A Confederacy of Dunces: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Confederacy of Dunces: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex personalities within the novel, particularly focusing on Ignatius J. Reilly, the protagonist. Ignatius is depicted as a self-proclaimed philosopher, marked by his obesity, eccentric green hunting cap, and a disdainful attitude towards modern society. His character embodies contradictions, oscillating between a critical eye on the world around him and a profound self-indulgence, often forcing him into various jobs that highlight his ineptitude and lack of motivation.
The supporting characters enrich the narrative, including Irene Reilly, Ignatius's mother, who grapples with her own loneliness and her son's failures while seeking a more fulfilling life. Myrna Minkoff serves as both Ignatius's nemesis and love interest, challenging his views and ultimately providing a form of salvation. Other notable figures include the bumbling policeman Angelo Mancuso, the exploitative bar owner Lana Lee, and the struggling employees at her establishment, each contributing to the chaotic backdrop of New Orleans that Ignatius navigates.
Through these characters, the story explores themes of failure, social critique, and the quest for dignity, offering a satirical lens on human behavior and the societal dynamics of the time.
A Confederacy of Dunces: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: John Kennedy Toole
First published: 1980
Genre: Novel
Locale: New Orleans, Louisiana
Plot: Farce
Time: The early 1960's
Ignatius J. Reilly (ihg-NAY-shuhs), a blowsy, flatulent, thirty-year-old, obese, self-styled “philosopher.” He always wears a green hunting cap. He is hobbled by phobias and has a dyspeptic pyloric valve that closes at any provocation. He is obsessed with his bodily functions, though he is asexual, and is disdainful of the “corrupt twentieth century.” Reilly languishes at home, criticizing his widowed mother and her friends, refusing to find work, watching television (especially the shows he considers “offenses against taste and decency”), and, on his Big Red tablets, writing a journal of his “travels” and his medieval world vision. Eventually he is forced to work, first in the office at Levy Pants, which he almost ruins by discarding the company files and organizing the black workers in what he calls a “Crusade for Moorish Dignity.” He then finds a job with Paradise Vendors selling “weenies” from a pushcart, all the while eating more hotdogs than he sells. He becomes the catalyst for all the chaotic action in the novel and is the intersection point for the characters in the several subplots. His picaresque tour of New Orleans reveals Reilly's complete self-indulgence, his philosophical inconsistencies as he sates himself on the very things he abhors in food and entertainment, and his negative, unfeeling attitude toward all around him. Only at the end of the novel, when his mother finally recognizes that Reilly is coldhearted, selfish, and beyond emotional redemption and therefore attempts to commit him to a mental ward, does Reilly show a hint of warmth, as Myrna Minkoff spirits him away.
Irene Reilly, the widowed mother of the protagonist. She is lonely and unwilling to see her son as a failure, because he has a master's degree. She suffers from a drinking problem, low self-esteem, a bad elbow, and Reilly's incessant demands and verbal abuse. As her circle of friends enlarges and as she acquires a suitor in Claude Robichaux, however, she becomes increasingly disenchanted with her son and finally moves to free herself from his lethargy and criticism.
Myrna Minkoff, a New York “radical,” Reilly's nemesis and erstwhile girlfriend. Through her preaching of a politics of sexual liberation and Reilly's own need to prove himself to Minkoff by taking action, Minkoff becomes Reilly's foil and fantasy, but in the end his savior.
Claude Robichaux, Mrs. Reilly's elderly suitor. He believes that nearly everyone and everything is “communiss.”
Angelo Mancuso, a bungling policeman and Reilly's nemesis. An aspiring detective relegated to “undercover” work in restrooms and in disguises on the street, Mancuso befriends Mrs. Reilly and later becomes a hero by chancing to uncover a pornographic distribution operation at the Night of Joy bar.
Lana Lee, the owner of the Night of Joy bar. Of chiseled body and stony heart, Lee distributes pornographic cards to schoolchildren when she is not overtaxing her employees, Burma Jones and Darlene, at her lowlife bar.
Burma Jones, the self-styled “colored dude” and low-paid black floor sweeper at the Night of Joy bar. Fearful of Lee's threats to turn him in to the police for vagrancy, he effects his own emancipation and earns a reward by leading Mancuso to Lee's hidden pornography.
Darlene, a B-girl at the Night of Joy bar. Her intellectual fare is Life magazine, and her life's ambition is to stage a striptease act with her pet cockatoo.
Gus Levy, the owner of Levy Pants. Disdainful of running a company he inherited from an unloving father, Levy thinks little of management (thus the opening for Reilly) and much of baseball.
Mrs. Levy, Levy's wife. She nags Levy to keep Miss Trixie employed and the Levy daughters in high style.
Mr. Gonzales, the manager of Levy Pants. He struggles to keep alive the business that Levy cannot abide, and he becomes the victim of Reilly's dreams to “save” Levy Pants by prettying up the office while discarding office files.
Miss Trixie, a senile bookkeeper at Levy Pants. She wants only to retire and receive the Easter ham long due her from Levy, but she is forced to stay on because of Mrs. Levy's misguided notion that work is good for her.
Mr. Clyde, the owner of Paradise Vendors. In his desperation to find vendors for hotdogs and in his pity for Reilly, he outfits Reilly and sends him out into the Dantesque world of the French Quarter.