This essay will explore the trivialities of a man who battles self-deprivation, class struggle, life experience, and money. Ramsay is one who does enough to be on the verge of raising his class status, but finds himself loathing both the bourgeois lifestyle, and those who are members of this rising class. I argue that Ramsay thinks of himself as a proletariat, but is bourgeois in reality. The text relies on a theme of Ramsay’s value of life experience and Boy’s value of social and monetary capital. There is a connection between the two: Dunstan looks to Boy for advice in financial matters. Ramsay is one who speaks on Boy’s successes in many areas of life frequently, and always has a reason as to why his experience of life is better. Ramsay’s plebian arrogance is self-prescribed and wanted, but at times results in self-loathing and doubt. Fifth Business is fantastic with how the book explores the thematic discourse of Marxist realities in Deptford, Ontario, and abroad. Throughout Dunstan …show more content…
Ramsay’s travels, relationships, and experiences, one is left feeling like they know Dunstan. While Dunstan portrays himself as a simple, common man who walks among the plebes, I argue that the man is far more complex. Ramsay defines success himself—and does not allow others to change this, though he certainly thinks about them. The story articulates a man who is far more complex and thoughtful than most, but ends up struggling to be viewed as more than an outcast. Dunstan Ramsay portrays young Dunstan and young Percy Boyd Staunton—Boy from here on—as boys in a fight, but one must investigate the depths of Dunstan’s class awareness. The source of the infamous fight was “sledding with my lifelong friend and enemy, and we had quarreled, because his fine new Christmas sled would not go as fast as my old one.” (Davies 1) Boy is severely unhappy; his family is rich and doesn’t have to worry about money, so he is gifted with the newest and fastest sled. Dunstan is quite aware of the circumstances—he knows his family is of a lower class than Boy’s. The rising class mentality is instilled in Boy from a young age. Boy is a member of a bourgeois family, and he takes pride in having mittens from the city, a new sled, and a better father. The first two are undeniably nice things to have, but the homemade gloves Dunstan has, and his old sled, both have equal and sometimes greater value. The value of the material good produced by one’s own mother is of far greater importance to Dunstan, yet Dunstan is left wishing to fight him. Dunstan is proud of what he has and does not mind his old sled, yet Dunstan recalls his walk home with remarks from Boy such as “I staggered like an old cow; my woolen cap was absurd beyond all belief; my backside was immense and wobbled when I wobbled…” (1) The first several pages of the novel reveal the nature of Dunstan. Dunstan as a youth “looked ostentatiously at [his] new dollar watch” (2), and follows with telling the reader that Boy has a better one. The novel follows a pattern—Dunstan has this, but Boy has that, and what Boy has is better. As Dunstan gets his M.A. degree in history, one finds the schoolboy revealing hints that he is capable of more, but doesn’t need or want more. Ramsay is completing his degrees in the field of history and had always wanted a Ph.D., but claims that he “became interested in a branch of scholarship in which it was not relevant.” (98) The Dunstan that is narrating finds a way to explain shortcomings by citing lack of interest or necessity. Ramsay earns an M.A. in History which “won [him] some compliments.” (99) The text urges the reader to believe Dunstan could have done better—that is, if he wanted to—by stating “I thought my thesis dull.” (98) Dunstan does not make friends while completing his time at university, stating that he “never sought popularity” and calling himself a “dull fellow.” (99) Unlike with Dunstan, the novel is quick to shower the reader with praise of Boy. On the other hand, Boy is one who can make slight changes to his life which result in his bourgeois status rising further. During Boy’s time in the Army, he got rid of the name Percy and dropped the D in Boyd. Changing Boy’s name resulted in nonchalant “glory of youth in the postwar period.” (Davies 99) Language of the text and use of key phrases link Boy to his bourgeois lifestyle. Phrases such as: “He gleamed, he glowed; his hair was glossier, his teeth whiter than those of common young men.” (Davies 99) Dunstan portrays Boy as better than everyone else. Dunstan has an M.A. in history, but Boy has a cool name and his cool name makes him better than the plebes. Dunstan is a man who is happy with the character and nature of the material goods he possesses. He is secure, stating how his lifestyle is “congenial to myself.” (Davies 102) Boy is one who “lived high” in comparison to all else. Note the language of the text. The rising class seeks to overreach and do whatever they must to obtain more and more capital. Boy exemplifies the characteristic of one who makes a show of his material capital. Dunstan states “to him the reality of life lay in external things” regarding Boy’s yearning to exploit via investments. However, Dunstan makes note that while Boy is concerned with physical capital, Dunstan is focused on the “reality… of the spirit-of the mind.” (103) Dunstan does not allow the focus of material capital to affect his outlook on life, whereas Boy is harder to reach now that he has a car. Dunstan’s remarks on the subject are rather shallow; he states that Boy “helled around to all the dancing places with men of his own stamp.” (103) Boy and Dunstan did not meet very often due to conflicting schedules. Dunstan does not expect Boy to be able to meet with him. Why would the bourgeois interrupt their gallivanting to associate with a common man such as Ramsay? The language is brilliant. Dunstan seems to be content and happy, but the language suggests he is upset about Boy’s lack of care for the lower class. Furthermore, Dunstan loathes Boy, not for his social or financial capital, but for the way Boy treats Dunstan. The loathing of Boy is most evident in chapter three of part two. As readers recall, Dunstan is on the same ship as Boy and Leola, but Dunstan is in second class and Boy is in first. The symbolic and vivid representation of class struggle is portrayed quite literally. Dunstan makes the point “here they were, literally on top of me.” Dunstan does not have a problem with being in first class; the text illustrates that Dunstan was on his was to Europe “to blow a thousand out of my eight on a reward for myself for being a good boy.” (109) This is Dunstan’s hard work paying off; a trip to Europe as a way of re-paying himself for getting an M.A. in history and amassing a neat sum of 8,000 dollars. Dunstan does not necessarily hate that Boy is on the ship, but that he is in first class. Readers may not notice a small detail in the language of the text: when Dunstan refers to his own sleeping quarters, second class is lowercase, and when Boy and his peers’ sleeping quarters are discussed, First Class is capitalized. One can gather that this small detail may be a Freudian slip by old Dunstan Ramsay while writing his letter to the Headmaster. Subsequently, Boy trivializes his own treatment of Dunstan. Dunstan is content with the way Boy sends him wine and visits multiple times during their tenure on the ship. Boy tells Dunstan “very kindly that ship’s rules did not allow him to ask me to join them in First Class.” (109) The ship creates such a class barrier that Dunstan is unable to travel upstairs, but if the bourgeois wish to accompany the plebes, then they may travel downwards. But only if they dare, Leola did not come with Boy and Boy meets a preacher and tells Dunstan “I wish you could get up to First Class to meet him, but it’s out of the question, and I wouldn’t ask him to come down here.” Boy is willing to share his friendships and peers with Dunstan, so long as Boy doesn’t risk upsetting fellow members of the upper echelon. In conclusion, Dunstan Ramsay is a man who values intellectual and spiritual capital, but believes the bourgeois to only be capable of gaining monetary and social capital.
Ramsay chose a life of chasing the moments, while Boy chased the money. Boy’s life is a source of self-consciousness for Dunstan at many points of his life, but Dunstan always has valid reasons as to why his life is still good, if not better. Ramsay is more than capable of rising to the bourgeois class, but holds himself back because he is content with having enough. Although Dunstan is content, he still loathes Boy for the way he acts and the way he treats Dunstan. Often, Dunstan allows Boy’s bourgeois arrogance to flow freely while Dunstan does nothing. Plebian arrogance and self-deprivation of a qualified member of the plebian class lie at the center of Fifth Business while bourgeois lifestyles are depended on to keep the focus on Ramsay’s flaws; he is too worried about what Boy has and how Boy treats
him.
Dunstan Ramsay is one of the main characters in the novel Fifth Business. The novel is based on his point of view. Dunstan is from an honorable family. Dunstan was disciplined by his mother who shaped Dunstan’s anima.
According to Selzer, Cooter thinks that Miss Bailey’s inheritance of her master’s wealth has been “misappropriated”, because “she didn’t earn it” (260). This indicates that exploitation is ultimately the reign over minds, in which the victims inherently agree with the capitalism theory so that they experience inequality without awareness. Nevertheless, while echoing Marx’s theory, Berlant concludes that the possession of large wealth creates a dilemma between choosing one’s “habituated life” and the unknown future that is “yet to be invented” (37). The lack of cultural capital minimizes people’s capacity of ownership, thus the possession of wealth alone will not change the state of living for poor people, because it is “too alive”
Coming from an “unconventional” background, George Saunders is readily able to relate to the circumstances the everyday working laborer goes through (Wylie). However, Saunders has an advantage to spread out his ideas and concerns about life in the U.S. via his short stories and novellas. Because of neoliberalism and capitalism and its correlation to the huge wealth gap in the U.S. Saunders focuses his protagonists’ view from a proletariat standpoint, allowing the reader to see the life of consumerism has impacted our society. Saunders does not use conventional methods to portray this reality. Instead, Saunders emphasizes on the “absence” of certain moral human characteristics in order to take the reader away from viewing into a hero’s looking glass— to set a foundation of a world where our morals become lost to our materialistic and inherent need of money (Wylie).
Throughout society, the contrast between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots, the elites and the ordinary, have been a constant source of discussion and philosophy. In Chipped Beef, by comparing fantasies of wealth with truths of reality, David Sedaris argues that the intrinsic values of relationships vastly outweigh the extrinsic value of material things.
The book Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is written from the point of view of the narrator; a man named Dunstable Ramsay. From the readers’ perspective, we see him to be the main character, but as the novel progresses, he and those he encounters start to see him as fifth business. The novel shows and follows Dunstan Ramsay in his pursuit for self-knowledge, and ultimately fulfilling his role as ‘Fifth Business’ in the eyes of a number of people. It is evident that throughout the novel, he reminds himself and the reader that in fact his life and the lives of those who are close to him do not necessarily revolve around him however he still plays a large part in influencing their respective lives. The novel constantly shows instances where guilt and competition play roles in shaping character’s decisions.
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.
The bourgeoisie are particularly important because not only did they modernized society but industrialized it as well. They took revered occupations and turned them into paid wage-labor, for example being a physician or poet. Marx’s view on the bourgeoisie is that they emerged after numerous revolutions involving modes of production as well as exchange. They create the world according to their image, which strips society
...In Fifth Business, Davies constructs a central male character that undergoes an extensive psychological journey, with several female characters playing the role of Fifth Business touching his life in one way or another. Dunstan Ramsay is dissected before the readers' eyes and they are made aware of all his emotions, motivations and psychological convictions. All of the female characters that interact with Dunstan Ramsay play the role of Fifth Business because if not for his interactions with them, his story would surely not make an interesting novel. Dunstan Ramsay can be seen as a flagpole. He is the base to which the women in his life are the flags hung upon that pole decorating him and giving him meaning. Their obligate coexistence creates the relationship that transcends mere inadequate character development. The female characters themselves are Fifth Business.
One is his name by birth; the other a pet name; and the third, his true name upon being born again. With so many identities, Dunstan struggles to understand his role as fifth business and to learn to untie himself from his burden of guilt. Conventional religion may confine Dunstan Ramsay’s spiritual growth, but it lays a firm foundation for him to mature. Myth finds a place in the heart of Dunstan and teaches him to grow. Magic is the escape of yore that Dunstan seeks and successfully rediscovers.
Marx states that the bourgeoisie not only took advantage of the proletariat through a horrible ratio of wages to labor, but also through other atrocities; he claims that it was common pract...
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class. Fitzgerald uses setting to criticise society’s loss of morality and the growth of consumerism after the Great War. The rise of the stock market in the 1920s enabled business to prosper in America.
According to Raymond Williams, “In a class society, all beliefs are founded on class position, and the systems of belief of all classes …” (Rice and Waugh 122). His work titled, Marxism and Literature expounded on the conflict between social classes to bridge the political ideals of Marxism with the implicit comments rendered through the text of a novel. “For the practical links,” he states “between ‘ideas’ and ‘theories’ and the ‘production of real life’ are all in this material social process of signification itself” (133). Williams asserts that a Marxist approach to literature introduces a cross-cultural universality, ensuingly adding a timeless value to text by connecting creative and artistic processes with the material products that result. Like Williams, Don DeLillo calls attention to the economic and material relations behind universal abstractions such as aesthetics, love, and death. DeLillo’s White Noise brings modern-day capitalist societies’ incessant lifestyle disparity between active consumerists and those without the means to the forefront of the story’s plot. DeLillo’s setting uses a life altering man-made disaster in the suburban small-town of Blacksmith to shed light on the class conflict between the middle class (bourgeoisie) and the working poor (proletariat). After a tank car is punctured, an ominous cloud begins to loom over Jack Gladney and his family. No longer a feathery plume or a black billowing cloud, but the airborne toxic event—an event that even after its conclusion Jack cannot escape the prophecy of his encroaching death. Through a Marxist reading of the characterization of Jack Gladney, a middle-aged suburban college professor, it is clear that the overarching obsession with death operates as an...
While Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the scrivener” and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” have unrelated plots, they both contain Marxist undertones that address alienation in the workplace as a result of capitalism. The protagonists, Gregor and Bartleby, are examples of how the working class is treated when they do not conform to the conventions of capitalism. Gregor and Bartleby alike are working class men who, through some turn of events, stop working and are deemed useless to those around them. Both of these stories end in the death of the protagonists, as these men are seen as unproductive and discarded by their capitalistic societies.
One of the saddest aspects of Franz Kafka's novella, The Metamorphosis, concerns the fact that young Gregor Samsa genuinely cares about this family, working hard to support them, even though they do little for themselves. On the surface, Kafka's 1916 novella, seems to be just a tale of Gregor morphing into a cockroach, but a closer reading with Marx and Engels' economic theories, unveils an impressive metaphor that gives the improbable story a great deal of relevance to the structure of Marxist society. Gregor, the protagonist, denotes the proletariat, or the working class, and his unnamed manager represents the bourgeoisie. The conflict, that arises between the two after Gregor's metamorphosis, contributes to his inability to work. This expresses the impersonal and dehumanizing structure of class relations.
Mrs. Ramsay sees her role as a helper to men. Mrs. Ramsay feels that she has “the whole of the other sex under her protection”. Men “negotiated treaties, ruled India, controlled finance”. Therefore, Mrs. Ramsay feels that it is her duty to make the home-life easy for men. Men take care of the world, and women take care of men. Mrs. Ramsay pities men, because it seems “as if they lacked something”. A man needs a woman to make his life complete. Mrs. Ramsay notices that Mr. Tansley is left out; so she asks him to accompany her to town. She takes a sincere interest in Mr. Carmichael, asking him if he needs anything. During the dinner, she assumes the responsibility to ensure that everyone is comfortable and that the food is served well.