Inquiry Question

What is the author’s cultural and personal background?


William Robertson Davies was born August 28, 1913, at Thamesville, Ontario, and died December 2, 1995 at Orangeville, Ontario was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself and to have detested. Davies was the founding Master of Massey College, a graduate residential college associated with the University of Toronto.



What about his author’s background qualifies him/her to write this novel?

Davies drew on his interest in Jungian psychology to create what is perhaps his greatest novel: Fifth Business (1970).



How does the author’s personal and cultural background tie into the storyline?

The book that draws heavily on Davies' owns experiences, his love of magic and myth and his knowledge of small-town mores.



How can the author’s background tie into poetry and performance?

The book's characters act in roles that roughly correspond to Jungian archetypes according to Davies' belief in the predominance of the spirit over the things of the world.



Question:

1. What is the setting in Chapter One?

2. How does Paul Dempster become remarkable?

3. Who are Milo and Myron Papple?

4. How does Boy Staunton become rich and powerful?

5. Why does Dunny not want to ask Boy to help with Mary Dempster?

6. What disturbing changes take place in Dunny's character? How is he being foolish?

7. How is Dunny's infatuation with Faustina shattered?

8. How does Dunny think he contributed to Mary Dempster's death?

9. Who is now a suspect in Boy's death?

10. How does the brazen head show knowledge of Boy's death? Why would the police become interested?