Fifth Business: Guilt and Forgiveness

Fifth Business: Guilt and Forgiveness

  • Submitted By: raesimone
  • Date Submitted: 01/11/2009 12:06 PM
  • Category: Psychology
  • Words: 601
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 1688

The theme of guilt and forgiveness is woven deep within the pages Fifth Business, and circulates through its three key characters: Dunstan, Boy, and Magnus. Boy Staunton doesn’t share Dunstan’s guilt for the “snowball incident” Denies it was anything but Dunstan getting hit with a snowball from the moment he is asked about it. “I threw a snowball at you, and I guess it gave you a good smack.” (pg.23) During the meeting with Magnus and Dunstan, it is revealed to Boy that he is partially responsible for Mrs. Dempster going crazy, and Paul’s premature birth. Doesn’t appear to feel guilty. First words are “too bad”. (pg263) “I threw the snowball … it precipitated something which was probably going to happen anyhow. The difference between us is that you’ve brooded over it and I’ve forgotten it.” (pg263) When shown the stone he placed in the snowball, no remorse was seen in his words. The mystery of his death is the real question about his guilt One theory about Boy’s death is that he was “murdered” but was under the power of Magnus’ hypnosis when he drove him to his hotel and ordered to drive off of the pier which his vehicle was found by. However, if this were true, that would mean that Boy did in fact feel guilty about the accident with Mrs. Dempster, because while under hypnosis, a person can not do anything they do not already wish to do. Dunstable Ramsay First experience of guilt is felt by Dunstan because of the “snowball incident” This guilt would continue to affect him throughout the rest of the novel “… even now I hesitate to recall some of the nights when I feared to go to sleep and prayed till I sweated that God would forgive me for my mountainous crime.” (pg22) Allows this guilt o affect much of his life and his choices, even going as far as inconveniencing himself by taking Mrs. Dempster under his care after he aunt passes away to “atone” for his...

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