Ms. Souza
ENG3UO-A
04 October 2013
Fifth Business Essay
In Robertson Davies novel Fifth Business a fictional memoir that focuses on a small town boy named Dunstan Ramsay from Deptford. This is a boy who develops loneliness and feelings of guilt from incidents that have occurred in his past. Dunstan Ramsay fails to understand his feelings and creates conflicts between himself and characters from his childhood. Dunstan and boy are best friends whom have a very complex relationship with one another. Dunstan and boy oppose different opinions and outlooks on the Dempster family throughout their youth, because of this Dunstan faces a lifetime of uncertainty and guilt from incidents that have occurred in his relationship with Mrs. Dempster.
When the snowball incident with the rock inside hit Mrs. Dempster, a pregnant fragile women unintentionally Dunstan immediately feels him and boy are at fault. Dunstan feels guilty and ashamed for what he has done thus his emotions have escalated. As boy and Dunstan grow up, Dunstan wanted to reveal how the premature birth of Mrs. Dempsters son, Paul occurred this is show in the text when Dunstan says “I stood gaping, and then Mr. Dempster became conscious of me … I was contrite and guilty, for I knew that the snowball had been meant for me, but the Dempsters did not seem to think of that.” (Davies.4) throughout the novel Dunstan struggles in saying what he truly feels is right, although he is pressured and us unable to do this because of the threats from boy. It seems Dunny (Dunstan) struggles and fights his inner battles and demons alone deciding on how to handle the situation. Another moment In the novel where Dunstan portrays feelings of uncertainty and guilt is when he sees Mary Dempsters face in a time of which he should be more concerned about himself, Dunstan shows strong connections and reflects on how he feels about Mary despite any negative views of her. His
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