The Dunce's Corner with PQ

You learnt everything, Ignatius, except how to be a human being. (312)   A Confederacy of Dunces  is a story that seems like it will for a long while remain nonpareil. Both as a story and as a novel, it follows a wide variety of complexly intertwined characters (and in a few occasions, animals) that are all bound to Ignatius Reilly. Sure, the story does have its flaws that may make it seem stretched thin at places, but you may not realize the true extent of the stylistically intertwined plots until you try (keyword: try ) and sum it all up for a friend or family member in a way that won't make you sound like you're trying to one-up the writers of Lost . Essentially, the reader comes to understand the host of characters via the richest of characters among them--Ignatius himself.      The loose plot of the story follows the growing path of social destruction and discord that Ignatius leaves in his narcissistic path, moving from one source of pleasure to the next w...

       My last two posts have been only on the topic of the main character, Ignatius, and his various inner workings as an insecure man-child. However, I now want to discuss the main supporting character to Ignatius--his mother, a one Mrs. Reilly.     As the novel progresses, Ignatius's larger-than-life character starts to take somewhat of a back seat to the other characters who may have been passing side characters in his misadventures earlier in the novel. People like the crew that (poorly) runs the Night of Joy club, the apathetic owner of Levy pant company, and the aunt of Patrolman Mancuso all take their turns sharing the spotlight that highlights each of their deep dysfunctions and complex personal relationships with friends and spouses. Irene Reilly, however, has been a character that has shown her rich character from very early on in the story.     The first time we see Mrs. Reilly is when she is buying pastries while Ignatius waits i...

 Though it's only just a coincidence that both novels happen to almost overlap in American history, there are a quite a few different stylistic and thematic parallels between A Confederacy of Dunces and the novel  Song of Solomon  by Toni Morrison. Namely, the way in which both of the curiously named protagonists live completely detached from the world around them, especially when it comes to the specific political climate that came with living in mid-20th century America. For Morrison's reluctant hero Milkman Dead, he is a Black man from Michigan who has lived his whole life in a hollow imitation of the White ideal of luxury, leaving him utterly ignorant to the struggle that people of color face in America. For Ignatius, the world is a lost cause that he has boldly and courageously decided to withdraw from entirely of his own accord with the intent of utilizing his perversely Christ-like conviction to single handedly mold it into his own utopia.  Common between the...

 When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him -Jonathan Swift With this epigraph, thus begins the novel A Confederacy of Dunces  by John Kennedy Toole. This particular confederacy is not formed in the antebellum American south, but rather in 1960's New Orleans and is in aforementioned confederacy against a one Ignatius Reilly. Though his name may spark images of fire and fury, Ignatius is about as far from fiery or impassioned as one can get. In essence, this slothful and selfish man and the wide range of characters that get sucked into his veritable whirlpool of influence stand to reflect the shortcomings of a very troubled man and his struggle to find security in his life. Though published in 1980, the actual manuscript for the novel was written over a decade before then, before Toole committed suicide in 1969. This is an interesting detail to note, as reading a character like Ignatius Reilly as a ...