This is an essay for grade 12 english concerning how childhood upbringing and experiences impact how individuals will express emotions, and make decisions later on in life.
The characters being analyzed within the essay are from the novel "Fifth Business" by Robert Davies.
Any feedback/criticism would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Guilt is the underlying cause of misjudgments. Children acquire the habits and values of their parents; making it imperative that children grow up with positive reinforcement. Therefore as children grow older, they will understand how to effectively manage conflicts in life, including feelings of inadequacy and shame. Familial upbringing and culture determine how individuals will manage unconscious feelings of guilt. In Robert Davies' Fifth Business, how the characters react to Paul's premature birth depict how childhood teachings impact decision making skills. Dunstan's fears of divine reprisal lead him to believe Mrs. Dempster is a saint. Being raised in a wealthy family gives Percy a sense of entitlement and arrogance that prevents him from experiencing guilt over Mrs.Dempster's emotional degradation. Paul runs away to the circus as a means of coping with the guilt of being blamed by his father for his mother's depression.
Children who are raised in wealthier homes tend to assume feelings of superiority that impede the ability to have emotional connections with others. An affluent childhood gives Percy a sense of pride that prevents him from experiencing guilt and taking responsibility for his actions. For example when confronted by Dunstan, Percy denies his accountability for throwing the snowball that caused Mrs.Dempster to birth a premature child. Percy illustrates his indifference hurting Mrs.Dempster when he states, "I think you've let the thing build up into something it never was. You unmarried men are terrible fretters. I threw the snowball - at least you say so, and for argument's sake let that go - and you dodged it...The difference between us is that you've brooded over it and I've forgotten it. We've both done far more important things since" (Davies 254). Undoubtedly Percy believes that a wealthy lifestyle is justification to belittle his liability as the culprit in Mrs.Dempster's downfall. Failing to empathize with the suffering of Mrs. Dempster demonstrates the values that Percy's wealthy upbringing encouraged: arrogance, manipulation, and self-interest.
Individuals depict the principles learned from childhood. According to Dr. Samuel Victoria, a PhD in Psychology, "The egotistical narcissists are typically created in one of two ways. One way is through excessive pampering on the part of the parents. Parents create an attitude in the child that he/she is better than others and entitled to special privileges. This creates an arrogant child who lacks a healthy dose of gratitude and humility." Therefore, the excessive wealth and privilege that Percy received as a child thus results in his inability to express sympathy. The Staunton family emphasized the importance of maintaining power; turning Percy into a narcissist who is unable to feel guilt. In order to sustain a position of domination, Percy avoids appearing vulnerable by denying any remorse for hurting Mrs.Dempster. It is undeniable that parents influence a child in how they conduct their decisions in the future. However, ultimately Percy is an individual who must take responsibility for his actions and lifestyle without reference to his wealthy upbringing as a child.
Children require parental recognition of their achievements and goodness; otherwise children will display feelings of guilt and inadequacy in disparaging ways. Amasa Dempster did not fulfill his responsibility as a father of providing love towards his son because he constantly blamed Paul for his mother's emotional and mental downfall. Lacking a constructive relationship with his father leads Paul to feel insufficient as a son and motivates him to heal his mother by running away as he states, "I have never been able to forget what she was or what people called her. Because, you see, it was my birth that made her like that. My father thought it his duty to tell me, so that I could do whatever was possible to make it up to her. My birth robbed her of her sanity...I was too young for the kind of guilt my father wanted me to feel" (Davies 251). Consequently, lacking encouragement from his father deters Paul from understanding the different ways to deal with feelings of personal deficiency other than running away as a means of restoring his mother's sanity. Fifth Business exposes readers to the darkest of human vices - selfishness, greed, abuse, and allows audiences to reflect upon the nature of human actions and its repercussions. As Northrop Frye states in The Educated Imagination,
"Literature keeps presenting the most vicious things to us an entertainment, but what it appeals to is not any pleasure of these things, but the exhilaration of standing apart from them and being able to see them for what they are because they aren't really happening. The more exposed we are to this, the less likely we are to find an unthinking pleasure in cruel or evil things. (Frye 80). When shown literary situations such as Paul's that concern human suffering, readers are able to analyze the character's circumstances and not repeat the same behavior in real life that cause unnecessary emotional trauma.
Religious values that are strongly encouraged within a family impact a child's conscience and moral reasoning skills when making important decisions that affect their future prospects. In Fifth Business, Dunstan lives within a devout Presbyterian family that influences how he deals with guilt. When the snowball hits Mary Dempster and causes her mental decline, Dunstan bears the guilt because the snowball was intended for him. For the rest of his life, Dunstan commits himself to caring for Mrs. Dempster and aims to absolve his guilt by attempting to canonize her as a saint. Although the incident was not his fault, Dunstan acquires guilt due to Presbyterian beliefs about damnation as he states, "So I was alone with my guilt and it tortured me. I was a Presbyterian child and I knew a great deal about damnation" (Davies 17). Fears of going to hell are clearly acquired through Dunstan's strict religious upbringing. Therefore, in order to alleviate feelings of childhood guilt, Dunstan attempts to have Mrs. Dempster canonized a saint when he is an adult. Dunstan's devotion to Mrs. Dempster is illustrated when he states, "In today's world, a saint is a very difficult thing to come across; however I believe to have found the perfect candidate for canonization. Her name is Mary Dempster. I believe that the miracles of this woman are real, and not just coincidental, due to her unstable state of mind." (Davies 205).
Dunstan's religious upbringing and teachings about damnation lead him to not only acquire irrational feelings of guilt, but also to deal with these feelings in negative and extreme ways. Instead of enforcing teaching about damnation to deal with sin, Dunstan's parents should have encouraged forgiveness. In this case, Dunstan would have learned to forgive himself and pursue more important aspirations in life other than canonizing Mrs. Dempster as a saint.
Robert Davies' Fifth Business demonstrates the importance of a helpful family upbringing in order to raise children who have humility, conscience and good decision making skills. The characters of Percy, Dunstan, and Paul exhibit different ways of managing guilt due to their diverse family values and backgrounds. The decisions that the characters make throughout their lives including to pursue saints, runaway, or consume wealth - is all influenced by the values learned from childhood. However, guilt is a vicious cycle where parents unconsciously project their own troubles onto their children so that they carry the same burdens. Although families influence the character of an individual, it is ultimately the decisions that one makes throughout life that construct one's true identity. The only way to absolve feelings of guilt is to deal with it in a positive manner: to understand and forgive the mistakes made by parents. When one learns to forgive and let go of childhood guilt, the cycle of emotional abuse ends. Therefore, Percy, Paul, and Dunstan cannot blame their familial upbringing for the positive or negative ways that their lives evolve. In the end, a person constructs their life's circumstances through individual thoughts and decisions, regardless of their family upbringing.
