Fifth Business as a Spiritual Quest

Fifth Business is a novel that clearly follows a spiritual quest that is the central theme of the lifelong journey of its protagonist, Dunstable Ramsay. Throughout his life, Dunstable (later called Dunstan after a saint whose virtues Dunstable emulates) is always looking for redemption for childhood guilt through religion and spirituality. From his very first feelings of guilt resulting from causing a neighbor woman to go into premature labor when he dodges a snowball with a rock in it that hits her instead, to feelings of guilt over the death of his brother, his conflict-filled relationship with his parents, and his struggle to find a place in the world that does not seem to have a place for someone who is eccentric and does not quite fit the norms of society like himself, Dunstable is constantly searching the world of spirituality for answers that...
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