Fifth Business

Fifth Business is a novel that dives deep into the issues of the human condition. Guilt and inhumanity are apparent at most points in the novel, as the characters of the novel are effected by separate incidents in very different ways. The battle between illusion and reality surfaces in the main conflict of the novel between the two main characters, Dunstan Ramsay and Percy Boyd Staunton. Faith is relied upon by some of the main characters in an attempt to choose between what is right and what is wrong. In the end, the reader is exposed to a stable, but exciting novel with two characters that prove to be perfect foils to each other.

Characters of the Novel

Dunstan - He is the protagonist of the novel. He values spiritual things and tries to discover the inner good in everyone. He leaves a lot of things in his life up to chance, as he never really gains control over his life. He is just "Fifth Business" of everyone else in the world as he so discovers in the end.

Percy - Percy provides the novel with the perfect parallel to Dunstan. He does, however, contrast in many ways to Dunstan. They are best friends, but Percy rivalry results in the formation of the main setting of the novel. Percy also feels more of an attachment to material goods than Dunstan does. He thinks only of himself and is in constant pursuit of total and utter control. Percy was low moral standards in comparison to Dunstan and in some ways, feels he is of a higher stature than other human beings. This awkward relationship between him and Dunstan forms the basis of the novel.

Leola - She is the girl in the novel who is fought over by both Percy and Dunstan. At different points in the novel, she is involved with relationships with both of the two men. They ways in which she is treated by the two men is reminiscent of their moral views. She gets married to Percy, but it doesn't last as Percy has many affairs as he cannot make the commitment to her. Leola dies and Percy doesn't even come to her funeral, further representing just what their relationship lacked.

Diana - She is the girl whom Dunstan refuses to marry. She becomes too much like a mother to him, and as he lost his own mother, he is not in a hurry to acquire another. He also doesn't like the idea of her giving the orders. This, in the end, ruins their relationship.

Mary Dempster - She is an innocent lady that gets hit by a snowball that Percy throws at Dunstan and goes into labour on the sidewalk because of it. Her son is born sick, but she never regains her wits again. This incident represents the result of the rivalry that exists between Percy and Dunstan.

Paul - He is the child of Mary who is helped throughout the novel by Dunstan.

Mr. Dempster - He is the Minister who forbids Dunstan to come near Paul when he sees him showing Paul card tricks. This represents the struggle that Dunstan faces between religion and his own wants and needs.

Conflict

The main conflict in this novel exists between Percy and Dunstan. It is an odd conflict as the two are best friends and like the same things, but they are so different in personality that a subtle rivalry erupts between the two of them. This leads to the destruction of Mary Dempster's life. Dunstan holds spirituality and inner beauty near and dear to him, while Percy values material goods and the pleasure of a good time. Percy likes to have control over everything, while Dunstan doesn't seem to care that he has never and will never have control over anything in his life. Dunstan leads a very moral life while Percy enjoys womanizing and ends up having multiple affairs. Both are very different paths to choose to follow, but, in the end, they both lead to the same desolate destination. Despite very different attitudes, neither Percy nor Dunstan is able to keep a long term relationship in tack. Guilt affects one, while illusion takes over the other. In the end, reality rears its ugly head, and the two are just washed aside to fulfil their destiny of being Fifth Business to everyone else in society.

"The conflict that exists between Percy and Dunstan creates an stimulating plot as the two provide each other with perfect opposites, while remaining best of friends. (J.McIntyre, eng. Dept. U. of PEI)"

Important Quotes

"...Being young and unwilling to recognize that there was anything I did not, or could not know, I decided that this unknown aspect must be called madness. (pg. 53)"

"She lived by a light that arose from within; I could not comprehend. (pg. 52)"

"But what I knew then was that nobody--not even my mother--was to be trusted in a strange world that showed very little of itself on the surface. (pg.36)"

"I had no intention of being anybody's own dear laddie, ever again. (pg. 88)"

"So you provide romance, I said. I provide something that strengthens faith. (pg. 132)"

"...Because we love the saint and want him to be more like ourselves, we attribute some imperfection to him. (pg. 172)"

"If you think her a saint, she is a saint to you. (pg. 174)"

"I was determined that if I could not take care of Mrs. Dempster, nobody else should do it. She was mine. (pg.180)"

"I was trying to get at