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  • Essay / The Values ​​of Life in "Boy" by P. Staunton

    Although some may assess the value of a life based on intrinsic values, the qualitative nature of those values ​​themselves makes an objective comparison difficult . The value of a life is therefore best defined by the quantifiable: measures such as material wealth, overall achievements, and the contributions an individual makes to society as a whole. Percy "Boy" Staunton best fits this description in the world of Fifth Business. As a business magnate and later Minister of Food during the Second World War, Percy's contributions and his role in shaping the Canadian economy far exceed the value of Dunstan's own contributions to the academic sphere . He was also instrumental in the life of Dunstan Ramsay himself, to whom he provided "the financial advice and...modest financial security" (Cameron 92) necessary to finance Dunstan's expeditions around the world. Even in his personal life, the combination of Dunstan's social ineptitude and Percy's natural extroversion gave Percy a social advantage, thereby exposing him to a world of things that Dunstan never had the opportunity to to experiment. Although Dunstan accumulated a wealth of experience at Deptford and during his travels around the world, it is easy to see how Percy "Boy" Staunton lived a life of greater value by all quantifiable measures. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayAccording to American academic Leo Calvin Rosten, “The purpose of life is to be useful…it is, above all, to to have importance and to count. , stand up for something, have made a difference in your life. In Fifth Business, Percy Boy Staunton embodied this definition in a way Dunstan never did and made a significant contribution to the well-being of the average Canadian "even if few knew it" (Davies 141). As Chairman and Managing Director of Alpha Corporation, and then as Minister of Food under the Coalition Cabinet, Percy was single-handedly responsible for feeding the country during times when it needed it most. During the Great Depression, for example, Percy "kept the price of bread stable" (Davies 142) and "focused on necessities...in times like these, people need a food nutritious and inexpensive. (Davies 142). He then applied a principle similar to that of the Minister of Food during the Second World War and "devoted all the resources of his company Alpha...to the task of feeding Canada (and) feeding its armed forces" (Davies 182). In contrast, Dunstan devoted his entire life to hagiography (the study of saints), which, while laudable, has little or no value to the general public. The triviality of Dunstan's contributions is underscored by his colleagues' indifference to “his acceptance of Analecta; (who) looked incomprehensible, like cows in front of a passing train, and kept talking about Brebner's extraordinary hole-in-one the day before” (Davies 158). Although Percy's food accomplishments may not have had the same level of intellectual insight as Dunstan's notes on Wilgefortis-Kummernis required, Percy's astute and innovative practices in the food industry were certainly of of greater value to the general population than those of Dunstan ever were. If one were to place greater emphasis on Dunstan's accomplishments, one could argue that "Dunstan's outward journey is largely through the effect on him of his relationship with Percy Boyd Staunton" (Cameron 92). In.+