The Manticore

Examine the relationship of Dunny and Boy. What roles do they serve for each other? Dunstan Ramsay is the main protagonist of the novel, The Fifth Business. Previously being known with the names Dunstable and Dunny, he is a spiritual man, who is very much controlled by his superego. This means that he makes decisions primarily using his conscious. He constantly chooses the ideal method to accomplish tasks. Dunstan is a religious man, in a manner that he is drawn to the metaphorical view of religion and not the literal text itself. He is also considered to comply to the role of Fifth Business, which according to the novel’s dedication page is, “Those roles which, being neither those of Hero nor Heroine, Confidante nor Villain, but which were none the less essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement.” Dunstan Ramsay follows this role throughout the novel. Associated with the archetypal title of the “Rich Young Ruler”, Boy Staunton is another essential character in the novel. He is known due to his greed for materialism.. His views of religion as being primitive, and his claim of Jesus being a businessman “makes an atheist out of him,” Boy provides a perfect balance to Dunstan’s character. They are the contrast to each other, as Boy tries to make most of his life making wealth shown as he tells Dunstan, “If you don’t hurry up and let life know what you want, life will damned soon show you what you’ll get.” (Davies 128). As Dunstan has no interest in the material…

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do” (Voltaire). Dunstan Ramsay from Robertson Davies’s Fifth Business life revolves around his inner guilt by impacting his decisions, actions and his relations to others. Dunstan lives his whole with the guilt of the destruction of an innocent family. Ever since he decided to be smart and dodge the snowball that was meant for the back of his head but instead hitting an innocent pregnant lady Mrs.Dempster, he was linked to that family for life…

Throughout the novel Fifth Business, one can clearly see the main character, Dunstan constantly searching for himself in various forms of self identity. Whether it be consuming himself in the world of saints, feeling tremendous guilt for a childhood accident, or falling in and out of love with various woman, Dunstan is constantly searching for a way to create identity for himself. In the novel, the character that truly helps Dunstan find himself is Liesl. By bringing out Dunstan’s suppressed…

Natural selection is the favouring of specific traits in an environment. Organisms able to adapt, or who are born with favoured traits, have a better chance of survival over others. In Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, the main characters model the process of natural selection. When Dunstan Ramsay is reborn after the war, he is better suited to the environment of Deptford. Paul Dempster faces many challenges in Deptford. The reason he survives is because he moves into an environment that better…

Mary Dempster was the wife of Amasa Dempster, the Baptist priest of Deptford, Ontario, Canada. She was a kind lady and very introverted. While her husband was very religious and constantly felt as if God was testing him, Mary was not so involved in religion. However, she did not let her husband’s strong belief in God influence her life. She was calm, even-tempered, and believed that things would all eventually be resolved. Mary’s life changed when an incident occurred on December 27, 1908, which…

There is one human feeling that can incapacitate us, lead us to lie both to ourselves as well as other people, compel us to make a move that we don't care for, and to disable any objective manners of thinking. It is self-propagating if permitted to escape control. Its reactions are outrage, forcefulness trepidation, or withdrawal. Its manifestations are silly conduct, lying, anguish, absence of self-regard, and in great cases, musings of suicide. It is guilt. In The Fifth Business and The…

is thought by Grover to have a manticore posing as the school's vice principal (Dr. Thorn). Also at the school, Grover has spotted two demigod siblings, Bianca and Nico. It’s implied by Grover that the manticore is after the two demigods. I would not like to be in this situation considering there's a manticore involved.…

Short explanation/summary of the book: Titan’s Curse, by Rick Riordan is the book that describes the friendship between Percy Jackson and Annabeth. Grover had been sent to the school to recruit more demigods for Camp Half-Blood, as Luke had been trying to steal them away to join his and Kronos’s Titan army. Thalia uses her abilities to charm the school staff, letting the group blend in and sneak into a school dance. There, they reunite with Grover who identifies two of the students, Bianca and…

At the end, the golden fleece is only used to restore the camp's protective barrier and resurrect Thalia. The story is told from Percy's point of view, and he describes his adventure in great detail. In the film, Percy meets Tyson, having not known of his existence before. Grover does end up with Polyphemus, but ends up there because of Luke. The son of Hermes still works to bring back Kronos, and is successful in this film. While the group was able to steer clear of Charybdis in the book,…

How to Properly Care for your Fantastic Beast As you are probably already well aware, there are several hundred different types of beasts that make themselves at home in our world. In fact, unbeknownst to the Muggles, many have recently taken up residence in their world as well. Naturally, some of these fantastic beasts are more friendly than others and you may even be able to keep some of them as pets. However, before you take on this type of venture, you must first learn how to care for these…