Aaron Valles
Ms. Valdez
ENG4U1-01
Friday, December 13th 2018
Characters That Had a Major Impact on Dunstan’s Life
Many of the characters in the novel, The Fifth Business, hugely impacted the protagonist,
Dunstan, throughout the novel. Personally, I believe that Mary Dempster and Liesl, both majorly
impacted Dunstan’s life. First off, Mary Dempster and Liesl both helped Dunstan fulfill his destiny
of Fifth Business, in their own different ways. Mary Dempster was characterized as more like
another mother to Dunstan, in which she also thought him many valuable lessons throughout his
childhood and adolescence. Liesl on the other hand, plays a vital role in Dunstan’s development
and psychological rebirth, towards the ending of the novel, as she helps him rediscover his body,
his emotions, and himself. Without Mary Dempster and Liesl, Dunstan would not be the same man
he turned out to be. He would not have joined the army to become a brave and independent man
and he would not have fulfilled his role and destiny of achieving fifth business.
Without Mary Dempster, Dunstan would have lived a completely different life. Dunstan
would not have turned into the independent and brave man he is right now, but indeed a normal
man with a normal life. Dunstan states, “I had made her what she was, and in such
circumstances, I must hate her or love her.” This quote shows us how he felt guilty for all the
suffering he caused Mary Dempster and it shows us how instead of hating her, Dunstan chose the
love path in which he chose to be her guardian. Dunstan believes that Mary Dempster is capable
of preforming miracles, and he himself marks three; bringing his brother Willie Ramsey back to
life, saving himself on the battlefield during WWI, and finally, changing the life of the tramp. "It
is very easy to say what I should have done. I can only record what I did do. From the catastrophe
of realizing that Willie was dead... I passed quickly into strong revolt... And without giving a
thought to calling the doctor, I set out on the run to fetch Mrs. Dempster." (53). With this quote,
we can see how dependent Dunstan was on Mary Dempster. Dunstan ran straight to Mary
Dempster, instead of calling the doctors, which shows us the amount of love, trust and it truly
shows us how much Mary Dempster has impacted Dunstan’s life. Therefore, we can see how Mary
Dempster remains a powerful presence in Dunstan’s psyche and how she impacted his life and
helped him in some way fulfill his destiny of Fifth Business.
Liesl guides Dunstan to the darker shadows of his soul causing him to explore "his shadow
self" and embrace his dark side which helps him reach individuation. Liesl, plays a vital role in
Dunstan’s development and psychological rebirth, towards the ending of the novel, as she helps
him rediscover his body, his emotions, and himself. Before meeting Liesl, Dunstan was a very
monotone man who enjoyed studying sainthood. Upon meeting Liesl, Dunstan was told to explore
“his shadow self” which is an unconscious aspect of personality where the ego does not identify
itself. Liesl helps Dunstan with his psychological rebirth in which leads him to rediscover his body,
his emotions, and himself. “With such a gargoyle! And yet never have I known such deep delight
or such an aftermath of healing tenderness!” (231). This is said by Dunstan, after Liesl and himself
get intimate with each other. Dunstan states that Liesl provided such healing tenderness to him and
therefore, this shows us how Liesl impacted Dunstan’s life greatly and helped him fulfill his
destiny of Fifth Business.
Mary Dempster and Liesl were both major impacts on Dunstan’s life. They each helped
him fulfill his destiny of Fifth Business and to find his true self, each in their own unique ways.
When Dunstan was young, Mary Dempster was there by his side. Dunstan felt attached to her and
felt that he loved her so much that he couldn’t let go or forget about her. Dunstan believes that
Mary Dempster is capable of preforming miracles, and he himself marks three; bringing his brother
Willie Ramsey back to life, saving himself on the battlefield during WWI, and finally, changing
the life of the tramp. On the battlefield in World War I, Dunstan suffered an injury. He is seen
crawling into a broken down abandoned church. Thinking he is going to die, he looks around and
he sees Mary Dempster's face on a statue of the Virgin Mary. His period of unconsciousness that
follows helps him to believe that Mrs. Dempster is a saint that miraculously protected him and
helped him survive the war. This helps Dunstan find his true self. On the other hand, Liesl helps
and supports Dunstan with his development and psychological rebirth. Liesl explains to Dunstan
that he is the Fifth Business and she expresses to him that he must accept his dark side in order to
reach individuation in which Dunstan does and untimely fulfills his destiny of Fifth Business.
Dunstan was a lost and emotionally void man. Dunstan carried the weight of Paul
Dempster’s premature birth on his shoulders his entire life. It portrays his quest for selfknowledge, happiness, and ultimately fulfilling his role as ‘Fifth Business.’ This would not have
accomplished without
Liesl, an extremely graceful and intelligent woman imprisoned inside a deformed and gargantuan
body. Liesl plays a vital role in Dunstan’s development and psychological rebirth, as she helps
him rediscover his body, his emotions, and himself.
Dunstan first literally loses a part of himself in the war, when he wakes up six months after
falling into a coma to the realization that he has lost his leg. This event played a gigantic role in
Dunstan’s loss of self, as it would anybody who loses a limb. He first experiences uneasiness
about his injury when he and Diana become lovers, the woman who nursed him back to life after
the war, as he compares his “scarred and maimed body with her unblemished beauty” (82).
Dunstan has a few sexual encounters after Diana, but they all end with the women leaving quite
frustrated and annoyed, as he uses his sense of humor in the bedroom to cover up his feelings of
physical inadequacy. “I could not forget my brownish-red nubbin where one leg should have
been, and a left side that looked like the crackling of a roast” (117). This feeling of shortcoming
is possibly the reason why Dunstan does not give himself completely over to a woman to be
loved, or maybe because he does not take women very seriously; not until he meets Liesl, that is.
Dunstan initially falls in love with the beautiful Faustina and is overcome with this boyish and
unexplainable obsession for her, until he unexpectedly finds Faustina and Liesl entangled in a
passionate and shocking embrace. It was this that began Dunstan’s character development, as he
first begins to feel for what he has seen. Liesl confronts him that night, trying to seduce him, and
after they fight, and then talk, they make love, as equals. This act reconnects Dunstan with his
body, and Liesl becomes the first woman that he ever really experiences intimacy with, as a great
cloud lifts from his spirit. “With such a gargoyle! And yet never have I known such deep delight
or such an aftermath of healing tenderness!” (231).