Fifth Business Summary and Analysis

Author: Roberston Davies

Setting, Plot, and Characters:

Dunstan Ramsay narrates his life in a letter to the headmaster of the school he worked at for years. He begins by telling the story of Mary Dempster. Dunstan’s friend Percy Boyd Staunton throws a snowball at Dunstan and misses, hitting Mary in the back of the head. The pregnant Mary give birth immediately afterwards and seems to suffer a loss of sanity as a result of the hit. While caring for Paul, Mary’s premature son, Dunstan introduces him to magic and is himself introduced to the stories of various saints and gains interest in them. Soon after, Mary is discovered having sex with a tramp in the quarry. Her family and Dunstan are all publicly shamed, and she loses all sense of sanity. Around a year later, Dunstan’s older brother Willie gets very ill. While watching him one day Dunstan percieves that he has died. He runs to Mary, who comes to the house and “resurrects” Willie. While doctors say that Willie was never actually dead, Dunstan adamantly believes that he was, and begins to think of Mary as magical and/or saintly. Right after, Dunstan enlists in the army and goes off to fight in World War I.

At the war, Dunstan is somehow not killed, though he loses his leg in combat. He is nursed back to health by a woman named Diane. Diane and Dunstan begin a relationship, but it doesn’t work out. After being awarded the Victoria Cross from King George V, Dunstan promptly returns home to a hero’s welcome. At the celebration, Percy announces his engagement to Leola Cruikshank, Dunstan’s childhood love. Later, Dunny is informed that Paul ran away from home and Mary has left town for good.

After heading off to college, getting a Master’s in history, and getting a job as a schoolmaster, Dunstan searches for Mary. He finds her in the care of his aunt, and decides to visit and take care of her. Percy changes his name to Boy and becomes incredibly rich. He saves Dunstan from the Great Depression by advising him to sell all of his stock. Dunstan then travels to Europe, where he encounters a much older Paul acting as a magician. Paul becomes angry at Dunstan when he tries to talk to him about his life, and steals his wallet.

Boy gets ungodly rich as a result of the Depression, and Dunstan begins to notice a change in his character. Dunstan is appointed the temporary headmaster of the school he works at during the war. He also writes numerous books on saints, and grows more and more famous in the hagiology field. As the war continues, tensions between Boy and Leola continue to escalate until Leola finally breaks and attempts suicide at the Boy mansion. She barely survives and wastes away for a little while before finally succumbing to pneumonia.

Dunstan travels to Central America in order to research a particular saint. While there, he goes to another magic show and again encounters Paul. Now going under the pseudonym Magnus Eisengrim, Paul has become quite famous, and has started his own circus. Joining him is Leisl, who runs the circus. She is grossly ugly, but at the same time incredibly intelligent and charming. Dunstan assists with the group for a while, but slowly succumbs to depression. Then Leisl tells him his true purpose: he is Fifth Business, the person in the background who comes in at the right time to do something incredibly important.

Dunstan gathers Paul and Boy and reveals to them his greatest secret: the snowball

that Boy threw actually had a rock in it. He then gives the rock to Boy. A little while later, Boy is found dead from an apparent suicide. The rock is in his mouth. Dunstan rejoins Paul’s crew and continues to live his life.

Analysis:

    The novel is told from the first-person perspective by Dunstan. He is definitely not reliable, and hides some aspects of the truth in order to preserve his image. The novel as a whole is very mystical in tone, constantly stressing the magic in everything around us. Dunstan is not the most vivid describer, so the imagery in the novel is kind of muted, much like the world that the novel is set in. Some symbols in the novel include the rock, which represents past misdeeds coming back to confront you, and magic, which represents the wonder in the world that only a select few can truly appreciate.

Cool Quotes:

"He was killed by the usual cabal: by himself, first of all; by the woman he knew; by the woman he did not know; by the man who granted his inmost wish; and by the inevitable fifth, who was the keeper of his conscience and keeper of the stone." (272) -

This is the Brazen Head’s final comment on Boy’s death, and it wraps up the novel as a whole and shows how everyone is affected by everyone they meet.

“If you don't hurry up and let life know what you want, life will damned soon show you what you'll get.”

Percy’s outlook on life, shows how focused he is on personal success.

THEME:

    Davies urges readers to accept the possibility of the unknown despite one’s fears.

The mystical tone of the novel contributes to the idea of the unknown being everywhere around us. The imagery is muted in order to show how the world has rejected the unknown and replaced it with boring stuff.   

   

Response to Course Materials April 19th

The past couple of weeks in AP Lit have been surprisingly laid back, considering the AP is in less than a month and all. We started off by finishing off Frankenstein. Finally. I did not enjoy it at all and I am very happy that it is gone. I couldn’t be done with it soon enough. Honestly I’d much rather we analyzed some movie. Something stupid. Claymation action. Mel Gibson. I really don’t care, as long as it’s not any more Frankenstein.  

    Thankfully, the next thing we read was so much better. In fact, I’d say that Fifth Business is probably my favorite anything we’ve read this entire year. I absolutely loved it. I’m not exactly sure how to explain it though. I really enjoyed the way it was written, for one. Davies has this way of describing things that’s just so great. The characters are another highlight. They’re all massively intricate people, and I really felt like they were so realistic they could be actual people. I’m really enjoying class discussions so far and I’m expecting a solid theme out of first hour.

    Finally, we wrote a couple of in-class essays. While I didn’t exactly enjoy having to write them (because who does?), it was pretty nice to have some feedback on them and see how good my essays actually were. I feel like my essays have dramatically improved since the beginning of the year.

    The AP is too soon.

Frankenstein Summary and Analysis

Author: Mary Shelley

Setting, Plot, and Characters: The story opens with a series of letter from Robert Walton to his sister in England. Eventually, Walton and his crew come across Victor Frankenstein. Once they nurse him back to health, Frankenstein begins to tell his story. He talks about his blissful childhood and singular friend, Henry Clerval. Victor is constantly talking about how perfect his life is and it becomes even more perfect when his parents adopt Elizabeth, then a young girl, to be his future wife. Although Victor enjoys teaching himself, he finally gets to an age where he can go off to college at Ingolstadt. Frankenstein uses his newfound knowledge in order to collect the necessary supplies to create human life. He succeeds in beginning a new life and once he is no longer blinded by his toils, he realizes that he really created a monster and immediately runs away. Clerval comes to join Victor at school and ends up having to care for him after a mental break.

    Soon after, Victor receives word that his younger brother, William was murdered and returns to Geneva. Frankenstein deduces that it was the monster that he created that killed his brother. His neighbor, Justine, is accused of the murder and because Victor fails to come forward she is executed. Frankenstein finds and confronts the monster who explains his entire life since his conception and tells Frankenstein that all he wants is a female companion. Once Victor reluctantly agrees, he goes off on a lengthy trip with Clerval to gather information and generally waste time. After he begins creating the female, though, Frankenstein has second thoughts and destroys his project. The monster, enraged, threatens to “be at his wedding night”.

    Later on, Victor goes on a boat ride and washes up on shore, finding himself accused of Henry’s murder. He spends a few months in prison until his father comes to get him. Upon returning, Victor marries his cousin/sister/family friend Elizabeth with gumption. On their honeymoon, the monster also kills Elizabeth. Victor chases him to the North Pole where he met Walton. Walton finishes the story by sharing that both Frankenstein and the monster die. 

Analysis: Shelley has a very thorough voice. Each character talks in the same way, with a lot of overly long descriptions of any given situation. Her point of view seems very limited. She doesn’t really seem to show any sort of feeling towards the characters, which is very evident of the Victorian era style of writing. The imagery is very detailed, but Shelley’s style of writing is more focused on emotional imagery.

Cool Quotes:

“Much as they were attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me.” (32)

This is a perfect example of both Frankenstein’s extreme narcissism and perceived perfect childhood. He seems to think that he has innumerable qualities that everyone should love him for and basically thinks he can do no wrong. From this quote, it’s easily to see that Victor thinks very highly of himself and the people in his inner circle.

“He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with, and acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature: but I was wretched, helpless, and alone” (170)

In this quote, the monster is comparing himself to Adam and Frankenstein to God. Although Victor was capable of creating life, he did not realize the consequences. This contributes to a big motif of the book: science. Shelley seems to be questioning whether science has surpassed morality and uses the monster as an example. 

THEME: The inaccurate judgment of character based on society’s prejudices contributes toward alienation and unnatural instability.

Many aspects of the work come together to support the theme. The voice and POV are so drab because Shelley sees herself as being above the society that judges a character. Symbols such as windows, which act as physical barriers between metaphysical things such as ideals and moral systems. Shelley focuses so much on emotion because all of the aspects of her theme are emotion-based - from judgement to prejudice to alienation.

Open Prompt pt. 2 April 12th

2005. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess
“That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” In a novel or play that
you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly.
Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and
inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.


     In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Ophelia conforms to society while questioning it inwardly. The difference between what society expects of Ophelia as a young woman and what she actually wants to be eventually leads to her death and contributes to the meaning of the work, moral confusion along with isolation can lead to paranoia and corruption and the upset of the natural order.
     Since Ophelia is a young women in the late middle ages, she has many expectations that she must conform to. For example, she must always listen to what the men in the castle tell her to do. When Polonius warns Ophelia against Hamlet, she immediately cuts all contact with him. Laertes also chides her for being close to Hamlet. Furthermore, when Claudius implores her to spy on Hamlet for him, she complies without argument. Whenever a man tells Ophelia what to do, she must obey him because the nature of the society makes it so she could not survive in the world without one. 
     While Ophelia is constantly following orders, she is divided internally. It is clear that Ophelia has feelings for Hamlet, as shown by the fact that she let him in her closet, but she still follows orders from Polonius and Laertes to stay away from him. The scene where Ophelia is berated by Hamlet shows that Ophelia feels trapped and cannot respond to Hamlet the way she wants to. Eventually, the divide between the expectations and her own reality drives Ophelia mad. In her speech to the court, she discusses taboo topics such as abortion, sex out of wedlock, and adultery. Although Ophelia conforms on the outside, it is obvious that she does not agree with everything she must do. 
     Ophelia's struggle proves the theme of the work. Ophelia experiences moral confusion because she has to choose between the expectations of society and what she feels is right. Since she is not able to leave the castle without a male supervisor, she is totally cut off from the outside world. Both of these factors lead to her insanity and when she kills herself she upsets the natural order. 
     Shakespeare uses Ophelia to demonstrate how the nobility is flawed. This and the struggle between conformity and personal belief help reinforce his theme, that the natural order is agitated when common morality is confused.
 

Open Prompt pt. 1 April 5th

2005. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess
“That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” In a novel or play that
you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly.
Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and
inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.

Response 1:
First of all, this response is nearly impossible to read because the author's handwriting is so bad. The first sentence is awkwardly worded and I find it hard to understand what the author is actually trying to say. However, the author did choose a very good work for this prompt and seems to answer each part of the prompt in their intro, including the meaning of the work which is unusual. The essay is separated into three distinct paragraphs that each have their own argument. Although the author includes a lot of plot summary, they also do a good job of including warrants and analysis. Overall, this is a pretty good essay, albeit slightly wordy.

Response 2:
This essay has a decent introductory paragraph, but the author failed to include the overall meaning of the play. The author does a very good job of answering each part of the prompt in a separate paragraph. They also include solid pieces of evidence to explain their points, but their analysis is lacking slightly. The conclusion wraps up the essay nicely and adds new information, however it would be helpful if the author included the theme of the work in one succinct sentence rather than over a few sentences. There are a few small grammatical errors in the essay, like the way the author denotes the play by quotation marks rather than an underline. Although this essay is a little short, it does a nice job of answering each part of the prompt and utilizing good pieces of evidence.

Response 3:
In the intro, the author repeats the exact sentence used in the prompt. They go on to explain how the character conforms to society, but not how she questions internally. The author also does not do a very good job of using the literary present and often switches between tenses. All of the body paragraphs stick to mere plot summary with no actual analysis whatsoever. Finally, the conclusion just restates exactly what was said in the first paragraph. The author pretty much summarizes every single thing that happens in the book without relating it to the prompt or analyzing the meaning. Overall, this essay is rushed and underdeveloped. It seems as if there was no planning involved because the author just separates the plot into arbitrary paragraphs.