Examples Of Maturation In Fifth Business

Maturation is a natural phenomenon experienced by everyone. It starts from the day birth and continues until death. Although this process is natural and will happen inevitably, different people in a person’s life can hasten it. For example, a person can be spurred away from home by his family and forced to mature prematurely. As well, someone could say something to make one see the world a different way. Also, a friend or neighbour could teach a person a lot about themself that they did not know before. In Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business the static characters of Mrs. Ramsay, Mary Dempster, and Liesl influence the mental maturation of Dunny by providing him with encounters that change his perspective on life and himself.
Dunstan’s mother acts

After the war when he is recovering from his injuries, Diana nurses Dunstan back to health. Over time, one thing leads to another and they get involved romantically. It is during their relationship that Dunstan loses his virginity to her. He recognizes this as an “important step towards the completion of my (Dunstan’s) manhood.” It is a maturing experience because he discovers a new side of himself and in doing so gets to know himself better. Secondly, Diana suggests that he change his name from Dunstable to Dunstan. Dunstan likes the idea and goes through with it because “it suggested a new freedom and new personality” (FB, 90). The name change gives Dunstan a psychological push to complete his transformation from the little boy he was to the man he wants to be. As part of this transformation, he decides that he needs to leave Diana because she represents too much of the Mother archetype that he is trying to flee from. Diana helps Dunstan with his individuation process and with his transformation into the man he wants to

She helps Dunstan unite is consciousness and unconsciousness and in doing so, discover his inner Self. First, she tells him the role that she believes he plays in the world, which is Fifth Business. She describes Fifth Business as,
He is the odd man out, the person who has no opposite of the other sex. And you must have Fifth Business because he is the one who knows the secret of the hero’s birth, or comes to the assistance of the heroine when she thinks all is lost, or keeps the hermitess in her cell, or may even be the cause of somebody’s death if that is part of the plot…you cannot manage the plot without Fifth Business! (FB, 217)
Finally, Dunstan is presented with the truth that he had not been able to discover for his whole life. Next, Liesl suggests that to be truly happy Dunstan must “shake hands with your (Dunstan’s) devil” (FB, 217). In other words, he must do something selfish as opposed to making his life revolve around others. He ends up doing this by way of having sex with Liesl. Afterwards he says, “Never have I known such deep delight or such an aftermath of healing tenderness!” (FB, 218). For the first time in his life he feels truly happy and at peace. Dunstan’s maturation is completed when he fully discovers himself with the help of the insight gained from