Fifth Business (pages 163-180)

Summary Dunstan goes to dinner with Padre Blazon many times to learn about saints, and questions whether Mrs. Dempster is a saint. Dunstan visits Mrs. Dempster in the mental hospital, but continues to feel guilty about putting her there in the first place. Dunstan spends a lot of time with the Stauntons because he is curious to see what is going on in Boys life. Dunstan thinks that Boy does not treat Leola very kindly, but does not do much about it. Boy acts dissatisfied being with Leola, as if she is not good enough for him. When Dunstan arrives for Christmas dinner, he makes a snarky comment to Boy about his Abdication, which makes Boy angry. Boy says he is going for a walk, and when Leola grabs his coat, she finds a note from a woman with which Boy is having an affair. Leola starts crying and eventually goes to her room, where she tries to seduce Dunstan. Dunstan leaves, but soon gets a call from the childrens nurse saying that there is an emergency and she needs him to come back to the Stauntons. When Dunstan returns to Leolas room, he finds out that she tried to commit suicide by slitting her wrists, and left a suicide note confessing her love for him.

Ideas/Themes Religion Dunstan is obsessed with finding out about many different saints. He is convinced Mrs. Dempster is a saint for bringing his brother Willie back to life after he died of his sickness, and for saving his life when he was on the battlefield. Morals Dunstan spends a lot of time questioning his decisions (whether or not he did the right thing), and he does not get over things easily when he feels he made the wrong choice, ie. Dunstan feels guilty about putting Mary in a mental hospital. Snowball effect Leola marries Boy instead of Dunstan, and tries to commit suicide because she is unhappy with her marriage and always loved Dunstan. Miracles Mrs. Dempsters miracles and Padre Blazons view of miracles Oh, miracles! They happen everywhere. They are conditionalLife itself is too great a miracle for us to make so much fuss about potty little reversals of what we pompously assume to be the natural order. pg. 166 Style Dunstan asks many questions, which are often followed by a direct response. By asking and then promptly answering these questions, it characterizes Dunstan as someone who feels the need to justify his actions. These questions also address some of the readers questions, and by answering them directly, it makes the story more coherent:

Are you wondering: Why didnt he go to Boy Staunton and ask for money to put Mrs. Dempster in a better place, on the grounds that she was a Deptford woman in need, if not because of Stauntons part in making her what she was? There is no simple reply. pg. 172 Do you ask: If he couldnt afford to put the woman in a private hospital, or get her into a private patients section of a government hospital, how did he pay for those jaunts abroad every summer? pg. 172 Did I do all that I could? It seemed so to me, and certainly it was not my intention to join my saint in the madhouse, as Blazon had threatened, by making myself a mere appendage to her sickness. pg. 172 Why did I accept a place that I now describe in such terms? Because I was tirelessly curious to see how Boy was getting on, to begin with. pg. 173 Little David must be manly in all things; I remember a noisy row he had with Leola when she allowed the child to have a Highlander doll; did she want to make his son a sissy? pg. 174 Whether she knew it or not, this was an invitation that might lead to much more. Was the story of Gyges and Candaules to have the ending in which Gyges takes his friends wife? No; upon the whole I thought not. pg. 179 Of course I didnt love her. Why would I? It had been at least ten years since I had thought of her with anything but pity. pg. 179 Fool, fool, fool! Thinking only of herself and putting me in an intolerable position with such a note. If she had died, how would it have sounded at an inquest? pg. 180

Allusion to Gyges and King Candaules (pg.179): King Candaules thinks his wife is so lovely that he asks Gyges if he will see her naked. Gyge is horrified at the question, and declines. The king persists, and Gyges finally consents to the idea. King Candaules tells Gyges to hide behind the bedroom door and watch his wife after she takes her clothes off. However, the queen catches Gyes and gives him two options: either kill the king and seize the throne with her as his wife, or be killed himself. Gyges chooses the first option, and does the deed. - Gyges and King Candaules is name of chapter 4 - In this allusion, Boy is seen as King Candaules because he is powerful, not loyal to his wife, and resented by his wife for doing her wrong. Dunstan is Gyges because he is weak, and goes along with what Boy says. Characterization of Leola, Dunstan, and Boy - Leola was never told that she was the prettiest woman in the room. Boys usual attitude toward her was one of chivalrous patience, with a discernible undertone of exasperation. She loved him abjectly, but she was the one person on whom he spent none of his sexual force except in the negative form of bullying. pg. 174 - I had made my bed and I intended to lie on it, and there was no room for Leola in it. pg. 179 (humorous, blunt) Descriptive writing Dunstan uses a lot of detail when explaining an event, but also comments on how the event affects him or what he thinks of it.