A Confederacy Of Dunces Character Analysis

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is the story of an anti-modern man named Ignatius J. Reilly who lives in New Orleans in the early 1960s. Ignatius is an obese man who has become obsessed with disapproving of pop culture. He often entertains himself by attending modern events, such as going to movie theaters, merely to express his disdain with them. Throughout the story, Ignatius displays an outspoken personality and an unmistakable rude demeanor. In A Confederacy of Dunces, the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, repeatedly shows that he is not hesitant to spout out his controversial beliefs about the world. His outspoken personality gets him in trouble on multiple occasions. One of Ignatius’s hobbies is going to movie theaters

Near the beginning of the novel, when Ignatius and his mother are sitting in The Night of Joy bar, the two meet a woman named Darlene. Darlene comments that she thinks Mrs. Reilly must be a good cook, but Ignatius I considerately states, “Mother doesn't coo, […] she burns” (21). Ignatius, with complete disregard for his mother’s feelings, is quick to unnecessarily point out his mother’s flaws. Later on in the story, when Mrs. Reilly reveals to Ignatius that he must find a job because the owner of the house that she hit with her car wants $1,020 for damages, and she will get put in jail if she cannot find a way to pay it, Ignatius responds by ridiculing is mother: “I have found several empty wine bottles about lately, the contents of which I certainly did not consume” (49). Rather than making a small sacrifice and getting a job to help his mother, Ignatius jumps on his mom’s case for her drinking habits. Ignatius most obviously displays his rudeness when he runs into a few artists on the street in.the French Quarter while he is selling hot dogs. He approaches the women and without even taking much time to inspect their paintings, and he gives them the unwanted and unnecessary advice to “stop giving teas and brunches and settle down to the business of learning how to draw” (244). A normal, respectful person would have at least had a conversation with the artists about their work before disrespectfully ridiculing it without being provoked to do so. Ignatius’s most outright characteristic is his excessive