Self Discovery in Fifth Business

Self Discovery in Fifth Business

The Call to Adventure a hero embarks on is the first step he goes through when about to begin a mythological experience. Davies reveals methods in the novel Fifth Business to portray Dunstan as a hero when searching for himself. Fifth Business is about the protagonist, Dunstan Ramsay's search for himself through experiences, women, and his physical and mental transformation through a mythological process.

Dunstan Ramsay goes through many experiences that shape his identity. Starting from the of age ten, the first memorable experience he goes through is when his best friend Boyd Percy attempts to throw a snowball at him but misses and hits his pregnant neighbor Mary Dempster instead, forcing her to give birth at that specific moment. This traumatic experience haunts Dunstan for the rest of his life as Mary Dempster is mentally handicapped from that moment on. Overwhelmed with guilt through his entire life, this feeling affects the "guilty" Dunstan and decides to take care of her. Wanting to seek excitement outside the of the Presbyterian Canadian wasteland, Ramsay joins the war and experiences World War I. Dunstan proclaims, "none of it had any great reality for me." (Pg.67)

The War leaves Dunstan with a crippled leg. During the war the wounded Dunstan visions a statue of the Virgin Mary and imagines Mrs. Dempster's face on it.

The women in Dunstan's life play an important role both positively and negatively.

The foundation that is set upon Dunstan and his relationships with women are initiated by his

mother at an early age. Fiona Ramsay, Dunstan's mother is a strict and controlling woman with

strong Calvinist Protestant beliefs. The fear and hatred he has for his mother influences him

in his later years as he projects these feelings towards other women. Dunstan's feeling of isolation

and distancing himself from his mother begins after the incident with the snowball as her attention is

shifted towards the Dempster family. Mary Dempster plays an important role in Dunstan's life as her presence sparks his interest in sainthood, magic, and on a lifelong journey in spirituality. Dunstan's overwhelming guilt of Mary Dempster's condition compels him to pay special attention to her. Ramsay is taken care of by a woman named Diana Marfleet, a nurse working in the war. She provides her well-being and care and nurtures Dunstan back to health. This is known as his rebirth into a new man and hero. She symbolizes the Goddess of fertility.

Ramsay's life follows patterns of The Hero's Journey in mythology. One aspect of the Monomyth that Dunstan follows