motherssimpleness leading the tight social world of the town to cast out his wholefamily and forces Paul to leave the town and get a new image for himself.Paul runs away to the circus in his early teens because of the mental abuse hetook from the town because of his mothers incident with the tramp. Dunstablecomments, Paul was non a village favorite, and the dislike so many people feltfor his mother - dislike for the queer and persistently unfortunate - theyattached to the unoffending son, (Davies 40) illustrates how the town toughenedPaul because of his mothers actions. Paul leaves his past because of theactions displaced by his mother and the guilt he feels because his birth waswhat robbed her of her sanity, (Davies 260) explains why Paul left Deptford.However, while Boy merely tries to thin his Deptford past, Paul tries tocreate a completely new one and Paul asks Dunstan to write an autobiography thatin general terms that he was to be a child of the Baltic vastness, rearedperhaps by gnomelike Lapps after the death of his explorer parents, who wereprobably Russians of high birth. (Davies 231). The scenery of thisautobiography seems significantly Canadian, but Paul does not want his book torepresent his past life in Deptford. Therefore, Paul Dempster is a troubledchild because of his mothers actions in Deptford which in turn force Paul toleave Deptford and to create a new identity for himself.Secondly, Dunstable Ramsey is haunted by the guilt of Mary Dempster overhis entire life and he must create a new identity for himself. After a rock hashit Mary in the head (in a snowball thrown by Boy Staunton meant for Ramsay),and her preacher husband is crying over her, young Ramsays only thought is that