The Great Escape of Ignatius J. Reilly

 "Well, that certainly was an ending to A Confederacy of Dunces." (I said this, it isn't from the book.)

I am not someone who reads much. I love critical consumption of media, but novels don't quite scratch the same itch as the visual arts do for me in that regard. I'll read a good book for school and say "this was phenomenal, I truly enjoyed it," and while that's true, that doesn't mean I'd read that book for personal enjoyment.

I can say with complete conviction that I regret not reading A Confederacy of Dunces solely for my own enjoyment back when I received a copy of it, because this book scratched my media itch in a way that thoroughly shocked me. It's truly brilliant satire, in the sense that it can be in equal parts hilarious and thought-provoking. I was laughing while Ignatius's status as a pseudo-intellectual buffoon was exemplified by his writing, I was laughing while his strange sense of righteousness shined through as he critiqued modern capitalist society. Ignatius J. Reilly is an incredibly complex character, but the most crucial element of his character is his comedy.

The book ends with Ignatius dreading being dragged away to a mental hospital after his mother decides to get rid of him, when he is suddenly approached by his ex-girlfriend, the eccentric and promiscuous Myrna Minkoff, who he sees as an escape from his house, his mother, and his status as a societal reject. Even this ending sequence is wild and humorous, with Ignatius insisting on smelling Myrna's hair and loudly complaining about buses, as is usual for him. This solidifies Ignatius's status as a strange man, but one who wants progress, one who wants to escape the horrible society he's surrounded with (even if he often has the wrong idea about what's horrible and what isn't.) Ignatius is simultaneously brilliant and backwards, smart yet utterly foolish, a dunce and the individual that dunces confederate against.

The book is full of characters that, despite being societal outcasts, are still capable of doing good and wanting good things for the world. Ignatius's strange social beliefs lead him to attempt to start a political party based around achieving world peace with a gay military, so despite having some questionable ideas, Ignatius ultimately supports world peace and, in a way perhaps he doesn't even understand due to his convoluted thought processes, gay rights.

Jones, the black man forced to work under Lana Lee, a woman repeatedly compared to Hitler, is another example of this. He's the absolute epitome of a social outcast in the 1950's, as throughout America's history, racists (or perhaps dunces is an equally appropriate word here) have beat down on people of color. Despite his status, however, Jones is able to start his own little uprising, cleverly instigating the arrest of his cruel employer, a great and impressive deed. 

Lastly, Gus Levy, the owner of Levy Pants, is in a similar situation. Constantly ridiculed by his wife for being unable to properly run his father's business, Mr. Levy is painted as a fool throughout most of the book, someone who doesn't even have respect from the person closest to him. However, he has a personal triumph near the end of the book: after deciding to lay off the senile Miss Trixie after realizing she can harmlessly be blamed for the letter Ignatius wrote in Levy Pants's name, both literally and metaphorically casting away the old parts of his company as he escapes his wife's desires for him to be just like his father, he IS able to step out of that parental shadow, deciding to rebrand to Levy Shorts and start some major reform in the company. Gus Levy, just like many other characters in this book, is shown to be someone people look down upon who's actually capable of great things.

This book has a lot to take away. Do I want to be like Ignatius? Do I want to avoid being like Ignatius as much as possible? What does society think of me, and am I capable of doing anything about it?

I think the answer to all of these questions is simple: ultimately, we spend too much time thinking about these things. We are all complex human beings with major flaws, which sometimes rise very prominently to the surface, such as with Ignatius's highly emphasized issues. As individuals, we're able to find our own place in society and achieve personal victories, like Ignatius or Jones. Dunces always confederate against people of color, against women, against gay people, against promiscuous people, against all sorts of folks... hell, they might confederate against you or me. However, we can realize this, work hard to not be a part of this problem ourselves, and we can fight for whatever dunceless world we believe in. Me? I believe in a world where more people have read this hilarious book.

The Center of Everything, Ignatius J. Reilly

 ""I'm Patrolman Mancuso. Undercover agent. You're under arrest for soliciting and for possession of pornography."" (Pg 335).

This quote takes place at the climax of the book... 60 pages before it actually ends. The final 100 pages of A Confederacy of Dunces was a truly bizarre few chapters to read. In summary, our "hero" Ignatius heads to the first meeting of the "political party" he planned with Dorian Greene from the French Quarter, which, much to Ignatius's chagrin, turned out to just be a party, one from which he was quickly kicked out. He headed to the Night of Joy to see the performance of "Scarlet O'Hara," a stripper character played by Darlene that Ignatius believes to be an intellectual due to having seen a pornographic photo of her holding a book that had been taken from him. This goes disastrously, Ignatius's earring is attacked by Darlene's bird, and he is nearly hit by a bus before passing out. Officer Mancuso, who was there undercover, used the opportunity to expose Lana Lee's (the owner of the bar) pornography distribution ring, and he was promptly beat up by three angry women from the party Ignatius attended. All of this happened within the span of ten or so pages.

This section is practically the perfect climax to the book--most major characters are directly involved in some way, it intertwines their seemingly separate storylines perfectly as everything comes together for a beautiful, messy sequence of events, described by the quoted description of a newspaper photograph of the incident: "On the right Darlene with her ball gown was holding the cockatoo and smiling a starlet's smile. On the left Lana Lee covered her face with her hands as she climbed into the rear seat of a squad car already filled with the three cropped heads of the members of the ladies' auxiliary of the Peace Party." (Pg 337). This is followed by an unflattering description of the battered Mancuso and unconscious Ignatius. Throwing all of these separate characters into one situation is something that I think is crucial to the novel: the payoff for its overall structure.

This book is structured almost as a series of separate stories, watching different characters from New Orleans go about their ridiculous lives. However, part of the book's fun is watching these stories slowly intertwine, watching all of the characters each find out about Ignatius and be astounded by his ridiculous behavior, watching various characters become aware (or remain blissfully unaware) of Mancuso's undercover actions, seeing this disaster at the Night of Joy unfold. That's what makes the climax work--it's the perfect ending for such a structural style, it conclusively gives almost every character a satisfying ending all at once.

After the climax, there's a particularly long section of the book still remaining, primarily focusing on Gus Levy (the owner of Levy Pants, Ignatius's former employer) and his wife as they try to find the person responsible for forging a letter in Mr. Levy's name (who happens to be Ignatius.) I think that final section deserves a spotlight in my final blog post, while the climax of this book was a beautiful example of John Kennedy Toole's writing style.

The Bizarre Revolutionary Ignatius J. Reilly

"Degeneracy, rather than signaling the downfall of a society, as it once did, will now signal peace for a troubled world. We must have new solutions to new problems." (Pg 270).

This quote comes directly from one entry in Ignatius's "The Journal of a Working Boy", and it certainly does introduce a new layer to his character one that's pushing this novel in a direction I can't say I expected Ignatius to advocate for weaponizing homosexuality in pursuit of world peace, but John Kennedy Toole has surprised me again and again with this hilarious novel, so I can't say it's too big of a shock. In chapters 8 through 11, Ignatius's new job as a hot dog vendor for Paradise Vendors leads him to various misadventures, culminating in what seems like preparations for the book's climax. The book's brilliantly interwoven plots are one piece of the answer to an important question regarding this book: why AP? Why should an AP class read this novel, if at all?

Sophistication in literature is a subjective concept, and it's ultimately very difficult to achieve. However, A Confederacy of Dunces has some truly phenomenal aspects, primarily its characters and dialogue, that convey major societal issues in a real yet humorous way. One major point where this stood out was the plot point centered around Mr. and Mrs. Levy, as well as Miss Trixie. Mrs. Levy, obsessed with finding employment for the elderly Miss Trixie despite her openly hating her job and being unfit to work, forces her to be re-employed at Levy Pants, where she meets Ignatius's seemingly dim-witted replacement, Mr. Zalatimo. Toole writes, "The door closed and Mr. Zalatimo came over to Miss Trixie, absently scratching himself. He tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "Say, lady, maybe you can help me out with this. What would you say comes first, Willis or Williams?" Miss Trixie glared at him for a moment. Then she sank her teeth into his hand." (Pg 281). This little interaction, while brief and humorous, perfectly encapsulates Miss Trixie's purpose as a character in the novel: an example of how ridiculously long people are forced into employment under conditions they despise, her rage built up over years and years finally being released. Miss Trixie cannot be faulted for her actions, they are the product of a society that wants whatever dedicated labor it can get. That's a clear example of "why AP," this novel uses small interactions to make powerful statements.

While the plotline with the Levys and Miss Trixie takes up a decent portion of these chapters, it's nowhere near as significant as Ignatius's tales from the meat vending industry, especially the one providing context for the quote I started off with. While vending in the French Quarter, dressed up as a pirate, Ignatius encounters an outwardly feminine man who bought his mother's hat back in chapter one of the book. After a brief scuffle, Ignatius ends up having a conversation with the man, whose name turns out to be Dorian Greene. Ignatius, upon seeing one of Dorian's friends dressed up as a sailor, realizes that the entirety of the United States' armed forces might potentially be impostors, and he formulates a plan to create a political party based around replacing the military with gay men. Ignatius states, "The power-crazed leaders of the world would certainly be surprised to find that their military leaders and troops were only masquerading sodomites who were only to eager to meet the masquerading sodomite armies of other nations in order to have dances and balls and learn some foreign dance steps." (Pg 252). This quote, while ridiculous, highlights another important aspect of the book: the complexity of Ignatius. Toole can write nuanced, deep characters with actions reflecting their complex motivations. Ignatius is someone who desires peace for everyone and he desires revolution, that much is clear from his plans to globally weaken the military. These are qualities you'd traditionally see as "good." However, his pseudo-intellectualism, blatant racism and homophobia (he still refers to gay people as "degenerates" despite seeing them as tools for creating world peace) and overall laziness are clearly horrible traits, which makes judging his character quite the dilemma, which is sophisticated and worthy of an AP classroom. I eagerly await more insights into his character as I read the final chapters of this book.

The Mind-Bogglingly Racist Ignatius J. Reilly

 "In a sense I have always felt something of a kinship with the colored race because its position is the same as mine: we both exist outside the inner realm of American society." (Pg 122).

This quote, written directly by Ignatius himself, genuinely made me do a double take as I read the second quarter of A Confederacy of Dunces. This is for a few reasons: first, it hits disturbingly close to home with racist arguments I've personally heard from white people. Secondly, it suddenly clicked, giving me a idea of the nature of A Confederacy of Dunces's racial commentary. Thirdly, it's one of far too many lines written by Ignatius that makes me want to grimace and laugh simultaneously at his appalling lack of awareness. Chapters 4-7 of this novel were an absolute joy in that regard.

The main plot points I'd like to touch on today are both related to race in A Confederacy of Dunces, the first of which being completely unrelated to Ignatius himself. At the start of chapter 6, the novel takes a moment to focus on Jones and a conversation he has with an innkeeper, discussing his work at the Night of Joy bar. Here, he says something that made the author's attitude toward him quite clear: "Hey! I'm workin in modren slavery. If I quit, I get report for bein vagran. If I stay, I'm gainfully employ on a salary ain even startin to be a minimal wage." (Pg 131). This quote importantly characterizes Jones as a smart individual with a nuanced understanding of his current situation, recognizing that, as a black man, he's being forced to choose between subjecting himself to unfair labor and going to prison, which are slavery-like conditions. This ultimately connects to something I'm beginning to realize is a main point of the book, but first, I'd like to talk about Ignatius's egregious writings in these few chapters.

At this point in the book, while "working" (I'm using the term "working" loosely, as Ignatius basically gets nothing done besides decorating the office) at Levy Pants, Ignatius has been writing "The Journal of a Working Boy," a sort of memoir of his experiences at work. It is in this journal that the quote I mentioned at the beginning resides, the one in which he directly compares himself to black people (and further goes on to say he sometimes wishes he was born black, and he also seems to believe in basic stereotypes such as black people loving watermelon.) It's quotes like these that are very important to Ignatius's character, revealing his tendencies as a pseudo-intellectual to make very surface-level observations about things without actually understanding them at all. While musing about if he had been born black, Ignatius writes, "I suspect that I would have been a rather large and terrifying one, continually pressing my ample thigh against the withered thighs of old white ladies in public conveyances a great deal and eliciting more than one shriek of panic." (Pg 123). The blatant racism here is obvious, Ignatius sees large black men as nothing more than terrifying people who harass helpless white women. However, his racism is limited not only to his written words--it shines through in his actions. 

In chapter 6, Ignatius attempts to get the Levy Pants factory workers (pretty much all of whom are black) to riot, wanting them to enter the office of Mr. Gonzales and to attack him (all so he can make a film and also dispose of his manager.) However, long story short, it all falls apart, his camera breaking and the factory workers ultimately not bothering to actually harm Mr. Gonzales, simply entering his office and enjoying themselves singing a song. Here, we see two things: one, the direct consequences of Ignatius's foolish beliefs of kinship with black people, and two, elaboration on one of the major themes of the book, one that was also related to Jones. In this section, one bit stood out to me: ""Stop that at once," Ignatius bellowed at a man who was apathetically making a vertical slash in the DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH AND REFERENCE--I. REILLY, COSTODIAN sign with a penknife. "What do you people think you're doing?" "'Hey, you say, 'Attagg,'" several voices answered." (Pg 142). In this casual assault on the office that was nothing like what Ignatius wanted, even his own name was being destroyed. This ultimately shows that, while Ignatius believes he is in the same boat as black people, he's just another racist white man, he is part of the problem. Immediately after, we see this clearly: to the people singing, he says "Stop that awful song [...] never has such egregious blasphemy fallen upon my ears." (Pg 143). Ignatius not only believes racist stereotypes as shown before, he's intolerant of their culture. Ignatius is part of the problem--this problem being a large confederacy of dunces, otherwise known as racists. Jones, the factory workers, all black people--they're all shown as kind and generally intelligent, yet, as the quote at the very start of this novel states, when intelligent people exist, dunces will form a confederacy against them.

The Insufferable Ignatius J. Reilly

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

The above quote from Jonathan Swift's "Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting", which is at the front of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, is quite meaningful. When something new, brilliant, and innovative is introduced, the dunces of the world will resist said innovation. This quote is a sad statement about human progress, the true hidden gems of humanity will be beaten down mercilessly by masses who falsely believe they know better. Of course, this quote in no way applies to Ignatius J. Reilly, the protagonist of this novel. The word "protagonist" only being used in the broadest sense here, given Ignatius's overall unlikeability. Ignatius is a lazy, obnoxious, pseudo-intellectual and pseudo-spiritual man, and, for lack of a better term, an absolute dunce.

In the first three chapters of A Confederacy of Dunces, we're introduced to a handful of characters, denizens of 1950s New Orleans who each play some role in the life of Ignatius J. Reilly or the people around him. One such character is Ignatius's mother, who he lives with despite being thirty years old. Ignatius's mother is incredibly patient with her son, it's evident that he's quite spoiled. However, one important characteristic we see early on in her is her patience with Ignatius starting to run thin. In chapter 1, the two of them get into a car accident that destroys part of a building. When his mother tries to talk to him about the money they owe due to this crash, Ignatius simply waves her legitimate concerns aside, saying "If you are going to stage one of your hysterical scenes, I shall have to return to the living room. As a matter of fact, I think I will." (Pg 42). That is followed up by a remark from Mrs. Reilly, as Swift writes ""What I'm gonna do with a boy like that?" Mrs. Reilly sadly asked Patrolman Mancuso." (Pg 42). Mrs. Reilly might be overly patient with Ignatius, but we see this patience waver when she looks at her son's abhorrent actions with dismay.

Other major characters introduced early on include the aforementioned Angelo Mancuso, a police officer who's down on his luck, being forced by his police sergeant to go undercover in ridiculous outfits to undercover suspicious individuals. He encourages Mrs. Reilly to go bowling with him at night, which she does, indicating a bit of growth on her part as she does things without Ignatius. Another character is Jones, a young black man introduced at the police precinct and later seen getting a job at the Night of Joy bar as an underpaid janitor. He always wears sunglasses and smokes cigarettes, and he's quick to reference things like slavery to poke fun at white people.

Now, at this point, I feel like I should take a brief moment to mention a few elements of this book that would be frowned upon had it been written today, a few wrinkles that show the novel's age. It is written by a white author, and it does frequently use outdated, offensive language to refer to various minorities, seemingly moreso to satirize racists and homophobes than actually be racist or homophobic, but that obviously isn't really okay by today's standards. I'm interested to see where this book's racial commentary goes, but it's hard to say at this point.

Anyways, a couple more important characters are introduced, mainly Mr. Gonzales and Miss Trixie, employees at Levy Pants where Ignatius reluctantly gets a job. I find these two to be some of the funnier characters in the novel--Mr. Gonzales is a nervous office manager who's desperate for steady employees, and Miss Trixie is an extremely old and mostly incompetent assistant accountant, who the company only holds onto because the wife of the company's owner wants Miss Trixie to stay busy and occupied in the late years of her life. I think these two characters are well summed-up in one of their early interactions in the book. Toole writes, ""Good morning, Miss Trixie," Mr. Gonzales called in his effervescent tenor. "And how are we this morning?" "Who? Oh, hello, Gomez," Miss Trixie said feebly and drifted off toward the ladies' room as if she were tacking into a gale." (Pg 65). This quickly characterizes Miss Trixie as disoriented, loopy and confused, which in turn characterizes Mr. Gonzales as someone who's willing to put up with just about any level of incompetence as long as they'll remain steadily employed--hence why he hired Ignatius.

Ignatius himself is an absolutely ridiculous character. He spends his days in his room writing ridiculous articles he'll never send off to get published, watching children's television or films and loudly remarking on their "perversions," or playing a variety of musical instruments (presumably quite poorly due to the complaints from his neighbors.) We see the inner machinations of his mind as he speaks and writes, but I think the most powerful moment in characterizing Ignatius is one of his inner thoughts on the very first page. "Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul." (Pg 1). This highlights a crucial element of Ignatius that seems like it'll be one of the main things this book satirizes: pseudo-intellectualism and pseudo-spiritualism. The things Ignatius are thinking make no sense when you think about them--"lack of theology and geometry" can't be determined from someone's choice of clothing. Overall, Ignatius is hilariously incompetent, and I eagerly await reading more of his misadventures.