Guilty or not?

“I was perfectly sure you see, that the birth of Paul Dempster, so small, so feeble and troublesome, was my fault...I was of the damned.” Pg. 16-17

Guilt is one of the main themes in Fifth Business, and is first introduced through this quote. Dunstan feels that he has done something terrible wrong and is the reason for all the trouble the Dempsters went through. He feels that it was his fault the snowball hit Mrs. Dempster, causing Paul’s early birth and Mrs. Dempster’s “insanity”. Dunstan suffers throughout the entire story as he constantly thinks back and relates to this incident. Dunstan looks after Mrs. Dempster through visiting her and putting her in an old age home, until the day she dies. This is proof of the guilt Dunstan has on his shoulders and how he copes with it. The words “I was of the damned” relate the spiritual theme in the novel. The feeling of being “damned” could possibly be a reason for his adventures to Europe in search of different saints.