Fifth Business Part Three, Chapter Two What Happened: In the chapter Dunstan gets a teaching position at Colborne Collage. He finds himself talking about his days teaching and old girlfriends. The idea of a new love seems like a viable option to him. Setting: There is no real setting to this chapter. The atmosphere is a constant blur as it changes from one to another so quickly. He changes from talking about his schooling to his old girlfriends, all within one page. Narrative Structure: The narrative structure in this chapter was a flashback. There is no mention of present events, Just the events that happened to Dunstan in the past that he recollects. Characterization: Dunstan Ramsey: Dunstan does not seem to change, but brings about more information that gives us more of an insight into Dunstan. Dunstan describes his teaching style and indirectly shows that he is not as perfect as he is built up to be. This is shown by his refusal to teach the female gender. Its kind of ironic because he says he treats everyone equally. Diction: The Author is telling you that Dunstan is starting to change. Robertson Davies has Dunstan talking about the reviving drop from the Cauldron of Ceridwen. The reviving drop from the Cauldron of Ceridwen means that he is going to start an aspect of his life over. Figurative Language: Simile : -"But I could not forget my brownish-red nubbin where one leg should have been, and a left side that looked like the crackling of a roast." (Pg.117) - "I took to teaching like a duck to water" (pg.116) Metaphor: -"To me a boy is a green apple." (pg.116 ) Tone: The author wants the reader to take another look at Dunstan from a different angle. Seeing that no one has the perfect life. Mood: The reader is a bit shocked to find that Dunstan has acted in such a non approving way. It is probably just a taste of this side of him, and we will most likely hear more of it as the story progresses. Pace: The pace of this chapter is a little slow. There is quite a bit of Narration and no new characters. His past is interesting, which is the only reason the story does not come to a halt here.
In Don't you dare read this. MRS.Dunphy is a popular book written by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
2. Explain how a character in the book changed or is starting to change in the part you are reading?
While Dunny was away at war, Boy was still finishing school and in the process of stealing Dunny's girl while he was away. Boy and Dunstan had been competing for Leola all their life up until when Dunny left. This loss for Dunstan could have been avoided if in fact he had not accepted responsibility for the snowball incident he wouldn't have had to leave and therefore could have kept Leola.
They continued to encounter each other a number of times later in the book when they both were much older. An ongoing theme between the two would be guilt and competition. This theme was first brought up during their childhood when the two of them both wanted Leola Cruickshank for their own. Dunstan is the fifth business to be married to Percy, as well as Percy and Leola as a couple.
During one of his habitual browsings of the local library in his quest to become a “polymath”, he stumbles upon a book on the subject of Sleight of Hand. He devotes an enormous amount of time and effort into mastering these skills, which is an excellent example of his ambition. This time, his ambition is to become a master magician, which he works tirelessly to achieve. If he had lacked the motivation to become a master magician, he would have given up on magic and would never had taught it to Paul. This would have resulted in Paul not running away, and leading a very different life. So, Dunstan’s ambition and motivation changed the course of a life in no small way.
Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.
his story from his childhood. He tells us that when he was ten, he had
One of the things I loved about the novel was that the jumps through time were not random. Each temporal shift connected to the chapter prior, or the one after. A short blurb of conversation or thought in one section about
Davies introduces the reader with Dunstable Ramsay and Percy Boyd Staunton. They are depicted as friends yet rivals at the same time. This is shown when Dunstable had a sleigh that was faster than Percy’s. Of course Percy who is the spoiled rich boy becomes jealous, and starts calling Dunstable names. Knowing that Percy hates it when he is being ignored, Dunstable provokes Percy and ends up with him being chased with snowballs. Eventually someone gets hit and it’s not Dunstable, rather it was Mrs. Dempster whom he had ran around of cover. This is where the whole chain of guilt starts right after this incident. Dunstable feels guilty for this because the snowball who was supposed to hit him, ended up hitting Mrs.Dempster who was pregnant at that time.He feels even guiltier when he hears about the premature birth and infancy of Paul Dempster, which gives him a sickening feeling. As well Dunstable was raised in a strict family and has been encouraged to feel guilt even in the smallest of matters. From that day onward Dunstable was a changed individual who became a responsible person to Mrs. Dempster and was a loyal one. Throughout his life he becomes a better person because of the guilt which he accepts and tries to resolve.
This statement actually caught my full attention. I like the way that he started this book off. It gave me a sense that the book was going to be very interesting and real. This is a very catchy statement that made me want to continue reading at my own willing and not to just be continuing so I can finish this assignment. It shows that the narrator is not going to start the book off by giving the reader boring details about his life. Instead, he is going to skip all of the usual details and jump to the real stories about his life that he finds and interesting, and that I also found very interesting.
I chose to write about this chapter because it was one of the positive chapters in the book that we have read so far. The first story that was told in the chapter was about Dai Manju. One of the sentences that stood out to me was “There was almost no furniture in the dim shack except for a coffin that the father had made for the great-aunt” (167). This was troubling to me because I cannot imagine walking into my living room and just seeing a coffin for one of my grandparents
(3.883.89). This shows he is beginning to mature into a young man. Towards the end of book
Percy’s and Dunstan’s characters contrast in many ways. The most prominent way in which they contrast is their values. Dunstan values spiritual things, while Percy values only material things. Percy is impressed by and yearns for money, while Dunstan could care less about it. Dunstan explains his lack of desire for materialistic things:
Dunstan chose to hide his shadow as he was afraid of the repercussions that would occur if he shared his
Fifth Business is a fictional memoir of Dunstan Ramsay, a small town boy from Deptford, Canada whom we get to see evolve into an intellectual man looking for meaning in life. Dunstan has an innate ability to read people upon first or second meeting, but never seems to get a true read on himself. He is relatively successful financially, and is proclaimed a war hero after receiving the most prestigious English award; the Victoria Cross. He was raised well, and has an intelligence that exceeds his small-town upbringing. All these things seem like they would lead Dunstan to a happy, satisfying life. However, at the beginning of the story Dunstan goes through a major life-changing event. His best friend and biggest rival Percy hits a pregnant woman with a snowball intended for Dunstan. This sends Dunstan into a life full of guilt, eventually leading him to a life without any significant other or true friendships.