“Fifth Business” by Robertson Davis Essay

Paul Dempster was born on December 28, 1908 to Amasa and Mary Dempster. He was suspected to be premature by about 80 days, but that was an estimate made by Dr. McCausland. Paul was described as Red, of course, as all babies are red. But he was wrinkled like a tiny old man, and his head and back and much of his face was covered with weedy long black hair(page 13), and his cry was like the mew of a kitten(page13). Dunnys mother was pleased with the progress he was making, I think little Paul is going to pull through. Hell be slow, the renovate says, but hell be alright(page 17), but Dr. McCausland was really wrong. Though Paul could neither read or write when he got older, he was very interested in the tricks that Dunny would show him taking the coin from me and preforming the pass perfectly(page 33).Pauls home smell was not one of the best. His mother was, what the township referred to as, simple and his father blamed her condition on his birth. He was as well tormented by the ot her children in the town because of an incident in the stick pit involving his mother and a tramp. This took a mental tole on him and shortly after the death of his father Paul ran a style and joined the circus. Though his throw in the circus made him into Magnus Eisengrim, The Great Magician, he was still unable to free himself from his past.Paul also had much hostility towards Percy, the boy who was also a contributing factor in his premature birth. Paul was blamed by his father for the mental state of his mother but Paul ensnare out as a child from Dunny that it was not his fault, but the fault of himself and his friend Percy. This hostility resulted in the mysterious murder of Percy and though it was never give tongue to that Magnus actually committed this act of violence it was pretty clear to the reader that the coincidence was to staggering to be anyone else.Though Paul does not play the contribution of that main character in The Fifth Business he does play an important role in the life of the character in which the novel revolves around. His is life alone gives meaning to the whole novel and defines Dunny. His birth and his legend are far from what would be expected of a Parsons son, but he lived his life the way he wanted and made the most of a talent with magic and congering.