In Roberston Davies’ celebrated novel Fifth Business he writes of a man who’s life has had multiple colourful characters within it. The most significant and constant characters are those of which were with him, the narrator, throughout his whole life. Those who were born and raised in his childhood town of Deptford. A town based off of the actual town of Thamesville a town in southwestern Ontario close to the Detroit border, in-between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. This is the town that has defined all of those characters lives and the actions that took place in that town were the main cause for the shaping of the story. The actions that took place in this magical town for the three took place before Paul Dempster a very important character in relation to the narrator was born. …show more content…
The action which is Boy putting a stone in a snowball and throwing it with intent to strike Dunstable as a final toss for their snowball fight for Boy to show dominance over Dunstable, who then dodged the ‘snowball’ and it ended up hitting the back of Mrs. Dempsters who was out on a walk with her husband and well-known priest as a sign of advertising their perfect life, in the head which directly caused the premature birth of Paul Dempster. The events that took place afterward lead up to the quote made by Eisengrim. After Pauls birth, the Dempster’s continued with their life but they didn't know of Mrs. Dempters psychological illness that would result in her early death much later in the story. Mrs. Dempster was a lot of things to Dunstan, more of a mother than his own and a guide through the light to him. An incident happened with her and a tramp where they ended up in then taking part in coitus. This marks her as a whore within the town and causes great embarrassment to the
The social setting in Maycomb County has a profound effect on the expectations in the novel. Initially, all individuals of Maycomb know about each other’s background and upbringing for
James Marvin Ellis, born June 30, 1842, sparked the foundation of Ellsworth. Although Ellis did not receive a sufficient education as a child, at the age of thirty-two he both cultivated one hundred sixty acres of farmland and managed a general store. (History 759) Not only did Ellis publicly exert himself, but his private life prospered as well. Ellis and his wife, Mary A. Beaty, brought forth seven children to the local population: Marvin U., Hester J., Elliot E., Thomas G., Joseph A., and Lotta A. (Ellis 1). In addition to agriculture, family, and merchandising, he also served as the town’s original postmaster (History 760). This holds importance because a post office provided a town’s first official identification (Kreitzer 65). Ellis’ societal involvement ventured much further than the town of Ellsworth, though.
In the town of Maycomb, hereditary relations play a large part in one’s reputation, meaning that the social status of your family instantly becomes your own. The character of Mayella Ewell
One of the main characters in the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is Dunstan Ramsay. Throughout the first three chapters, Dunstan mentions that he often feels guilty for being part of the reason that Paul Dempster was born prematurely. Specifically, Dunstan states that “... I was alone with my guilt, and it tortured me” (Davies, 17). The image I chose is of a demon haunting a person. The person represents Dunstan and the demon represents his guilty conscience. Dunstan explained how “I was perfectly sure, you see, that the birth of Paul Dempster, so small, so feeble and troublesome, was my fault.
Mr.Dempster lost his job,Mrs Dempster went mad and Peter was born premature which led him to live a life full of intimidation and bullying. Dunstan spent his whole life is driven by guilty he never recovered from his role in negatively affecting the life of many people.He spends his entire trying to appease his guilt; he takes care of Mrs Dempster and spends his life trying to prove that she is saint.Later on in the novel he learns to deal with the guilt but always carries the rock that caused it all as reminder of what he did.
Small towns usually consist of people that know about everyone else’s business but their own. In the fiction novel Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Ruby introduces the reader to the main character, Finn O’Sullivan, who everyone believes is a weird and peculiar child. Finn lives with his brother Sean and friend Roza in a small town called Bone Gap. One day Roza goes missing and given the fact that the O’Sullivan boys’ mother left them for her lover, the people of Bone Gap do not find the disappearance a surprise. Except Finn knows the truth about her disappearance. However, no one in the town, not even his brother, believes Finn’s story. The mystery unfolds as Ruby uses the different characters’ point of view on the situation. Ruby uses different aspects of literature to pull the reader in preventing
A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.
Jurgis and his family soon adjust to their new lives, as well as to the work presented to them at Durham’s. After lodging with friends and fellow immigrants for some time, they decide to purchase their own house in Packingtown, a village comprised mostly of the innumerable workers employed at Durham’s. Unbeknownst to Jurgis and his family, however, working at Durham’s would prove to be a turbulent and eye-opening experience, regardless of the fact that Durham’s was an essential catalyst for their new life in America.
The Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is told in the form of a letter written by Ramsay on his retirement from teaching, “a character essential to the action but not a principal” that was affected by or had an effect on the other characters of the play. The life of Dunstan Ramsay is the backdrop and the thread connecting countless subplots and themes, but as his very evident passion for hagiology sets him out to discover the difference between materialism and spirituality, the actual importance of women is brought about in the novel by his interactions since childhood onwards and we see how these women mould, scar and
e. The Landsford brothers had lived in Center County all their lives. Ben worked for the local mill in the accounts payable department, and Tom owned the local hardware store. The sheriff couldn’t believe that the brothers had created several dummy companies that sold fictitious merchandise to the mill. Ben had the mill pay for this merchandise in its usual fashion, and he wrote off the missing goods as ‘‘damaged inventory.’’
At the end of World War II two young fellas, Rodgers and Steve Jamnik, go and visit a man named Professor Burris in hopes of gathering information about a man named Frazier. Word has gotten around somehow that Frazier has built a new society and Rodgers and Jamnik would very much like to find it. Burris remembers that Frazier is an old classmate of his with crazy ideas and a hatred for the people who run the world. This leads Burris to reach out to Frazier, by letter, and within a very short period of time Frazier responds with an invitation to his newfound community. The professor agrees to step away from his teaching responsibilities for a few days and follow Rodgers and Steve to “Walden Two,” the name that Frazier has given his community. Accompanying them on this journey was Barbara, Rodge’s girlfriend, Mary, Steve’s Girlfriend, and Castle, a colleague of Burris’s.
The first novel, John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, takes place in a small and derelict town inhabited by bad-mannered drunks and outcasts, who are constantly judged for their outward appearances. However, underneath their shabby reputations are
In the village there was a relatively popular hang-about, where travelers and natives alike would enjoy a pint or two of the finest brew offered within twenty miles of the area. The brewery was also somewhat notorious for allowing shady fellows to conduct their business without disruption. One such shady fellow was a man known only
The sin of hypocrisy and secrecy is represented through the character, Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale, the minister of the town, got a married woman pregnant and concealed the fact that he did from the rest of the townspeople for many years. In the beginning of the novel, the townspeople viewed Dimmesdale’s “eloquence and religious fervor” as bringing a positive innocent man to the town (46). Though he portrays an outwardly goodness about him, he truly is mendacious on the inside. His guilty conscience caused him to become extremely sickly. The townspeople believed that Dimmesdale’s health “had suffered severely, of late, by his too unreserved self-sacrifice to the labors and duties of the pastoral relation” (74). Truthfully though, the young minister was “pale, and holding his hand over his heart” as a clue of is suffering from hiding his sin (78). Later, it is
Often, there are cases where an individual or a group of individuals reaches a level of success within their field. Some may be elected to a government position, and some may start companies that thrive financially. However, the companies and individuals that fail are the ones that are unable to maintain the initial success and reputation that they had. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy weaves this idea throughout the events and symbols that make up this story about the rise and fall of a man named Michael Henchard. The novel utilizes the actions of Henchard and others alongside dynamics and traditions within the town to convey the theme that success and reputation are not guaranteed to last,rgtc once they are earned. Hardy uses the repercussions of Henchard’s manipulation of others, the stone bridge at the edge of town, and the power structure in Casterbridge to argue that success and reputation are not ensured for life when they are earned, and that they must be constantly maintained and improved.