Search for Self Identity in Robertson Davie's "Fifth Business" Search for Self Identity

        In Robertson Davies' novel Fifth Business, the author uses the events that occurred in Deptford as a Canadian Allusion to reveal character identity. Three characters in the novel from Deptford: Boy Staunton, Dunstan Ramsey and Paul Dempster, leave Deptford to embark on a new identity to rid of their horrid past. The three main characters of the novel, all of whom to some extent try to escape their small town background, change their identity to …

…Deptford.         To conclude, the actions that occurred in Deptford change the whole basis of the novel. Thus while Boy and Magnus have taken on new identities and tried to displace their old ones, Dunstan takes on a new identity that complements the old. All three leading characters leave Deptford to change their life, but the spirit of the little town in Southern Ontario remains with them forever.         Bibliography Davies, Robertson. Fifth Business. Canada: Penguin Books, 1977.