Dunny Takes The Fifth

Dunny Takes The Fifth

The roles which, being neither those of Hero nor Heroine, Confidante

nor Villain, but which were none-theless essential to bring about the

Recognition or the denoument...Fifth Business, as defined in the book. The

book Fifth Business is testimony of events in the life of the main character

Dunstable (later renamed Dunstan) Ramsay. Dunstan feels that his whole

life has been spent as the "fifth business" in the lives of others. There is a lot

of truth and relevance

to this. Dunstan was the "fifth business" in the lives

Paul and Mary Dempster, and Boy Staunton because he altered their lives

without it ever being distinctly for the better or worse.

Dunstan Ramsay was the "fifth business" in the life of Paul Dempster.

Dunstan had a great deal of impact on the life of Paul even before his birth, at

the simple toss of a snowball. If Dunstan wouldn't have had the instinct to

move out of the path of the "snowball", that caused him so much mental

anguish in the future, then Paul would not have been born premature and

almost still. Ramsay took it upon himself to educate Paul, though the

material he used to do this with was highly unheard of, in order to help

reduce some of the guilt Dunstan still had with Pauls birth. This new interest

of magic and saints is what later led Paul to chose the path he did when he

ran away from home. Dunstan greatly altered Pauls life without it ever

serving more than the purpose of just moving his life along.

A lot of the events that changed Pauls life also effected that of Mary

Dempster. The same "snowball" that caused the premature birth of Paul also

greatly altered the life of Mary. Mary suffered mentally and was said to have

gone "simple"(24) after Pauls shockingly sudden birth. Dunstan's daily visits

to Mary Dempster seemed to help Reverend Amasa Dempster cope with his

wife's illness. If it wasn't for work that Dunny did for Mary then the

Reverend would not have been so ignorant of his wife's condition for such a

long time. Ramsay had a large effect on Mary's life without his