Thwarted love. Ambition. Guilt. Sexuality. Fifth Business is full of these life lessons. However, the most dominant themes in the novel are ambition and motivation. It is well known that excessive ambition and motivation can destroy someone, but when used correctly, it can skyrocket 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. Right at the beginning of the novel, Dunstan shows his superior motivation and ambition through his youthful learning of magic. During one of his regular explorations of the local library in his quest to become a "polymath", he comes across a book on the subject. of sleight of hand. He puts in a tremendous amount of time and effort to master these skills, which is an excellent example of his ambition. This time, his ambition is to become a master magician, a goal he works tirelessly towards. If he lacked the motivation to become a master magician, he would have given up magic and never taught it to Paul. This would have led Paolo not to run away and to lead a very different life. Thus, Dunstan's ambition and motivation changed the course of a life in no small way. Another example of determination and ambition changing a life occurs when Dunstan serves in the military. Having just destroyed a machine gun nest, he began the perilous journey back to his side. However, he is soon wounded in the leg by a piece of stray shrapnel. Losing blood rapidly and in great pain, he continues to crawl towards her side. A man with less motivation... halfway through the paper... commits suicide at the end of the book. As with Dunstan, Percy is influenced by the powerful motivation of guilt. He felt so overwhelmingly guilty about what he had done to Mrs. Dempster that he committed suicide. If the motivator 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 motivation and ambition can bring. To these two characteristics he owes his success, surviving the Great Depression and avoiding following in his father's footsteps in the small town of Deptford. However, these forces also led to his death. Paul Dempster's life was irrevocably intertwined with those of Percy Staunton and Dunstan Ramsay. Also, like these two characters, Paul has a very powerful sense of motivation and ambition.