Summary:
In the novel Fifth Business, Dunstable Ramsay is Robertson Davies as a person. Robertson Davies grew up in a religious Presbyterian family and Davies' father was a lone newspaper publisher while his son Robertson was both a teacher and writer just as Dunstable Ramsay was.
In the novel Fifth Business, Dunstable Ramsay is Robertson Davies as a person. Robertson Davies grew up in a religious Presbyterian family and Davies' father was a lone newspaper publisher while his son Robertson was both a teacher and writer just as Dunstable Ramsay was. If you read any biography on Robertson Davies you are able to find proof of Davies' identity being almost exact to Ramsay's. It is made quite clear that the novel is a metaphor for aspects of Robertson Davies' life.
When Robertson Davies was growing up, his mother was a strict Presbyterian woman. His father, a Welsh was sent to Canada earlier on becoming a senator and a newspaperman. A strict mother figure was crucial as well as influential to the way Robertson Davies acted and viewed the world around him while maturing in such a time period. If R.D. was not raised this way it would have had an enormous impact on how the novel Fifth Business was written and it may have never even been written at all.
Many people believe each event can change a life drastically. An impact to write a novel may have never come to R.D. and he may not have become a good writer. To write well it is essential to have inspiration. Without this inspiration all you will have is information.
It was proven how strict Ramsay's Presbyterian mother was the night she beat him. To beat someone you have love for questions whether you love them or just desire control over them. After this beating, Dunstan was never as close to his mother as earlier on in the novel. He never again felt the same respect he had for his mother at a younger age. It is understandable that he felt he could no long trust or have faith in his mother to be a good parents towards him. The question of whether a parent just needs control can often be imposed but cannot convince others how serious a beating can be as it may signify control issues in the abuser.
At earlier times Ramsay's mother seemed to have love for him while being grateful she has him as a son. It is possible that when she beat Dunny her stress had gotten the best of her. This being said, she could have thought before reacting because actions speak louder than words. It was a factor to consider that Mrs. Ramsay could have thought before she acted but she failed to do so which puts her at fault. These actions resulted in her son distancing himself from her.
Dunstable Ramsay's father was publisher of the newspaper in the town of Deptford. This was how his father had been known around their small town. Robertson Davies' father was the senator and a newspaperman also in a small town. As a newspaperman, he had read and written a lot and encouraged his son to do the same. Soon Robertson Davies was reading whatever he could get his hands on just as his father had done.
Being such a great writer, Robertson Davies was the literary editor at Saturday Night Magazine. Two years later Davies' had become the editor of the Peterborough Examiner. Along with two other family members Robertson Davies owned and operated the Kingston Whig-Standard newspaper. In his lifetime, Davies published eighteen books, his own plays and wrote articles for journals. Davies continued writing up until his death in 1995.
In Fifth Business, D.R. wrote many books just as R.D. did during his life. Ramsay also wrote biographies and accepted every chance he had to write. In this aspect, Davies and Ramsay are a lot alike. It is no coincidence that the two are both writers and would attempt to write any type of literature they could and later being successful.
In 1963 Robertson Davies became the Master of Massey College. Davies was a teacher at the University of Toronto until 1981. In the novel Dunstable Ramsay is the Master at Colborne College. This is a remarked similarity as they were both Masters at colleges.
It is surprising if you think about it how much this novel really is a biography of Robertson Davies' life. The similarities are endless and if you personally knew Davies there would probably be many more similarities you could find. The obvious common interests and life events include the Presbyterian religion, Davies' father being a newspaperman, the reversal of the initials R and D, and both human being and character being school teachers and writers. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that this novel was written as certain aspects of Robertson Davies' life story.
This is the complete article, containing 764 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
