The Odd Man Out :: essays research papers

The Odd Man Out Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies is a great piece of literature. Though the story was not always interesting to me, it is apparent that the author is talented. The story begins in 1908 in a small fictional Canadian village called Deptford. I think this village is very important to the story. The author describes everything one could possibly need to picture Deptford in his mind. This helped a lot in showing what the main character’s childhood was like. Later in his life, the main character traveled a lot, so many other places were described. I don’t think these places are as important as Deptford. It seems that the author thought this also, for he didn’t use as many details to describe these places as he did with the village. The main character is Dunstable Ramsey, Dunny for short. He is a very real character to me. The whole book is a letter that the old Dunny is writing to someone about his life. The way the author writes as Dunny is great. I can picture an old man sitting at a desk writing the letter. For parts of the story that have lots of detail, I imagine that the old Dunny remembers these parts of his life because they were important to him. For the parts he is vague about, Dunny writes that he would write more if he remembered more clearly. I think those are the times in his life that were not very important to him. A character that stands out a lot for me is Dunny’s mother. She seemed like a very kind and strong woman at the beginning of the story. She kept their neighbors preborn baby alive when the town doctor said he would die. She was committed to that baby with all her heart. Another time, Dunny took an egg from his house so he could try to learn magic tricks with it. His mother noticed it was missing, and when he would not say why he took it, she flipped out. She beat him to pieces with a whip for an hour, screaming the whole time. In my mind she went from being a kind woman to an hysterical fool of a mother. She seems as though she could not be related to this old man reflecting on his life. I think the author is showing how different children can be from their parents. The Odd Man Out :: essays research papers The Odd Man Out Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies is a great piece of literature. Though the story was not always interesting to me, it is apparent that the author is talented. The story begins in 1908 in a small fictional Canadian village called Deptford. I think this village is very important to the story. The author describes everything one could possibly need to picture Deptford in his mind. This helped a lot in showing what the main character’s childhood was like. Later in his life, the main character traveled a lot, so many other places were described. I don’t think these places are as important as Deptford. It seems that the author thought this also, for he didn’t use as many details to describe these places as he did with the village. The main character is Dunstable Ramsey, Dunny for short. He is a very real character to me. The whole book is a letter that the old Dunny is writing to someone about his life. The way the author writes as Dunny is great. I can picture an old man sitting at a desk writing the letter. For parts of the story that have lots of detail, I imagine that the old Dunny remembers these parts of his life because they were important to him. For the parts he is vague about, Dunny writes that he would write more if he remembered more clearly. I think those are the times in his life that were not very important to him. A character that stands out a lot for me is Dunny’s mother. She seemed like a very kind and strong woman at the beginning of the story. She kept their neighbors preborn baby alive when the town doctor said he would die. She was committed to that baby with all her heart. Another time, Dunny took an egg from his house so he could try to learn magic tricks with it. His mother noticed it was missing, and when he would not say why he took it, she flipped out. She beat him to pieces with a whip for an hour, screaming the whole time. In my mind she went from being a kind woman to an hysterical fool of a mother. She seems as though she could not be related to this old man reflecting on his life. I think the author is showing how different children can be from their parents.