Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
It’s probably best to start by explaining the title as it is central for the way the reader thinks about the main character and narrator. This first person narrator, who is giving us an account of his life, is Dunstan Ramsey, a retired teacher of history at a private boys school in Canada. Here is the explanation of the title which Robertson reveals towards the end of the story: "Those roles which, being neither those of Hero nor Heroine, Confidante nor Villain, but which were nonetheless essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement, were called the Fifth Business in drama and opera companies organized according to the old style; the player who acted these parts was often referred to as Fifth Business." Apparently, this isn’t a traditional term for such a character, Robertson made it up. Nevertheless, I’m sure we can all think about books, films and plays we’ve consumed where we have encountered a character who served this function.
Let me say straightway that someone who gives such a detailed account of their life as Dunstan does probably doesn’t see himself as the fifth business. This is underlined at the start of this account: Dunstan sends a letter to his old headmaster with this autobiography; he explains in an irritated and frustrated manner that he intends to set the record straight having been disgusted by the report of his retirement ceremony. Dunstan repudiates the stereotypical and sentimental lauding of his career as a Mr Chips figure. I’m with Dunstan about this. We only know ourselves in any real sense and our story must seem the main story. However, like most reasonable people Dunstan gradually understands that his story is just one of many main plot lines. That being the case, we are left to ponder whether he has lived his life as someone on the periphery who has shown more interest in his friends’ lives than his own – something he is accused of having done towards the end of the book.
I imagine that other characters believe he may be the fifth business because of the way this account presents his private life as being lived in the service of other people’s stories. Yet, if one looks at the events of his long life, it seems to have more than its fair share of interest and import. He was a hero in the first world war gaining a VC and losing a leg. He moved away for his small community with its religious orthodoxy and eventually took on the role of headteacher at a well-respected private school – I may be accused of special pleading here. And on top of that he became a published author of scholarly books about the lives of the saints. So, just in career terms, he can be said to have made something of his life.
In personal terms, he has one or two, romantic near misses and enough liaisons to satisfy his physical needs. His big romantic moment occurs early in the book as he is recuperating from the loss of his leg in a military hospital. There is no drama, however, as he and his love amicably agree, with an inappropriate level of rationality, that perhaps it is best for them not to proceed into marriage. So, at the end of the book as he enters old age, he has no wife and family.
Nevertheless, there is no sense of pity or sadness in Dunstan’s account. He contentedly leads his life, with annual adventures abroad every summer as he undertakes his research about the lives of the saints. He conducts his life with a certain control and struck me as one of those people who are self-sufficient and find pleasure in structured activities – I have some of those tendencies myself. Further colour is added to his life through his successful friend from childhood, Percy Boyd ‘Boy’ Staunton, who introduces Dunstan to the movers and shakers of Canadian society during the mid-twentieth century at a range of social events. This may, of course, account for his fifth business role but, then again, most of us have to accept that we are not always the most important person in the room.
As you can see, I am not convinced that Dunstan lives his life at the service of more important, vital people. However, you may have a different view when I provide a few details about his early life in Deptford. The first major event in the book occurs when he is walking home from school with his bigger, richer friend, Boy – yes, him again. Frustrated that his taunting does not receive any reaction from Dunstan, Boy throws a snowball at him. Dunstan, as ever aware of where he is and who is near him, ducks and the snowball hits Mary Dempster, the pregnant wife of Reverend Amasa Dempster.
This one incident has huge significance for everyone involved. The shock causes Mary to give birth prematurely. Dunstan, with a sense of guilt and curiosity, befriends Mary and her son Paul whose development is initially impaired. However, later in life Paul becomes one of the world’s greatest magicians and, once again, his life becomes intrinsically entwined with Dunstan’s. Boy quickly forgets the incident and continues his life of privilege marrying Deptford’s beauty and forging ahead in business and politics. He never leaves Dunstan behind, though, with numerous social invitations and financial guidance that particularly helps Dunstan during the Wall Street Crash. We’re left to ponder, nevertheless, whether this is a real friendship or simply a case of one man who needs a pet friend and another who needs a vital friend to add pizzazz to his own life.
Mary’s life takes a downward spiral after the snowball incident. There is a powerfully described incident when she goes missing before being discovered in scandalous circumstances. Thereafter, her previous eccentricities become characterised in Deptord, a small-minded, restrictive community, as a despised combination of moral laxity and feeble-mindedness. Yet Dunstan stands by her through his own strange mixture of guilt and mystical thinking about her influence on his fortunes. He cares for her into old age even after her own son abandons her. Eventually, everything in this story comes back to Mary and the snowball.
My rather brief account of the book’s plot may lead you to conclude that perhaps Dunstan does lead a life at the service of other characters and events. Well, that is because I have left out huge chunks about the events in this book. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the dramatic ending shrouded in mystery. More importantly, I want to emphasise how interesting is Dunstan’s take on his world, the people he meets and his reflection on his own reaction to all these things. He has a unique take on the things happening around him and to him and others. Part of the pleasure for the reader is deciding how reliable these perceptions are. Each event and character encountered are filtered through Dunstan’s distinct perspective and the reader must examine his conclusions carefully. At my book group, I described this quality as making the story a page turner. Others weren’t so sure. All I can say, though, is that for an ostensibly straightforward autobiographical account of a fairly normal life, I was fascinated and entertained. I think this is a splendid book. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the endless symbolic interpretations that critics have pondered in the fifty years since it was written. That’s the thing with this book, though: it forces the reader to actively engage with the complexities of what people think and feel.