Robertson Davies

population of five hundred people. It was a place meant for regular people, and Boy never wanted to be a regular person. He is described as a person who, “made himself out of nothing,” (Davies 103). His parents are described as charmless and dull, making Deptford the perfect place for them, however Boy, “lived high,” (Davies 105). Dunstan’s issue with Deptford has more to do with its inhabitants. Dunstan’s constant curiosity contrasts the closemindedness of the residents, which is most evident…

Toby then Graduated from the University of Sydney in 1865. Sir Edmund Barton Learnt to debate at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts. From May 138 68 he has worked for a solicitor Henry Bradley and from June 1870 with barrister G. C. Davies. On 21 December 1871, he was admitted to the bar. In May !872 he was junior counsel for the defense of the notorious murderer Alfred Lester. In 1876 and 1877 Sir Edmund Barton was defeated for the University of Sydney seat in the Legislative Assembly…

“Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it” (Robertson Davies 1989). Survival has been thought to be a subliminal emotion from our self-conscious mind through our past generations. Now, survival could most commonly be seen as the will and knowledge to continue to live through adverse and scarce conditions. This shares a theme of man vs man, this being related towards how people are psychologically attracted to one word:…

Life is never easy, as people do good and terrible things but mostly life is about the challenges of either being known or know what you feel. In the book Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies, explores many ideas and many feelings, but one idea spilt into two stays’ throughout. The idea of an internal character or spirit of one versus the characters that worry about external things, like appearance and materialistic objects. The ideal characters that would fit into these acquisitions is Boy…

It is no secret that recollections of historical events tend to be more romanticized than they may have actually occurred. Individual people commit this action on a daily basis when reminiscing upon an experience from the past. “In hindsight, people are often quick to invent explanations for unknown behaviors” (Burkus 27). This act of glamorizing personal memories is known as confabulation. In the second chapter of his book, David Burkus introduces what he calls the “Eureka Myth.” Burkus…

emotional, sexual experiences of women’s lives gained significance as legitimate social concerns with political consequences, men were forced to examine their own socially constructed roles as men…” (Plain and Sellers) This notion takes shape in Robertson Davies’s 1970 novel, Fifth Business. The novel presents an interesting debate over whether or not it is a feminist text since it was written by a non-feminist man. However, Fifth Business was authored during the second wave of feminism, a…

Significance: The reason I picked this passage is because it relates to the theme of guilt, and how guilt influences the life of Dunstan as he is never able to fully experience it. Dunstan bears the guilt for a lot of things in his life. He feels guilty for the premature birth of Paul Dempster, and most importantly for the condition of Mrs. Dempster. As a result, he devotes his whole life to taking care of Mrs. Dempster. In this passage, Liesl suggests that Dunstan suffers from the “revenge of…

However, this great personal excellence makes him Boy Staunton’s prized “side-kick”. Boy takes every opportunity to boost his own ego through presenting Dunny as his lower status showpiece. Dunny becomes like “…a Raeburn on the walls…” (Robertson Davies, 173). He is constantly subdued in social situations by Boy’s overshadowing and dominating character, though gains reputation of his own as one of Boy’s entourage. Nevertheless, Dunny finds academics and study as the area in which he can outshine…

or her own personal concerns for the greater good. Whilst visiting the small Canadian town of Deptford in the early 1900s, surely one would not imagine it could provide a home to such a hero as Dunstan Ramsay. From the beginning to the end of Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, the character of Dunstan Ramsay unconsciously demonstrates all the qualities that define a hero. Ramsay establishes his heroism in the novel during his childhood that leads up to the Great War; during his struggle…

exactly are policies converging. Sometimes, studies focus on the dissemination of particular policy instruments such as vouchers or public-private partnerships (PPP) (Robertson, Mundy, and Verger 2012; Verger 2012). Some others, scholars engage with the adoption of policy objectives or concepts such as school choice (Forsey, Davies, and Walford 2008). And still some others show convergence in particular policy specifications such as the reduction of government education expenditure (Jakobi and…