In Robertson Davies' novel Fifth Business, the
author uses the events that occurred in Deptford as a Canadian Allusion to
reveal character identity. Three
characters in the novel from Deptford: Boy Staunton, Dunstan Ramsey and Paul
Dempster, leave Deptford to embark on a new identity to rid of their horrid
past. The three main characters of the
novel, all of whom to some extent try to escape their small town background,
change their identity to become people of consequence. All in some way take on
a new identity. Imbedded in this transformation is the assumption that one's
original self, especially one's small town origins, must be discarded before
one can become significant in the world.
Firstly, Paul Dempster grows up as an outcast
in Deptford, his mother's 'simpleness' leading the tight social world of the
town to cast out his whole family and force's Paul to leave the town and create
a new image for himself. Paul runs away
to the circus in his early teens because of the mental abuse he took from the
town because of his mothers incident with the tramp. Dunstable comment's, "Paul was not a
village favorite, and the dislike so many people felt for his mother - dislike
for the queer and persistently unfortunate - they attached to the unoffending
son," (Davies' 40) illustrates how the town treated Paul because of his
mother's actions. Paul leaves his past
because of the actions displaced by his mother and the guilt he feels because
his "birth was what robbed her of her sanity," (Davies' 260) explains
why Paul left Deptford. However, while
Boy merely tries to ignore his Deptford past, Paul tries to create a completely
new one and Paul asks Dunstan to write an autobiography that "in general
terms that he was to be a child of the Baltic vastness, reared perhaps by
gnomelike Lapps after the death of his explorer parents, who were probably
Russians of high birth." (Davies' 231).
The scenery of this autobiography seems significantly Canadian, but Paul
does not want his book to represent his past life in Deptford. Therefore, Paul Dempster is a troubled child
because of his mother's actions in Deptford which in turn force Paul to leave
Deptford and to create a new identity for himself.
Secondly, Dunstable Ramsey is haunted by the
guilt of Mary Dempster over his entire life and he must create a new identity
for himself. After a rock has hit Mary
in the head (in a snowball thrown by Boy Staunton meant for Ramsay), and her
preacher husband is crying over her, young Ramsay's only thought is that he is
"Watching a 'scene', and my parents had always warned against scenes as
very serious breaches of propriety." (Davies' 39) The actions of Mary
bewilder Dunstan because Mary committed a serious crime in Deptford. Later in life Dunstan falls in love with his
nurse named Diana who renames him after Saint Dunstan, who is "Mad about
learning, terribly stiff and stern and scowly, and an absolute wizard at
withstanding temptation." (Davies' 93)
His new name does not replace his old identity, but rather makes him
double-named and double-identified.
Therefore, Dunstan changes his name to set forth on a new identity and
he never forgets his Deptford past and in fact he becomes obsessed with it,
particularly with Mary Dempster, mainly through guilt about his role in Mary
getting hit by Boy's snowball.
Thirdly, Percy Boyd Staunton is at the center
of the snowball incident which is the prime mover in the action of the novel
which force's Percy to allow the incident to suppress his memory and leave
Deptford to create a new identity for himself.
He moves to Toronto and inherits the family sugar business and drops a
letter from his middle name, becoming "Boy" Staunton, and begins to
build a new ruling-class identity for his renamed self. "As Ramsay explains, "he was always
the quintessence of something that somebody else had recognized and
defined," (Davies' 147) his new identity allows Boy to start a new life
and leave Deptford in the past. Also,
Boy brings with him into his new life his Deptford wife Leola, whom he tries to
change into "the perfect wife for a rising young entrepreneur in
sugar." (Davies' 151) She cannot
lose her small-town background as well as Boy, and she falls by the wayside,
eventually committing suicide. Although,
Boy is the antagonist character of the novel, his new identity embraces him as
one of the most powerful men in Canada, but he will always hold the guilt from
the snowball incident which occurred in Deptford.
To conclude, the actions that occurred in
Deptford change the whole basis of the novel.
Thus while Boy and Magnus have taken on new identities and tried to
displace their old ones, Dunstan takes on a new identity that complements the
old. All three leading characters leave
Deptford to change their life, but the spirit of the little town in Southern
Ontario remains with them forever.
Bibliography
Davies,
Robertson. Fifth Business. Canada: Penguin Books, 1977.
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