Thwarted love. Ambition. Guilt. Sexuality. Fifth Business is full of these life lessons. However, the novel's most dominant themes are ambition and motivation. It is well known that excessive ambition and motivation can destroy someone, but, used correctly, can propel someone to happiness, as in the case of Dunstan Ramsey, Percy Staunton and Paul Dempster. These two qualities not only give these characters the will to continue living, but also allow them to rise above the masses during the Great Depression. From the beginning of the novel, Dunstan displays his higher motivation and ambition through his learning of youthful magic. During one of his usual visits to the local library in his quest to become a "mathematician", he comes across a book on the subject. sleight of hand. He puts a huge amount of time and effort into mastering these skills, which is a great example of his ambition. This time his ambition is to become a master magician, something he works tirelessly for. If he didn't have the motivation to become a master magician, he would have given up on magic and never taught it to Paul. This would have allowed Paul not to run away and lead a very different life. Thus, Dunstan's ambition and motivation changed the course of a life in no small way. Another life-changing example of determination and ambition occurs when Dunstan serves in the army. After destroying a machine gunner's nest, he began the dangerous journey back to his own camp. However, he was soon injured in the leg by a stray shrapnel. Rapidly losing blood and in great pain, he continues to crawl towards his own side. A man with less motivation... middle of paper ... is suicide at the end of the book. Like Dunstan, Percy is influenced by the powerful motivator of guilt. He felt so guilty about what he did to Mrs. Dempster that he committed suicide. If the motivating factor of guilt had not been present, he would have continued to live. Boy Staunton's life is a testament to both the good and bad things that drive and ambition can bring about. It is to these two traits that he owes his success, his survival of the Great Depression and his avoidance of following in his father's footsteps in the small town of Deptford. However, these forces also caused his death. Paul Dempster's life was irrevocably linked to that of Percy Staunton and Dunstan Ramsay. Just like these two characters, Paul has a very powerful sense of motivation and ambition..