Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business is a novel rich in interesting and unusual characters, whose names play an essential role in the progression of the story. When the life of a character takes a new turn, changing his or her name can help demonstrate that a character is undergoing a chance in identity. Characters change their names in order to reinvent themselves, escape from their pasts, and highlight internal desires.
First off, the desire to reinvent oneself is widespread in this novel. Davies uses the changing of names as a form of symbolic rebirth, and indicates its importance when he titles the second chapter of the novel – in which Dunny changes his name – as, “I Am Born Again” (60). A new name demonstrates a turning point in the story,
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and the author skillfully foreshadows events in Dunny’s life, by giving him the same name as St. Dunstan. An example of this application is when Diana tells Dunny, “Why don't you change it to Dunstan? ... Do you know that the Devil once came to tempt him…, and he caught her nose in his goldsmith’s tongs and gave it a terrible twist? (85). When, Dunny finds himself in a similar situation with Liesl, later on in the novel, he also twists her nose and resists her temptations. By resisting Liesl, Dunny reinvents himself as Dunstan. Additionally, we learn that Dunny enjoys the newfound freedom of having a different name, as it makes him feel liberated. “I liked the idea of a new name, it suggested a new found freedom and a new personality” (86). By changing his name, Dunny reorients himself and raises his self-confidence. Second of all, characters change their names in order to escape from their pasts, as they feel they have experienced unpleasant moments in their youth.
Dunny shares his envy at Boy’s ability to forget what happened in their hometown when he says, “I had tried to get Deptford out of my head, just as Boy had done, and for the same reason; I wanted a new life” (127). Boy Staunton is the most successful in his escape from the dark events that took place in Deptford. In fact, his escape from the past largely begins once he acquires his new name. Although Boy never acknowledges his role in Mrs. Dempster’s decline, his new name marks a clean slate, also enabling Davies to use characterization to reinforce Boy’s claim of having forgotten his misdeeds. Furthermore, when Dunny meets Boy after the war, he expresses how well suited the new name is, “He was now Boy Staunton, and it suited him admirably…” (102). Besides his new name, Dunny describes Boy as a ‘marvel’ who does not mirror his charmless parents in the least (103). The ambitious personality that accompanies Boy’s fresh identity is another example of his escape from the past. Essentially, Boy’s change in name and personality aides his escape from the misdeeds he has committed in the
past. Lastly, characters change their names in efforts to highlight internal desires, and Paul Dempster’s accomplishments are vivid reflections of those desires. From the moment he was born, Paul’s life was a snowball turned avalanche. His small appearance made it easy for Boy to bully him. However, it pushed Paul to desire greatness and mystery. When he goes on and becomes a magician, his stage names, “Magnus Eisengrim” and “Faustus Legrand” become concrete allusions of his desire for greatness. Furthermore, Davies uses these names to create irony, as Dunstan mentions when attending Paul’s show in Mexico, “It was certainly not the role in which I had expected to re-encounter Paul Demspter” (192). Paul’s efforts to actualize his desires are further exhibited when he asks Dunny to write a fictional biography about his life. He wants to be remembered as someone other than a premature rural Canadian runaway who found refuge in a grim circus. Dunny helps Paul fulfill his fixation with greatness and admits “Liesl always wanted to know how I was getting on…and what lies I was concocting to turn Paul Dempster into a northern wizard” (207). Once more, Dunny makes Paul’s obsession with greatness more evident when he says, “ … his [Paul’s] mind is always on his public personality, and on the illusions over which he fussed psychologically…” (210). Essentially, Paul uses name changing in order to accentuate his inner most desires. In conclusion, when characters in Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business change their names, it marks an important turning point in the storyline. It enables characters to demonstrate changes they are undergoing in the efforts to reinvent themselves, escaped from their pasts and highlight their internal desires. Essentially, their new names define who they truly believe they are.
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.
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
The production of Honky is a satirical comedy, following the lives of five people and the language of racism. While it focuses on the plot of 5 characters, the storyline was well thought out and intriguing. One actor in specific, Gerard Joseph, who played Thomas, did an exceptionally well job at conveying emotion and projecting to the audience, in my opinion. The overall directing, from the actors to the soundtrack and lightning, seem to be presented with excellent detail. Overall, this production was well done.
Ever since the snowball accident Dunny has been preoccupied by worrying over Mary Dempster, and now her son Paul. At the age of sixteen the small town of Deptford becomes too much for Dunny to handle so he decides to drop out of secondary school and join the Army. Dunny needed a change in his life, something to get his mind off Mrs. Dempster and the guilt he felt for her. Leading up to his departure to the War he never really saw much of Mary, mainly because Mr. Dempster told him to stay away, but also because every time him saw her he couldn't hold back feelings of guilt and remorse. This troubled Dunny, much more then he would ever let on. On the other hand, Boy was doing as well as ever, possibly due to the fact that he knew that much of the responsibility of Mary and Paul was securely on the shoulders of Dunny. Dunny knew this as well but it was too late to do much about it except leave.
Fate and my own character for the vital though the never glorious role of Fifth Business!” (Davies, 7)
Award-winning author Mandy Hale once stated, “Without negativity, life would be amazing.” However, this statement does not always prove to be true. Today’s modern community generates a judgement that negative experiences will ruin your life, but studies show that negativity can actually result in positive change. For example, negativity can positively change teenagers actions, introduce teenager’s to more supportive environments, and help fix broken relationships.
At an early age of five, Amory was already his mother’s companion; they set off to see the country in his father’s car up to he reached the age of ten. The life Beatrice and Amory were living, was not quite conventional, they are separate from most people, but unique and quite distinct from the other wealthy people around them. Beatrice was a sophisticated and well educated woman and who ensured Amory grew up the same. These are things which set him apart from his peers.
Twice-born is the idea of a person changing into someone new or to develop further into who they should be. An easy way to change the character is by changing the character’s name. A name can resemble so much of who the character is. In the novel, Fifth Business written by Robertson Davies, there are three characters who are considered to be twice-born. These characters move from their small hometown of Deptford into bigger places in the world. The change of setting shows their growth and development. These characters are Paul Dempster, Percy Staunton, and Dunstan Ramsay.
Experience is the hidden inspiration in all of literature. Every letter, word, and sentence formed, every plot imagined, and every conflict conceived has a trace amount of its creator’s past ingrained within it. But most of all, authors reflect themselves in the characters they create. The protagonist of any story embodies certain traits and qualities of his or her creator; the virtues and vices, ambitions and failures, strengths and weaknesses of an author are integral parts of their characters lives. When authors’ experiences differ, so do their characters, as seen with Welty and King. Both authors had distinct upbringings, each with their own forms of hardship. The contrasting nature of these authors’ struggles is why their characters are the antithetical. As a result of these
Munro’s invention of an unnamed character symbolized the narrator’s lack of identity, compared to her younger brother, who was given the name Laird, which is a synonym for “Lord”. These names were given purposely by Munro to represent how at birth the male child was naturally considered superior to his sister.
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Another way some characters lose some of their identity is in their name. In many of her works women who were married were often referred to as Mrs. –. This would have been a proper way to address the woman at the time, but it gives the character only one identity. The story is about them and finding identity, but they are defined by their husband's name. The characters are supposedly going through this change, they are still tied to their identity as a married woman, and while they reflect on their younger selves, they aren't tied to that person anymore. This shows that as much as they are going through a discovery of identity, it is fleeting, and they never truly change. It is also often that their ...
In the “Prodigal”, the boy whom the speaker is addressing to yearns to accomplish his own goals by leaving his hometown behind and entering the urbanized world that is filled with endless opportunities and possibilities, including “[becoming] an artist of the provocative gesture”, “wanting the world and return carrying it”, and “[reclaiming] Main Street in a limo.” However, despite all these ambitious opportunities the boy wishes to pursue, he is ultimately unable to alter the perception of others who are the most familiar with his character. Rather, the people who are the most acquainted with the boy will perceive him with the same view as in the past. The thought of a newly changed boy that embraced a completely different identity while accomplishing several achievements, is incapable of affecting their perception of the past young boy from the county. This is illustrated when the speaker describes that even if the boy “stood in the field [he’d] disappear” and was still “aiming [his] eyes down the road” of opportunity, in the eyes of people who are most familiar with him, they will be unable to acknowledge this significantly changed individual. In complete contrast with those who are most familiar with him are others who are unfamiliar with his past. These individuals, whom the boy must have encountered while achieving his accomplishments,
The issue of identity is of primary importance in the cosmopolitan today’s world characterized by blending of cultures and globalization processes. Identity is a construct: the ways an individual understands what it is to belong to a certain gender, race or culture. As Jonathan Culler says “Literature has not only made identity a theme; It has played a significant role in the construction of the identity of the readers. Literary works encourage identification with characters by showing things from their point of view” (2005: 112). In this regard there is a lot of theoretical debate that concerns the nature of ‘subject’ or ‘self’. The question about the ‘subject’ is ‘what am I?’ and further the question whether the identity of the ‘subject’ ‘something given’ or ‘something constructed’ has
The Bildungsroman genre entails a character’s formative years and his or her development from childhood. The characters from this type of novel recall, in detail, past relationships and experiences that impacted the characters growth, maturity, and exemplar for their relationships with other characters. An important component to Bildungsroman novels is the concentration on the characters childhood (Gottfried & Miles, 122). In Jane Eyre and David Copperfield, both characters childhoods were despondent. Both characters experience the loss of a parent: Jane is a literal orphan; David’s loss is metaphorical, then literal. When Jane Eyre begins, Jane has already lost both parents and is under the guardianship of her aunt, Sarah Reed. Reed and her children, Jane’s cousins, are abusive to Jane and never accept Jane as family. Jane has lost both parents and with the death of her uncle, Sarah’s husband and an advocate for Jane, Jane is without any caring relationship. In addition to being without affection, Jane must endure torment. It is this lack of adoration that leads Jane to seek acceptance throughout her life, while attempting t...